Varanasi was probably our favorite town in India. We arrived in the morning after a reasonably comfortable ride on the night train from Kolkata, and had some time to kill before we could check into our room at Stops Hostel. The nearby Kerala Cafe was recommended by the hostel staff, so we headed over for an early lunch. It was our first (and definitely not last) dosa of the trip, a tasty fried bread-like shell filled with potato and onion, with several dipping sauces. We also had a yogurt sauce rice that was kind of weird but Thom liked it.

After lunch, we checked in to the hostel, and got our first dorm beds in quite awhile. The beds were comfy, there was a huge storage drawer for all our stuff, and most importantly, the room had nice, cold air conditioning, which was extremely important in sweltering Varanasi. Since it was well over 100 degrees in the afternoon, we spent some time napping and cooling off for awhile.

In the evening, we went on a food tour offered by the hostel. The hostel had 4 tours on offer, and after our difficult time getting around Kolkata, we decided to take it easy and let them show us around. At only 200 rupees ($3) per person, we couldn’t pass it up.

On the food tour, we met our fellow tour mates and walked to the first restaurant. It was still quite hot, but the food at the first shop more than made up for it. It was a chaat shop – chaat is a type of Indian snack, typically eaten in the late afternoon. We had 5 types of chaat – one with a chickpea cake, one with chopped up samosa, a tomato/bean soup-like one, and two others. I’m not sure I can really even describe what is happening here – each one has a bit of yogurt, a sweet brown sauce (maybe a type of chutney?), cilantro, nuts, a bit of mild onion, and probably more ingredients on top of the main ingredient – the samosa or chickpea cake, or whatever. Whatever they did, it was really amazing to eat – so many good flavors that worked together perfectly. 

Next we went to a Muslim meat shop with yummy spicy chicken legs. Most of the meat we have found in India seems to be served at Muslim-run shops, because devout Hindi people don’t eat meat.

Market we walked through between restaurants.

Next was the long-awaited Blue Lassi Shop. I feel confident saying this place makes the best Lassi in India. So creamy, carefully made in lots of flavors, and just dang delicious. I had the mango, since mangos are in season right now, and it was definitely the best lassi I have ever had until this point. Thom had I think banana coconut.

Next we went to a sweet shop, sweets are quite popular in India. 

Lastly, we had a sweet paan. It is essentially a packet of bits of spice and small sweets that settles the stomach and freshens the breath, wrapped in a betel leaf. It is similar to the chew stuff they use in Myanmar, but this one was sweet, without tobacco or the stimulating betel nut. It was weird to chew but tasty, and we are glad to have tried it.

While waiting for our paan, we saw a cow chilling in this dress shop.

Sweet paan.

The next morning after breakfast, we set off on the market tour. The guide got us our first bicycle rickshaw to get to our first market. Felt a bit bad for the guy having to tow our American sized butts, but we were assured that it is good to give these guys work since they are generally poor. 

The first market was the paan wholesale market, where the paan sellers get their supplies. First we saw the candies and spices in the sweet paan.

Then we went into a relatively quiet building and were surprised to see a huge market of guys selling the betel leaves. They are arranged and classified by quality, and sold in baskets of 1000 wrapped in damp cloths to keep them fresh. Very interesting to see.

Next we went to a spice market. 

We took a break at a lassi and chai shop, and had a lassi that competes with Blue Lassi for the best lassi we had. It was plain, without the fancy flavors, but rich, creamy, served in a clay pot, and had a very slightly burnt flavor that really tasted great. 

Next we went to a dairy market, selling cheese mostly.

Last, we went to a flower market. So pretty, but it was getting quite hot by this time of day and we were ready to go home.

We napped the afternoon away, in preparation for the ghats tour we were doing that evening. Varanasi is a holy city in Hinduism, and is set along the river Ganges. A dip in the Ganges washes away sins, and to die and be cremated on the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi allows a person to achieve nirvana and escape the cycle of death and rebirth. The ghats are stairways that lead to the river, and certain ones are associated with different activities. The cremation ghats were important ones to see, and this tour would take us there by boat, and end up at a big ceremony they do daily with prayers to Shiva and the Ganges.



Cremation ghats. Close up pics not allowed, as it is basically taking pics at someone’s funeral.



Evening ceremony. An interesting sight to see and hear, with lots of bells ringing and fire being waved around in prayer.

Lots of people attend the ceremony on boats.

The last tour we did was the temple tour. People washing their clothes as we were walking to the first temple.

The first temple was the Durga temple. Can’t take pics inside.

The second was the Tulsi Manas temple.

The third was the Sankat Mochan temple, where no pics were allowed and we had to check our bags, because there was a bombing here several years ago. The fourth temple, the Tridev temple, has some pretty inlay work at the entrance.

After the temple tour, we went to the train station to get our next round of train tickets, and spent the rest of the day relaxing after doing so many tours! We had a nice bar night with some other guests, and spent the next day taking pics of interesting doorways for an art project we are going to make before leaving town. There were so many interesting doorways in town, and each one was so different! Here is a taste: