Basically this program is meant to help foreign visitors to India meet up with locals also known as a Padhaaro Greeter. These greeters will host the visitors and bring them around interesting places for free! The catch? Just pay for their food and transport. Quite easy right?
So the first step in enjoying this great service is by filling out a form online to request for a greeter. ( http://www.padhaaro.com/tourist-visit-request-form/) :)
My travel group of three (Alid, Suntea and I) managed to get Gaurav as our lovely Padhaaro greeter at Varanasi. We met up at our Couchsurfing host's house some time during lunch and ate together. Both guys never heard of what the other site is about. It was kinda funny to have both of our Padhaaro and Couchsurfing hosts together. Hahaha.
"Varanasi is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together." Mark Twain
Alid sandwiched between Padhaaro host Gaurav (left) and CS host Arihant (right) with our lunch in the front! haha! |
Places that Gaurav brought us to for Day 1:
1. Banaras Hindu University
Statue of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya on the left and Vishwanath temple on the right which is situated at the campus |
In terms of ranking, this university is notable number one in India after the university in Delhi which makes it a very prestigious university. I also heard that the Engineering courses here are among the best in town. Maybe I'd continue my studies here? Hehe. *wishful thinking*
2. Crossing a pontoon bridge over Ganges River
The concrete road bridge across Ganges River heading to Sarnath is always congested with trucks occasionally breaking down at the middle of it! At times like this, auto rickshaws prefer to detour using a floating pontoon bridge. It was this bridge that Gaurav brought us to cross to get to the other side.
I managed to find a photo of a similar pontoon bridge used in one of India's most elaborate festival as mentioned below. Pontoon bridges were built temporarily over the river in Allahabad to cater 30 millions devotees!
Photo credit to here. See the masses of devotees here!! Amazing! |
Pontoon Bridge - easily constructed, economically cheap and fits the needs of people wanting to cross the very wide river! |
3. Visit Ram Nagar Fort
Alid was particularly excited to come here. He told me that it was the 7th Pit Stop of The Amazing Race 18. He even had us take his picture at the exact spot where the shot the episode. LOL
Outside the fort that faces Ganges River |
The fort is turned into a museum but is really in bad shape. It is a typical Mughal architecture seen similar to the buildings in Jaipur and were inhabited by previous kings of Benaras (the title was long demolished in 1971). Historic pictures of foreign leaders and kings that visited here can be seen inside the museum and I was surprised to see a picture of a Bhutan king there. And due to the pictuesque scene outside the fort, it also has been used as film locations for their movie Banaras.
Varanasi itself is a maze of narrow lanes (3 to 4 feet wide) and quaint alleyways which are filled with colorful shops selling interesting items from pooja materials, books, idols to sarees, a lot of eateries, people walking up and down, and even the occasional cow roaming aimlessly around. Well, thankfully we had Gaurav to maneuver us around the maze, else we certainly would've got LOST!
5. Watch the Ganga Aarti after sundown
Sorry Caci, I've nothing to buy here. T__T |
And then in the evening, we got to experience a ceremony at Ganges which is famous world-wide, the spetacular Ganga Aarti on the Dashaswamedh ghat (one of many ghats in Varanasi). It starts just after sunset, with a bunch of young priests choreographing to Hindu chantings whilst holding and swinging the lamps in a rhythmic matter. It is a way to offer holy prayer to holy river Ganges and done every evening!
Ganga Aarti. There were boats on the river full of people to watch this ceremony. The area itself is crowded with people! |
Will blog about this on a separate blogpost because we did this the next morning. :)
Enjoying my boat ride on the great Ganges River! |
We ended our city tour with Gaurav and headed back to our couchsurfing's house situated in a railway settlement just at the outskirts of Varanasi. There was a wedding to attend and Arihant was bringing us there.
Till next post! Happy traveling peeps!
^__^
22 comments:
Hahaha gambar last adalah comel.. Although India is not one of the places I want to go to anytime soon but reading your posts, makes it seem fun and very interesting! Takpe, amik details dulu.. Mana lah tau tiba2 tergerak hati nak gi.. Banyak tempat2 utk dilawati ni..
Thanks for sharing your experience. Now I can reaffirm to myself that I don't ever need to visit India for a vacation haha =p
i will make sure that i will do all six or maybe more? hahaha... yela, agree with bella...last pic so cute! :D
You miss the part of the best lassi in town :) it must to do hehehe.
wah I dunno about ponton bridge trivia.
eh nak minta foto dalam kamera kau lah plisss :)
@ bella... comel ke??????? *muka tak percaya* hahahaha.
Pls go.. make sure you travel in groups with at least a guy with you to avoid you know... elak benda tak baik dari berlaku. Could happen. =P
@ tonny teh.. whyyyyy!! did this article so bad that made you not wanna go to Inida??? hehe
@ henry.. hehehe.. u can do more. am sure of it!!
thanks!! guess I must be cute huh? *muntah hijau* hahaha
@ alid... iya.. the lassi. forgot bout that. hehehe. nnt aku tambah di lain entri.
foto mu ku bg minggu depan ehhh... :)
bestnya. tak pernah pergi jauh2 macam tue ^_^
blog kamu menarik, tp akan lebih menarik kalau kamu pakai domain berbayar, apa apa pun Selamat Hari Raya... :)
@ fyna... hehehe.. insyaAllah some day mungkin? =P
@ juan.. domain berbayar? jardness.com dah kena amik orang. huhuhu. sedih neh.
selamat hari raya jugak :)
nice writing. wish i can go to India one day..
@ sohoque.. hehe.. thanks. will pray that you do indeed gets to go to India :)
cantik sangat suasana disana. Salam Aidilfitri dr alinmarlini.com
its great to know tons of friends from all over the world, feels great to exchange the ideas, informatin, etc.. :D
@ alin... hehe. mmg cantik. Salam aidilfitri jugak :)
@ zuan.. it is indeed. :))
kan best kalau aku juga mampu buat semua itu...
@ daddydee.. apa pula tak mampu? beli je tiket dan terus terbang! hahaha
Thanks a lot for writing about your Padhaaro experience.
We hope to serve you and your friends anytime you are in India again.
PS: Looks like you had some good fun in that boat ride :P
Cheers.
@ padhaaro... thanks for having us!! I really did have fun with gaurav in Varanasi! thanks a lot for getting us together!!
jauh2 jard berjalan yer.. jeles ahkak ;)
jauh2 jard berjalan yer.. jeles ahkak ;)
perrrrrgggghhh,, kalau la banyk fulus,,, nk trvel gak,, hee
Wah... tak tampak mayat kah di Sungai Gangga River tu, Kak Jardness? Saya banyak baca tentang banyak mayat di situ.
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