I woke up at about 6 AM on the bus. As the bus was getting closer to the final destination where I was going to get off, the number of passengers was getting smaller. When I woke up again at about 9 AM, the bus was pretty much empty. I carefully checked where I was so that I could get off at the correct bus station, which turned out to be meaningless because the bus station was the last stop anyway.
As I got off the bus, one of the bus staff members shouted, “Last one!” Some drivers who were waiting outside to take passengers somewhere came onto the bus, which was kind of funny. I ignored the guys who were asking me if I needed a ride and walked a little farther until they could no longer follow me.
Once I was settled on the road, I started looking for a motorbike driver to take me to my hostel. Since it took me a while to find a driver on Uber, I asked a guy who happened to pass by me if he could give me a ride. We agreed on 60 rupees, and I got on his motorbike.
What I worry about when I have all my luggage with me and get on a motorbike is the size of the bike. Sometimes, they are so small that the ride becomes uncomfortable. His motorbike was big enough for me to ride with all my luggage. The ride took about 15 minutes. It did not feel like Varanasi was very different from Kolkata.
Although I was worried that the driver might not actually know where the hostel was without using a map, he had no trouble finding it. When I arrived at the hostel, the receptionist was dealing with another guest. Both of them gave me a strange look. I saw a group of white guys sitting on chairs outside.
Since the conversation at the reception was taking a long time, I asked if I could leave my large backpack there and went outside. Since I had not eaten for a while, I was hungry, so I decided to eat at a restaurant near the hostel.
Since I had no idea what was popular there, I asked a young guy who was sitting next to me what I should order. An elderly server also approached me and gave me some recommendations. I ended up having masala dosa, a thin, crispy fermented rice-and-lentil crepe filled with spiced potato and vegetable masala. It was pretty good, and the price was reasonable, too.
After I left the restaurant, I headed back to the hostel to check in. My bed was the top bunk in a dormitory room.
After that, I went to Starbucks to settle down for a bit before heading to Dashashwamedh Ghat to watch the ritual event that takes place every night along the Ganges River.
As I got closer to the old part of Varanasi, it became more crowded, and I was approached by more sellers asking me to buy things. Since I wanted to have some dinner before the event, I had some street food and tea near the ghat.
One of the kids I met asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Japan. Then he asked me for some Japanese currency. At first, I said no, but he did not seem like a child who was simply asking for money. Instead, he seemed genuinely curious about the currency of a different country. So, I gave him a five-yen coin and told him, “It brings luck and fortune.”
He seemed very happy, and some other children gathered around him. While I was having tea with a guy who ended up giving me a recommendation for a good seat to watch the event, the young kid told me that he was going to give me some Indian currency in return.
I politely rejected it and said to him, “Good luck.”
His eyes were so bright and pure that I felt like I had already received some luck from him.
At 6 PM, I headed to the seat I had booked for 200 rupees. I ended up getting a good spot where I could watch the event very clearly.
While I was watching the ritual, a guy named Ashish, who was 18 years old, started talking to me. I found out that his brother is currently in Japan, and I talked to him through Ashish’s phone. His brother studies in Kyoto.
Ashish told me several times that his brother had told him to take good care of me because his brother really likes Japan. While we were watching the event, he gave me several recommendations for places to visit in Varanasi and Bihar, where he is from.
After we said goodbye, I started walking back to the hostel through the huge crowd of people who had also been watching the event. Since I did not have enough energy to walk all the way back to the hostel, I started looking for a ride through Uber. Unfortunately, I could not find one.
I ended up taking a manual rickshaw that moved as slowly as walking, which eventually made me get out and walk the rest of the way.
After heading back to the hostel, an elderly man started talking to me in the room. He turned out to be the person who was going to sleep on the bottom bunk under my bed. He looked like he was in his 60s and was from South India.
He had a TV in his bed, which made me wonder if he had brought it with him to Varanasi.
I took a shower on the rooftop, where the shower rooms were located. I badly wanted to take a shower because I had not been able to take one the night before. Unfortunately, a sign in the shower room said that it would take 10 minutes for the water to get warm. However, I ended up enjoying cleaning myself with cold water.
After I settled down in bed, I heard a lot of noise coming from the bottom bunk. The elderly guest was watching TV and talking loudly on his phone, which annoyed me so much that I told him to stop because it was already after 10 PM.
I have no idea when I finally fell asleep.
Early Lunch
Early Dinner
Ganga Aarti (Dashashwamedh Ghat)
