Varanasi, India Day 1

The beginning of the end began on a hot day- or what we formerly believed to be hot- in Jerusalem at noon on Sunday, April 28^th. The journey from Beit Shmuel to the Jordanian border by bus, from Israel to Jordan by another bus, from the Israeli border in Jordan to the airport in Amman via another bus, from Amman to Delhi by plane, and from Delhi to Varanasi by another plane took a total of approximately 18 hours. We were all pooped, but as we have done all year we ran on adrenaline throughout our first day in India.

We began our final trip in what is considered the “oldest continuously living city in the world.” (I added the word ‘continuously’ just to be as clear as possible) Our guide told us that Varanasi dates back 3,000 years, and according to Hindu tradition it goes as far back as 8,000 years. We spent our first afternoon in India learning about Buddhism and visiting a couple of sites associated with the Buddha. Now for those of you who don’t know the story of the Buddha here it is, told by me as briefly as possible. (And please don’t hold me accountable for the accuracy of it, it took hearing it two times in an Indian accent to get the gist of it.)

The Buddha was born while his mother was standing upright, and right after he left the womb he walked seven steps.

His parents knew he was special so they spoke to some sort of prophet and he told them that their baby would either be a great emperor (or something like that) or he would be a great, influential monk. His parents coddled him and gave him everything any young man would ever want. He decided to leave the comfort of his palace one day and was horrified by what he saw- an old man, a sick man, a dead person, and a monk. Troubled by what he saw he searched for answers to life (or something like that). He sat under a tree and meditated for 40 days (I think) without eating or drinking, until he reached enlightenment.

I highly suggest you look up the story yourself if you’re interested because as you can tell, I don’t know it very well.

To be totally honest I’m still not really sure what we saw because I wasn’t used to the Indian accent yet and couldn’t understand our guide, but as far as I know we visited the spot where the Buddha reached enlightenment. We also saw a temple, with a mural of his life story on the walls, where he preached his ideas to five disciples who spread them.

After that we went to a museum established in 1910 that displayed Varanasi’s ancient history and civilizations. The centerpiece of the museum (where we unfortunately weren’t allowed to take pictures) was a sandstone statue with multiple images still used today in India- the statue is even on every Rupee (Indian currency). 

Before going to dinner we went to a Sari factory where we saw how they were made and we also had the chance to buy any one of their beautiful Sari's, scarves, or other textiles. 

We ended our day with a real authentic Indian experience by joining thousands of Hindus (and numerous tourists) on the Ganges River for a nightly religious ceremony.

However, the most interesting part of the boat ride was witnessing the cremation along the Ganges, which is the common practice in India. And as side note all you see are large bonfires. The only reason we knew what they were doing was because our guide told us not to take pictures while we floated by.

The eerie scene was definitely a thought provoking way to end the day, but it didn’t stop me from falling asleep the second my head hit the pillow. We traveled throughout the night before and tomorrow we have to wake up at 4:30 to go out on the Ganges again for sunrise. We have another packed day that is expected to be one of the longest yet, especially because we’re taking our first of three over night trains in India.