Days 132-140 My Days in Varanasi Part 2
Day 135 -- 30/03/2009 -- Varanasi
So I slept in till the sun shone directly on my butt.
Went to the railway station to buy tickets for the next day to Patna. Easy. I took the general aka unreserved class seats again. I never mind squeezing with the locals, its fun. Umberto commented I'm a real traveller. Well, i don't have the big money like them to splurge.
Met a taiwan aunty who was travelling solo as well. It feels good to be speaking Mandarin after such a long while and we visited Sarnath together. Sarnath is the pace where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon, and the 3rd of the 4 religious Buddhist sites I've visited. I like the place very much. Such stark contrast from the madness that is Varanasi. Serene and quiet.
Went back to Varanasi, walk with TW aunty back to her guesthouse that has a nice rooftop overlooking the Ganga. Perfect afternoon.
Had a long chat with Umberto and Federico on the rooftop, it was noteworthy because they are both Italians and they have to converse in English because I was there. It was funny to see Fed struggle with his English.
Day 136 -- 31/03/2009 -- Varanasi
I should check out early and head for Patna today. Rise early I did, and decided to take a walk around holy Ganga. Mesmerised was I by the spiritual and colorful Varanasi that I decided to stay. So stay I decided,and moved into a cheaper room.
Umberto was nowwhere to been seen and Claire had gone to Agra, so I went to find Fed and we decided to go a Japanese restaurant (recomeded by Lonely Planet) for lunch. The daily meals were becoming boring there was just too little variety.
So we head out to I:ba, sat down and place our orders. In this part of India, you take the menu and you write what you wantm, the quantity and price on a piece of paper before handing it to the waiter. The waiter came to take pour paper, read and said "Sorry, this we dun have (strike out the first order), this we also dun have (strike out 2nd order), this also no (strike out the last order)".
Me and Fed look at each other baffled and I burst out in laughter. What is India without all the daily pleasant surprises in store for you. It's amazing...Like the slogan for tourism in India : Incredible India! This is one adjective we would use so often to describe all the various irrelavance that happened in the following days. Believe me, Varanasi has everything, from the strangest touts to the quirky rickshaw driver.
Lunch was a good change and we enjoyed it. Then we decided to have Espresso. As I've mentioned earlier, Fed is an Italian who loves Espresso, I've never tried Espresso, I always go for Cappucini. So he told me to try. The espresso came in one big cup.. faint again...
It was fun though in the later days as we would walk around all the different shops trying to find one good espresso, so much for introduction to Italian food. I told Fed I would want to open my own coffee shop in the future and he got excited and told me I must visit Italy for the best coffee. yeah, maybe, we'll see. But your advice on learning Spanish was useful.
Walk north of the Ganga at night, far away from the tourist and enjoyed it. Though no lack of holy cows and holy shit and holy men and the holiness of the air, there wasn't much touts or people which make walking with a European decidely comfortable. Fed always got aimed by the young girls selling candles and the young boys asking if he want something, which literally means drugs.
And we stopped at Dolphin restaurant for dinner, it was a nice rooftop as well. I ordered plain white rice, and discovered, they are the best thing on earth!!! That meal was a changing point to my diet and I've always ordered plain white rice with veg soup later.
So I slept in till the sun shone directly on my butt.
Went to the railway station to buy tickets for the next day to Patna. Easy. I took the general aka unreserved class seats again. I never mind squeezing with the locals, its fun. Umberto commented I'm a real traveller. Well, i don't have the big money like them to splurge.
Met a taiwan aunty who was travelling solo as well. It feels good to be speaking Mandarin after such a long while and we visited Sarnath together. Sarnath is the pace where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon, and the 3rd of the 4 religious Buddhist sites I've visited. I like the place very much. Such stark contrast from the madness that is Varanasi. Serene and quiet.
Went back to Varanasi, walk with TW aunty back to her guesthouse that has a nice rooftop overlooking the Ganga. Perfect afternoon.
Had a long chat with Umberto and Federico on the rooftop, it was noteworthy because they are both Italians and they have to converse in English because I was there. It was funny to see Fed struggle with his English.
Day 136 -- 31/03/2009 -- Varanasi
I should check out early and head for Patna today. Rise early I did, and decided to take a walk around holy Ganga. Mesmerised was I by the spiritual and colorful Varanasi that I decided to stay. So stay I decided,and moved into a cheaper room.
Umberto was nowwhere to been seen and Claire had gone to Agra, so I went to find Fed and we decided to go a Japanese restaurant (recomeded by Lonely Planet) for lunch. The daily meals were becoming boring there was just too little variety.
So we head out to I:ba, sat down and place our orders. In this part of India, you take the menu and you write what you wantm, the quantity and price on a piece of paper before handing it to the waiter. The waiter came to take pour paper, read and said "Sorry, this we dun have (strike out the first order), this we also dun have (strike out 2nd order), this also no (strike out the last order)".
Me and Fed look at each other baffled and I burst out in laughter. What is India without all the daily pleasant surprises in store for you. It's amazing...Like the slogan for tourism in India : Incredible India! This is one adjective we would use so often to describe all the various irrelavance that happened in the following days. Believe me, Varanasi has everything, from the strangest touts to the quirky rickshaw driver.
Lunch was a good change and we enjoyed it. Then we decided to have Espresso. As I've mentioned earlier, Fed is an Italian who loves Espresso, I've never tried Espresso, I always go for Cappucini. So he told me to try. The espresso came in one big cup.. faint again...
It was fun though in the later days as we would walk around all the different shops trying to find one good espresso, so much for introduction to Italian food. I told Fed I would want to open my own coffee shop in the future and he got excited and told me I must visit Italy for the best coffee. yeah, maybe, we'll see. But your advice on learning Spanish was useful.
Walk north of the Ganga at night, far away from the tourist and enjoyed it. Though no lack of holy cows and holy shit and holy men and the holiness of the air, there wasn't much touts or people which make walking with a European decidely comfortable. Fed always got aimed by the young girls selling candles and the young boys asking if he want something, which literally means drugs.
And we stopped at Dolphin restaurant for dinner, it was a nice rooftop as well. I ordered plain white rice, and discovered, they are the best thing on earth!!! That meal was a changing point to my diet and I've always ordered plain white rice with veg soup later.
Labels: *行走*
posted by littleteaegg at
10:09 PM
4 Comments:
wished i was there w u! your day always seem so fun!
yeah India is really full of surprises, esp Varanasi, so happening.. haha..you should come
hhaha its so tempting lor.. seeing you put so many lovely photos on FB! realli wish i could go!
of course you can, its just a matter of how much you wanted to go
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