A Tour of Varanasi India from “Papu”

Normally Lindsay and I are the type of travelers that like to “explore” a particular destination on our own. When we arrived in Varanasi there was an extremely nice man named “Papu” that hung around our guesthouse offering tours. He gave us a book of references (reviews from TripAdvisor) and said he would be happy to show us around. We read through a few of these and then politely declined as we were anxious to explore on our own. We hit the streets, more specifically the Alleyways, and within a few hours we realized why we should have gone with Papu. The main area we wanted to explore was the fascinating area known as “The Burning Ghat.” I have written about this previously and this particular area is where the majority of cremations in Varanasi take place (the city is a holy place where faithful Hindus come to dye and be cremated on the banks of the Ganges River). Although you don’t have to pay to see the burning Ghat we quickly realized that it is essentially impossible to do on your own. The Touts in this area are unbelievable. Most touts are simply annoying but these ones were downright threatening. They would follow you around extremely close and yell, get mad, demand money, etc. They would essentially chase you down until you gave them money or until a local would tell them to back off. After one particularly bad experience with a tout we went straight back to our guesthouse and asked Papu to give us a tour. Wow…what a difference this made. Not only were we 100% left alone by the touts but Papu had a wealth of knowledge about the local people, architecture and the Hindu religion which is the root of all the amazing ceremonies in Varanasi. We followed him around for hours just listening to every word he was saying. We would go from one temple to another and he would stop, tell stories, explain, etc. We both thought Papu was “an old wise man” but it turns out he was only a few years older than me…ha ha. :) Papu allowed us to get extremely close to “the burning Ghat” without getting hassled at all. While we were there we saw a European couple getting hassled and it reminded us how lucky we were to have “Papu.” After we had seen most of the major sights along the river Papu took us to a silk shop for coffee and to meet “his friends.” You have to expect this type of thing in India and sitting in the store with the shop owners drinking coffee was a bit awkward as we really had no intentions of buying anything. However, we did find a cheap table spread made out of silk that Lindsay loved and we ended up getting it. The next place we went however was much more interesting. We ended up in the home of a local “Guru” who showed us all of his spices, etc. His home was quant but fascinating. He had numerous birds in cages, a hurt cow they were rehabilitating, etc. We talked to him for about an hour and then ended up buying some amazing spices which we still use today in our hot chocolate and cooking. As our tour with Papu ended we realized that we had truly seen a unique side of Varanasi that would have been impossible to see on our own. Sometimes swallowing your pride and taking the advice of a local can open the door to some amazing experiences. Lindsay and I were taught this lesson by our friend, and guide, “Papu” in Varanasi, India.