Varanasi, India

It is an amazing place to get amazing photos.

Typical traffic. It never lets up so you cross in these conditions.

This is a view from the banks of the Ganges river of Varanasi.

My hotel here was nice but I would laugh at the contrast as you looked out the doorway. As you turned the corner it just got worse.

Don't bother this holy cow while you shop here. Sometimes I feel the animals have it better then the humans do!

India, nothing on earth quite like it. For my first day in India I saw a cobra, python, cow in a department store, dead body in a river, farm animals roaming anywhere and everywhere, poo and trash scattered all over the place, got begged 40 times for money and 80 times to buy a post cards, almost ran over 4 times an hour, and had 3 tuk-tuk drivers try to take me to places that I didn't want to go to buy things that I didn't want! The temperature in India currently is bouncing between 100-118 degrees and AC is not overly common. Half of the time that I have been in India the electricity has been down and when your trying to sleep in a really hot room with out even a fan is extremely tough. There are wild monkeys that roam all over the cities here and I nearly got attacked by one when I saw a cute little monkey arm hanging down. As I pointed at the monkey arm it hoped up hissing at me and as I ran for my life, it chased me while screaming at the same time. As I have been really healthy for my entire trip so far after 4 days in India......sick. Having a fever in this heat is truly miserable and when your stomach is weak, the smells of India that are impossible to miss will be a final blow to any weak stomach. Varanasi is probably the most Holy city in all of India and the people here feel that the water from the Ganges river is the best water in the world. If you read about how it is one of the most polluted rivers in the world; as they dump hundreds of bodies in it daily, 30 unprocessed sewer mains drain right into the the river near by, along with the massive amounts of trash near by you would think that they might question drinking from the river. All I have to say is traveling in India is not for the faint hearted but I am excited to be here and really look forward to the next month of extremes. THIS IS WHAT TRAVELING IS ALL ABOUT! Who wants to go see the same thing and have nothing to talk about?