Christmas in Varanasi

On Christmas morning in Varanasi, Robert and I got up early and took a dawn boat ride on the Ganges, something that all tourists here are supposed to do. This is the second time I have done it and it is very much worth doing. We arrived here two days ago but only had a hotel for one night so we spent Christmas Eve morning finding a new hotel. These days in Varansais every hotel has wi-fi, usually free, so it was easy to find a new place. Booking.com, etc., has made traveling much easier. In Delhi, before Robert arrived, I met a German woman who recommended a place in Varanasi. When we needed a place I looked up her recommendation which I read as the Gita Guest House. I could’t find such a place. Then on our first evening here, we walked along the river and I saw the Sita Guest House and when I looked at my notebook I realized that what I took as a G was a fancy German S. Booking.com had a deal and here we are. The room is small but it has a balcony overlooking the Ganges and we are happy. Christmas Eve, there was a Christmas concert at our previous hotel so we walked over and had supper there and listened to a sitar recital. It was followed by kathak dance. Both were good although the amplification left a little to be desired. And then Christmas morning, we were out on the river. I am happy to be back in Varanasi. We are giving ourselves 8 nights here. It is good to stay put for a while and Varanasi is a great place to do it. The ghats along the river are always alive with people and at this time of year the sky is filled with kites. I can’t figure out how to post pictures on my blog. They have changed the procedure since I last blogged. I am posting pictures on Facebook. I have five from Lucknow up and today I posted some pictures from Ayodhya where we last were. Ayodhya is celebrated as the birth place of Rama. We tried to go to the new temple that honors the site but the times posted in the books were wrong and we arrived too late. We did go to a very busy Hanuman temple and joined the people climbing the stairs up to it and circumambulating the inner sanctum. It was very alive and throbbing with energy. In the evening, we tried to find a performance of the Ram Lila, the story of Rama and Sita. It turns out the name in the guidebook is different from the name the locals call the building so it took us awhile to find the place. When we did, the building was dark and the gate was padlocked. We found out that someone had died that day and performances were canceled for a week. We had a tough time in Ayodhya. I took some pictures on the shared taxi ride back to Faizabad where our hotel was. The ride was crowded and bumpy but I got a few good pictures. Those are the pictures on Facebook. We have had a good time but being sick, and having difficulty in getting from one place to another and finding a hotel have seemed more difficult than before and we are happy to have time to rest in Varanasi. I hope everyone is well and enjoying the holidays. Everyone, including our boatman, have been wishing us a Merry or a Happy Christmas or other words to that effect. One man added “Good Friday” to the list just to make sure he got things covered. I hope your holidays continue to be happy.