{"id":1975,"date":"2022-11-30T08:14:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T08:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/?p=1975"},"modified":"2022-11-30T14:05:10","modified_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:05:10","slug":"my-travels-through-india-varanasi-and-home-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/2022\/11\/my-travels-through-india-varanasi-and-home-again\/","title":{"rendered":"My Travels Through India: Varanasi and Home Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Our Chief Experience Officer, Melissa Hansen, recently took an unforgettable bucket-list vacation in India. For the past few weeks, we\u2019ve been sharing her travels \u2014 and some of her photos \u2014 with you here on the blog. This is the final post in the series. Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Two
Hindu statues in Varanasi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Varanasi<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many of our destinations, we arrived in Varanasi after the sun had set. I decided to forgo dinner that night in exchange for an opportunity to explore Varanasi with a few of my travel companions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon our drop off in the Old Town<\/a> area, my senses went into overload. The volume of people in the streets and the Las Vegas-style flashy lights made little room for the cows, goats, rickshaws, and cars that crowded every remaining square inch. It was beautiful mayhem!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Busy
Varanasi at night<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We darted down single-file-only streets, peeking in on living quarters for locals. As we waved off shop owners, beggars, and vagabonds, we did our best to avoid large cow patties in the middle of the walkway. We were heading to the ghats<\/a> to get a sense of why Varanasi is considered the holiest of all Indian cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like an unending maze, the narrow streets twisted, turned, dead-ended, and left us wondering if we would ever find our way back out. Fortunately, an entrepreneurial local man offered to be our guide, and we graciously accepted. He led us to the burning ghats, and I was forced to quickly collect my composure, thinking about how I would feel if we witnessed a cremation by the Ganges River. Though he offered to arrange this opportunity, we declined, and I was relieved. When I finally checked the time, I was surprised to see that we had been gone for over two hours\u2026it was time to head back to the hotel for the evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Melissa,
Morning boat ride on the Ganges River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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We woke up the next day and set off for a boat ride down the Ganges River. Getting a new vantage point of the ghats, we watched as countless citizens took to the river to bathe, perform spiritual cleansings, and, yes, toss their garbage. As we learned about the holy significance of the Ganges, we came upon a young mother wrought with grief on the steps of one of the ghats, hovering over her child who was wrapped in burial cloth. The rawness of it stayed with me for days as I thought of that bereft mother grieving the loss of her young child. Varanasi, a city that simultaneously hurts and heals, left my emotions in knots as I tried to make sense of it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our boat ride, we wandered the streets of Old Town. For those of us who had ventured out the night before, we took note of how things compared in the daylight hours. The same narrow streets bustled with even more vibrancy as shopkeepers, eateries, and holy men giving blessings all vied for our attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We stopped for brunch, then headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Several
The grounds at Sarnath<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The afternoon proved equally enthralling with a visit to Sarnath<\/a>, a small village on the outskirts of Varanasi where Buddha gave his first teachings<\/a> after obtaining enlightenment. With our private guide, we wandered the museum and grounds. Our guide led us in a meditative walk as my non-meditative brain wondered whether Buddha had walked the same path.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the evening, just as the sun set, we returned to the bathing ghats to witness a Hindu prayer. This daily Varanasi ritual symbolizes the end of darkness and entrance into a purified state. The use of fire, flowers, peacock feathers, and oil lamps help in the cleansing process as devotional songs are sung. Afterwards, we were invited to send prayers out into the Ganges River via tiny tea lights afloat miniature \u201cboats\u201d made of flowers and leaves. Among other things, I sent my tiny prayer out in the hopes that the grieving mother I\u2019d seen earlier in the day could find peace in the months and years to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Man
Nighttime ritual in Viranasi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Alas, our time in Varanasi was coming to a close. Tomorrow we would depart the holy city and work our way back to the United States through a series of international flights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The plane ride home<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I sat in my seat, ready for our plane to depart for the United States, I took inventory of the photos on my phone. The whirlwind of a trip left a huge impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Traditional
Traditional boats on the Ganges River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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India, a country of extremes: Extreme opulence next to extreme poverty, extremely basic next to extremely industrious, and extremely conservative next to extremely progressive. What I loved most about India was the melting pot of life. Those who \u201chave\u201d blend with those who \u201chaven\u2019t.\u201d There\u2019s no apologizing or masking the unpolished parts of India. Instead, India has an unabashedly \u201cthis is us\u201d confidence and swagger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India will challenge your heart, your conscience, your eyes, your nose, and your ears. It will force you to reflect, think and feel. It will share its wonder and joy if you are willing to share your vulnerabilities in exchange. The people of India are kind, warm, inviting, and curious. They are quick to share and invite you into their world. I fell in love with street chai, dahl, colorful saris, Indian fashion, raw India, honking horns, meandering cows and crowded streets, warm-hearted people, beautifully lit evening landscapes, palaces, tigers, food as a form of medicine, happiness temples, and the sense that tomorrow always brings new opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I did, I hope that others will choose to find and develop their own ideas and impressions about what India means to them as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We hope you’ve enjoyed this travel series. If you missed any of the previous posts, you can find them here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>. And, if you’re inspired to take your own journey in beautiful India, we’ve got several incredible trips planned and ready to be booked on our Experiences<\/a>\u00a0 page \u2014 including a\u00a0Luxury Journey Through Northern India<\/a>\u00a0and an extended\u00a0Vacation Getaway to India and the Maldives<\/a>..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our Chief Experience Officer, Melissa Hansen, recently took an unforgettable bucket-list vacation in India. For the past few weeks, we\u2019ve been sharing her travels \u2014 and some of her photos \u2014 with you here on the blog. This is the final post in the series. Enjoy! Varanasi Like many of our destinations, we arrived in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":2052,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98,139,94,136,138],"tags":[140,141,130,36,137,142,12],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/BoatsOnGangesViranasi.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2107,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions\/2107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manifestescapes.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}