ASIANOVERLAND.NET SYDNEY TO LONDON DAY 96/338/8: VARANASI, INDIA

“Day 8, 25th September

Graeme (Gichard) reached the ripe old age of 25 – it’s all downhill from now on.

The road to Varanasi was very "pretty" with trees down both sides & hanging low over the road!!! Several people have photographic proof that Peter is not so far removed from the monkeys!!

Arrived Varanasi Camp site (with Bungalows, showers etc. in the dark (7pm) NO LIGHTS ON IN THE BUS. Well done again Gary.

Thank you, Robyn, for improvising butterfly sutures to patch me up when I split my head in the shower.

I now look so awful it’s a good job there’s no mirror on board. National meal in site restaurant was so mild that those who don’t like curry needn’t have worried.

Dope’s not bad here!"

We camp at the DAK Tourist Bungalows in Varanasi, which has good facilities and amenities, and is very centrally located in Varanasi (Benares) near the Ganges.

When I was here about 6 weeks ago on the eastbound overland, the monsoons were in full swing, among the worst in the century, with the banks of the Ganges overflowing and flooding in many places, so we couldn’t cross the bridge at Varanassi over the Ganges. Instead, we had to turn back west and cross the Ganges at Lucknow.

On the previous trip, it took me a week to get from Varanasi to Gorakpur, whereas today the same distance took less than a day. What a difference!! During the monsoons last month, not only were bridges impassable, but no vehicle leaves the “road” (often sealed, as this is the Grand Trunk Road, the Number One highway of India). When trucks or busses break down, have a head on collision, or have a flat tyre, they stay where they are in the middle of the road, blocking all traffic until the tyre is replaced where it is, or the engine/vehicle repaired. It’s very slow going, but much better than joining the multitude of trucks and other vehicles which made previous attempts to drive around the broken-down vehicle and are now bogged on the side of the road or in a ditch.

Once I had managed to cross the Ganges at Lucknow, the new problem on the northern road to Gorakpur was low hanging trees, so we had to make frequent stops to chop down trees – I found it easier and much quicker to swing from the tree branches to try to snap the branches which were hanging below 4 meters.

Another problem on the northern road, was that there was no lighting, so we couldn’t see a thing – slow moving ox carts would spring up in front of you, and cows would suddenly cross the road. One evening after dusk, Gary Hayes hit one cow on the northern road to Gorakpur, which broke our fender off. The two vets on board checked the cow and said there was no damage. The Indian owner wanted us to pay for his cow, which are sacred in India and have right of way on all roads, but Gary would have none of that, and wanted them to repair his broken fender.

Gary drove Knackers off, leaving me at the back of the bus watching the charging Indian mob and their stones fall further and further behind, until the bus slowed down, and then stopped, with the Indian mob and their stones getting closer and closer!! We had stopped at a railway crossing!! I envisioned us having every window in the bus destroyed by locals (a common risk on an overland), so I ran off the bus into the charging Indian mob, found the owner of the cow, and paid him his rupees before any of them realised we had stopped for the railway crossing and not to pay for the cow!!

Six weeks later, today’s drive from Gorakpur to Varansai was absolute bliss compared to my previous drive on the northern road. I was extremely grateful to find that the bridge over the Ganges at Varanasi had reopened. I didn’t have to turn around and take the nightmarish northern road back to Lucknow again!!

Varanasi, also known as Benares, is the most sacred of the seven Hindu sacred cities. It’s great to be back at the heart of Hindu spiritualism, ready for a 5am start tomorrow morning for the Hindu cremation ceremonies on the Ganges, and a swim in the holy water of the Ganges.

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