Oh yeah, forgot about the monkeys.

watch out for land mines after you gtfo india. I have a feeling like you won't smarten up and switch to luxury resorts until you learn a couple more "lessons"

Money was made to be spent, not to keep i in the bank

yeh OP book 7 days of Ritz to recover and go back to wild side for couple of days imo.

sorry to disappoint im still in my $9 room with shared bathroom&wc

Are you in the gay town?

Paris looks about the same iirc.

Op,

What city are you in currently?

I'm still in Bénarès/Varanasi. I really want to leave tomorrow but my belly isn't feeling that great yet so I'm quite scared to go to the airport (40mns ride), wait 2h at the airport, then 6,5 flight to Goa with one layover of 2,5 hours. Might be a bit too much since I've not fully recovered from the dysentria. Dunno what to do I'm feeling stuck here.

Never mind. I see you're sick in the NorthEast. Good luck

I answered u above

DIRTY VARANASI

Dirty Varanasi. Could be the title of a movie with Clint Eastwood.

It is no news that India is dirty. I knew it before coming here so there shouldn't be any surprise.

Still, I've been stunned about how filthy Varanasi is and while walking along the Ghats I wanted to share some thoughts about this issue in a video.

Thought that Paris was dirty but this is Switzerland in comparison to what I've seen here !

India is not a country for the faint of hearts. If you decide to come here you have to left all your standards of cleanliness behind you. Otherwise, your trip will be ruined.

You have to watch your steps constantly (litterally speaking) otherwise you will walk everytime in some cow ****, and believe me when I tell you that they're HUGE ! No really, how filthy this city is has been a big disappoint.

Besides, Indian people piss everywhere, and also throw garbage everywhere in the street. There is an apparent lack of education in that regard when you see how naturally they do that without even questionning themselves.

Being so dirty makes this city be very smelly and at some point I couldn't stand that much this horrible smell that every morning when I went out for a walk, it made me want to puke.

Anyway here is the video. Enjoy !

Je ne sais pas si c'est une question d'hygiene, mais plus une question de surpopulation par rapport au progrès technique de la population. C'est pas facile de gèrer les déchets de la plus grosse population mondiale.

It is clearly an education issue

Holy cows in Holy Varanasi

Yes, cows are holy in India. Cows, Buffalos. This is not a myth. I had read stories about how traffic jam can be blocked because of them and I can tell you that this is the truth. Cows are walking everywhere, on streets, lanes, roads, and believe me they KNOW that they're holy cause they don't give a damn **** about cars and traffic jam.

If a cow has decided that it liked this part of the road, it will sit or wlk there and drivers are the ones who wil have to adapt. This is quite funny actually.

I've asked to one of the hotel manager why they were holy. I couldn't repeat exactly his words but as far as I got it, cows are not a symbol of any Hindu god : they are representing many gods at once because EACH part of their body is associated with one specific Hindu god.

Besides, in many spiritual traditions buffalos/cows are considered as representation of spirits/gods. In vaudou for instance, buffalos are the representation of the Loa (vodou spirit) Bossou. There is "Bossou 2 horns" and "Bossou 3 horns", the latter being hotter than the former. In the Bible it is said that the demon Moloch was worshipped by the ammonites and is represented by a buffalo as well. I'm sure you could find others examples.

So yeah, cows/buffalos are everywhere in India and here in Varanasi. I was relaxing near the Assi Ghat and thought that a little vid could be fun.

Here it is :

holy bin, lol

do you feel better OP?

gl with buffalos and stuff, try climbing up on one drunk and wait for the police.

If you are a fan of bin, I'd suggest you visit Lbox's recyble bin.

FAREWELL VARANASI

Time to say goodbye to Varanasi.

Interesting city but very exhausting.

3 main parts : the ghats, the lanes, the main road.

The main road is of no interest : millions of vehicules, trash, noise, nothing interesting this is just a huge and awful bazar.

Lanes are more interesting with shops being both sides. More typical. But bycicles drive there and horns constantly therefore it becomes quickly unbearable. But all the cafe and almost all the restaurants are there.

The Ghats are the heart of Varanasi and this is the place to be and to wander day and night. Also where all the ceremonies take place.

I enjoyed most the Assi Ghat cause :
- very laid back
- less touts
- indian people are nicer
- less tourists

The main Ghat is the very center of Varanasi but every 5mns someone proposes you hashish or a boat ride. Too many tourists, indians are less kind and the place is noisier. After almost 1 week there I thought I would kill myself.

I've not been hit by the spirituality of the place. I totally missed it. Some other times maybe.

In any case this city is too dirty for me, it is really disgusting. What a waste.

Life is very cheap, accomodation or food, nothing is expensive and with really not that much you can live very well there.

Not an easy city to visit anyway and I couldn't have stayed any longer.

So I packed my things and went away. Happy I went there, it wasn't as difficult as expected, but am not complaining that I'm leaving.

i thought we already mastered that one- no long posts without pictures, our brain is not trained to go through that kind of stuff

OP, you might as well plan on leaving India after Goa, because you're not going to like the rest of it any better.

I'd suggest you visit Monaco

OP,
Although travel is not s much fun, like you hoped, you are now definitely wiser than you were before you started. So I would say it fulfills its purpose. You gather life experience.

Good luck. And good job, that you didn't abandoned this blog yet.

I would seriously suggest he base himself in Singapore and make weekend trips all over the rest of SE Asia. Not a cheap option tho.

Zikzak : quote me when I said that I didnt enjoy Varanasi. Said that it was too exhausting if staying a too longer time. Plus, dont forget that I've got dysentria so it's didnt made the experience be that easy. But I did it ! And still enjoyed the ghats and their vibe.

lapka : definetely keeping up a blog while traveling (and being sick lol) ain't easy, but yeah I'm quite a disciplined person. I've already learned much since I left so this trip around the world is really gonna be profitable humanly speaking.

Franfran : all the pics are on my blogs, you know the link. Sorry but I wrote the article last night at 1:30am, I was too exhausted to upload 7 pics on imgur. Wi fi is bad here so uploading just one pics takes a very long time. If you dont wanna read the articles when there are no pics, that's not a problem for me, you're not obliged to do anything