Ended up staying at the Empire, because they found me a 10 rupee room here, without bath.
Got up early in the morning on Monday and with Roger, a young English guy, I went down to the river and got a boat to take us up and down to look at the pilgrims coming down to bathe. Beautiful, moody, and very mysterious also somehow.
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
Old Uncle met me at 9 and took me to the palm reader's home. Most of Benares seems to be tiny brick alleyways winding on and on between buildings. The palm reader was really something. There was information he had directly from me, things he could infer from my bearing and dress, and it would seem that all the rest would have had to be manufactured from thin air. He came up with quite a lot of information, some of it factual things which I can check out. The whole show lasted 1 1/2 hours, charge: 90 rupees.
After this I sped away to get a traveler's check cashed and to check out of my hotel, then a long roundabout by pedicab to the tourist office and G.P.O. More aimless farting around. Ran into Old Uncle again and paid off the palm reader. Visited Durga (Monkey) Temple and got caught in a rain shower, as I did coming from the tourist office.
 |
Sunday night Mike and I had an interesting time going out to dinner. Found a rickshaw pedaler who said he knew the way to the Hotel de Paris. The electricity had failed and the whole city was blacked out. The street was jammed with people on foot, bicycles, and pedicabs, crammed wall to wall really, little candles and lanterns burning in all of the shops lining the street, a strange haze hanging in the air, and a continuous tinkling from the bells of all the rickshaws.
The rickshawallah took us right to the train station, and acted dumb when we were indignant. Paid him off and found a second man who said he knew where Hotel de Paris was, and rode off with him. He carried us all of two blocks before giving up. The third rickshaw man finally got us there. Mike and I sweltered through a candlelight dinner. I found out he'd met Trevor, of Dinky's Bar, and had stood him to several drinks.
The rickshaw that was supposed to take us back to the Empire Hotel got us a block down the road and upped his price from 3 to 5 rupees. We agreed on 4, and he got us home. Such a struggle for dinner.
Today - today in the morning I took the bus to Sarnath with a married couple, Canadian and U.S., and had lunch with them afterwards. Ran into Old Uncle outside the restaurant we'd eaten in, and he took me around in the afternoon to a bookstore where I found some good books on ayurvedic medicine; and to a record store where I bought 4 more LPs of Indian classical music. Got caught in another rain shower on the walk back to the hotel.
 |
 |
| Next page... |