April 22

Street food in Varanasi.





April 21

After continuous bargaining with a boat driver we finally decided on a price and took a sunrise boat ride along the Ghats. It was a very surreal experience to say the least.

There are people praying, washing clothes, and engaging in swimming lessons all within the same water that ashes of those that have been cremated are flowing in the River Ganges. We also saw a water buffalo cooling down next to a women rinsing her clothes.

It was amazing though being in such a holy city where people from various religions and places throughout India travel to to bring the deceased or take part in a pilgrimage. Unfortunately we were there doing the wrong month. The weather was unbearable in the afternoon (around 45 degree Celsius or 113 degree Fahrenheit) and the city just seemed to stop for a few hours until the evening breeze relieved us of the heat.





April 20

One of those days. --Varanasi, India Day 1.




April 19

After we left the farm we began our 22 hour train journey from Ramnagar to Varanasi. It was one of the hottest train journeys I've ever been on. And of course it was the one journey that I didn't bring enough H2O...oi.

Thankfully our train arrived in the evening letting us slip away unnoticed by the rickshaw/taxi drivers. We were tired and dirty and not in the mood to deal with people following us and trying to convince us we need their rickshaw and that walking regardless of where we were going would be too far.



April 18

Here is our last day in Kotabagh at Arun's farm. L-R Arun, Erica, Julian.



April 17

Arun has returned! With only 2 days left of wwoofing we finally get a chance to meet our host. One of the projects that he started with his new farm is that each wwoofer that visits his farm choose a slab of stone and engrave their names into it and place it wherever they deem fit.

This is ours. It went under a mango tree.





April 16

I've accidentally uploaded 2 photos for the same day so I hope you enjoy!

So at this time our situation consisted of:

• No running water
  
• No food for the chickens (they were not happy about the few bread crumbs and onions that we gave them...)
• No matches/dish washing soap/veggies other than peas and mini-onions

This is Erica, one of the other wwoofers that was there at the same time as us. She was the fill in chef who made some great meals.

(Preparing Chapatis)


April 15

Eventually we ran out of some basic supplies and, seeing that there was no vehicle for us, we walked to town (30-45 min, not bad). On the way to town we saw some locals kids cooling off. Oh to be young again :) As soon as I took out my camera the boys' faces lit up and it soon became a competition to see who could jump in the quickest.



April 14

When we arrived for our first WWOOFing farm we were rather surprised to discover that our main WWOOF contact and his cook were both gone due to previous commitments. Arun, the owner of the farm, eventually came back but we never got the chance to meet the cook.

It wouldn't have been much of a problem with only the 4 of us wwoofers on the farm except that the water wasn't working in the house (therefore no shower, no drinking water, and no water for the plants), and other problems arose...

This is a picture of our tent that we cooked out of while the cook was MIA. We had a great view, great company, and great daal =) (Thanks Erica)