Pilgrimage trip to Varanasi, India (Emirates A380, Boeing 777-300ER)

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After disembarking the aircraft, like the US, you have to clear customs in India when connecting to a local flight. However, in this case, the crew (unlike what they gave in our Bangalore flight or my parents' flights to Chennai or Trivandrum) did not give us any forms.

We had to pick one up and furnish all details including hotel details. Of course one little fault of mine was I left the boarding pass on the aircraft, so it was a headache for me.

Generally, Delhi customs itself is a headache. Very long lines, but not only that, they moved us to a shorter line. But even then the process still took very long when it comes down to finger printing. My mom still took at least 20-30 mins for her's to be cleared while for me, I had to go to a different line, I showed the email of the flight I came from and they allowed me to proceed after doing the finger prints which did not take longer than 5-10 minutes. Now I've learned a lesson to keep previous passes in my pocket or check the seat pockets.

Some Terminal 3 arrival pics





You pass by duty free shops whether entering or exiting the terminal. They bring me back memories of European airports especially Madrid and Portugal and Frankfurt airport that has a similar layout.

Unlike in the past, where you've had to take a bus from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, now that's just a short walk away and you'll be there in minutes. Only thing after that is to show your passport and itinerary.

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Now comes the hard part of this layover.

We had an Indigo flight around 11AM since my father wanted us to get to Varanasi after 12PM as the morning function festivities would only wrap up after 1PM, which would allow him to meet us at the hotel he booked so he can get the new room that all 3 of us would stay in.

The hard part was actually wondering if there was a lounge or a nap/shower facility anywhere before security. To be quite frank, the answer is no. Okay, no problem, we got into the airport without a problem. Indigo still allowed us to check-in our bags despite it being so early in the day (4:45AM, which was getting out of customs after 3:30AM).

Going past security was not a problem. But in Terminal 2, the only lounge we could find was the Encalm Lounge that was crowded and only had chairs and food not much in the way of properly sleeping.

Ah! But one innovative thing they got was some sleeping chairs (in a curved position where you can really sleep. We rested there for 2 hours and eventually had breakfast





Around 9AM, we decided to have breakfast at the food court. My mom tried the Gujarati dhokla and vegetable poha. Dhokla unlike what we got in the Bay Area had way too much sugar to her liking. However, the vegetable poha was far better.

I on the other hand had some dosa and idli, which were both great.





Some plane spotting in Delhi Terminal 2



We would depart via a bus bridge on this flight. Indigo is generally good except when they keep delaying flights & charging more for baggage (maybe it depends on the fare type you pick)









Varanasi Airport



Reminds me of Coimbatore, though I think both of these airports are equally small. It didn't take long to collect our bags and call our hotel driver, arranged by my dad to pick me and my mom up from the airport.

Greeting us were 100 degree weather plus the humidity for the first 2 days of the trip before we had a more dry Californian heat rest of the trip.

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A little after 12:45PM, we would head to our hotel near Aasi Ghat in Varanasi.

Varanasi city:





As you get closer to the Ganges River (River Ganga), the roads become more smaller, more people crowd and block the streets and traffic will seem to be a nightmare.

Nandi (cow) which is very sacred in Hindu religion. The last time from memory I saw a cow on the streets was in Mathura in 2012.



Walk way to the Aasi Ghat and our venue. More to come later, but I will not show too many parts of the function, but maybe Ganga Aarthi rituals.



We got room 481, which had 2 beds I slept on the solo bed underneath the A/C which was extremely comfortable. Our next 4 days would be busy with the religious celebrations taking place.






Bathroom, which was all walk in except for a step near the toilet was very spick, sleek and span and decent enough.

One little gripe that bothered my mom but not me was the fact the shower faucet fell and she thought it broke. Rather, we had to move the knob to the hot side and it became warm after that.

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Not a whole lot we attended the first day as we were tired and recovering from jetlag after traveling more than 24 hours without much time to rest:

The good thing was food was provided by our group and it was South Indian food. Some good, some average at best, especially because the rice sometimes was overcooked than what we're used to doing at home.

Utthappam, chutney and curd rice with pickle. One of the safest bets if you are on vacations.



Although there were some morning celebrations, almost every day, I came later on past noon. So had breakfast at the hotel. As Varanasi (or at least the part near the ghats) is a religious town, nothing is made with eggs. And obviously no South Indian options.

Had some toast and poori with kheer, curd (very fresh) and coffee, which was sufficient enough for me before lunchtime.



Heading later into the afternoon, the walk to the venue despite the hot and humid temperatures for the first full day of the trip was not more than a 5-7 minute walk

View of Ganges River from the hotel rooftop restaurant.



Aasi Ghat



The venue organized by our BPA group. One of the organizers has a father who lives in Chennai who came and the organizer & his wife initially lived in Toronto, Canada before moving to Hayward, California, just minutes away up the hills from our home.



Lots of celebrations and functions revolving around Lord Shiva taking place:



Curd rice, some small sweet, chips, prepared rice and raitha. It was average, but some hours curd rice was good, other hours not so much.

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After our afternoon break (and of course myself sleeping due to jet lag), decided to go to Aasi Ghat, near Ganges River to watch the evening Ganga Aarthi.

Initially, I thought I had missed the sunset one as it was well past 7PM, but turns out from the audience that everyone was still waiting to see it and we got our chance to witness such an event at the Ganges River







This is where the priests will stand and do the Aarthi:



Ganga Aarthi being performed around the Ganges River. A once in a lifetime event for me, but anyone can watch it. This place has a lot of tourists that come on a regular basis.















The performance ended beautifully.

Heading into Monday morning, came back here to see a little more of the ghat. I only began my deep dive into this ghat on Thursday morning:







Another cow hanging near the ghat before heading to the tent



Now one thing that also happened was a Ganga Aarthi at our religious function, except it faced the Ganges River but not actually at it. This was done in every direction facing the audience though the first direction is towards the Ganges River (east facing the sun)







This went from smoke and incense to eventually lamps being used in the same setting.












Switched to a full-fire mode on the lamps itself.

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We utilized our afternoon break to give some clothes to a laundry man outside the hotel & explore more around Varanasi. Note that this is not the center of Varanasi just yet.

Lot of small alleys, which was nice to walk in. But if you are at the center, those are far more crowded. More on that later.







Just like South India has filter coffee, the North has some amazing street masala tea (chai). I recommend getting it once, especially in a mud cup It makes for an unique experience.



A cow.

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After a break, it was more of a repeat performance of previous evenings with mostly ladies chanting a certain verse to prepare for the next day. My mom was also one of them. On the bright side, despite me and my dad being spectators, for breakfast, lunch and dinner they provide free food regularly. After Wednesday afternoon, we were on our own.

Lemon rice, curd rice and pickle, all of which happened to taste good.



Heading into the next day, which was indeed the last day (Wednesday), I woke up earlier than usual to pack and eventually check out of the hotel, but also go to the ghat at sunrise and later on do some morning rituals around the Ganges, a rare opportunity despite a lot of tiredness from the heat and events.



This time around didn't see the Ganga Aarthi at sunrise, but happy I was able to see it at night and at our function.



It was generally a pleasant morning (around 70 degrees) around the ghat. Taken around 5:45AM.



Did some morning rituals a little later past 8AM around the ghat facing the direction of the sun:





I had an opportunity despite the weather getting hotter to explore further around the ghat itself. You can go from Aasi Ghat to Tulsi Ghat if you're an active person by taking the large steps.













In the Ganges River, people also go to take a bath, but neither of us had time to do it this trip.







The last bits of the rudram. Towards the end was basically the organizer's 60th birthday which towards the end was celebrated in a different special way.



After the offerings done by organizers and chanting done in unison.



To conclude the whole rudram series on Wednesday, April 3 in Kashi (Varanasi), they provided us with a feast from the plantain leaf with South Indian food. I only took as needed as I wanted to ensure I do not get sick on the day of travelling back.



Vegetarian South Indian saapadu (lunch), which I really enjoyed.

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The whole function was basically organized back in November, when we went to our organizer's father's house in Chennai. The fact is India gets so hot in the Spring, which equates to their Summer season before they hit the monsoon season. So it would have been nice if they had done it in say, February or early March itself rather than late March into early April. I guess the reason was due to the organizer's birthday which had a connection but also possibly some astrology star alignment & water temperature.

It was definitely an honor to be able to attend something like this around the Ganges River. These memories are something that will be cherished for a lifetime.

However, since the activities were done on Wednesday, the trip was not done yet. Most people from the group left back to the US by Emirates or other parts of India (Chennai/Bangalore, etc) before heading back to the US. We stayed an extra 2 days up to Friday afternoon as we wanted to cover some important temples and thankfully nothing was missed. Even on Wednesday morning, we checked out of the hotel, left the luggages and moved to Hotel Ganges Grand which was more center to Kashi.

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Going to the center of Varanasi was certainly no easy feat as it could be difficult for the hotel to hire a car, but they got lucky and found a driver. However, getting there was also quite challenging. This is where the much more real crowds block the streets making it harder for vehicles to get around.

We got to the hotel around 3:30PM and checked in and got room 405, which was basically the City Cottage Room with a view facing West towards Varanasi (you can even see the sunset from there):

Now here's where I will explain a couple of challenges on this end:

1) Since checking out of the hotel and attending one function without taking even a break to go to the room with A/C, it took a strain on our body due to the heat. Thank goodness after Sunday, the heat became more of a dry Californian heat.

2) While the reception area had A/C and was cool, going to the cottage rooms meant going to the elevator up to the 3rd floor and then going to the 4th floor by stairs. The worst part was the 4th floor hallways have absolutely no A/C. Completely warm there. The reason being they are making an elevator. and expanding that to the 4th floor.

3) The room is like a cottage style room, or even a cabin such as what you'd get in the mountains with 100% wood (i.e. Yosemite, Lake Tahoe, etc), but while the A/C was there, the room was so hot. First problem was the A/C blade was not moving continuously circulating cool air in the room so we asked for a remote and tinkered with the settings. Even then, it still took a while to cool down, but it did.

This bothered us a lot, because it caused more exasperation to our bodies that were already suffering in the heat for hours. The heat really makes you more dehydrated as the day goes on especially if you have activities in the daytime you're trying to achieve.

Our room had the extra bed included which we kept until we left on Friday. My dad is still currently there as we speak so the extra bed got removed









Even the bathroom was sleek and it also had a wood finishing





The shower. Another part that bothered me was that they didn't even put even a door or barrier to separate the water, so it can have a tendency to overflow. But the shower was very nice with lots of water pressure.




The rooms also have a balcony, which you can see the center of Varanasi and a beautiful sunset. One thing is you will hear horns blaring day and night.



Started off the evening on our own by exploring a little bit around the center and eating dinner







My dad took us to a Gujarati hotel, which had a restaurant on the 4th floor called Jaipuri Dharmsala. Basically, they will only serve you dinner after offering the fresh food (fruits, vegetables, roti, etc) to the God & giving it to us. Before you enter the hall, you MUST take off your shoes.

We had the roti along with some kheer, daal curry, curd, and some chutney on the side. Also rice was there but didn't take a picture. My parents also had the aloo gobi too. I didn't eat the actual vegetables though. Still the quality of the food was great overall. I recommend visiting this place once if you go to Varanasi.

NOTE: When my mom & I left back to the US, my dad also stopped by the next day & it was problematic than the previous time. Food was good, but lots of folks complained there was no A/C at all and food took a long time to come. For some of the food items to finish like curd when my father asked (he can speak Hindi, not a problem for him getting by), they flat out said "no" even though they had it.

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The last full day of the trip involved going to the temples, while also passing through the center of Varanasi.

Before the day started, we had breakfast at the hotel called Dawat Restaurant. It was free with our room rate, but overall mediocre and disappointing.

Breakfast 1 - Had the idli, vadai and toast and honestly, it wasn't good because it was generally not well fermented. The vadai was okay and toast was the only savior here.

Breakfast 2 - We also had breakfast the next day (paratha, vegetable poha and vadai). Only the vegetable poha and vadai were good. Paratha, though good was too thick to my liking, which is why we did not have much.

Breakfast 2:



Breakfast 1:





Hanuman Temple. This temple and a few others are absolutely strict. You cannot take your cell phone inside and there is airport-style security checks. They must be in a locker. Some temples won't even allow bags or bluetooth devices like AirPods. What I will tell you was these are very nice temples. However, you can't take any pictures inside of them.



Durga Devi Temple



Had some comfort food (dosa, curd rice, veg pulao) at Shree Annapurna restaurant in Varanasi. There was also a bakery inside, too which is a coffee shop too.

Dosa in Varanasi was not the best

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We took an afternoon break from the heat to head to our hotel, and same issue like the first day we checked in.

Later on, we headed to Kaala Bhairava temple, which is one of the most important temples centered around Kashi (Varanasi). This and the temple we covered Friday before we left involved going through a crowded road, crowded alley way, etc.



Entry to Kaala Bhairava temple:



We took an electric auto rickshaw back home. However, the issue was that the rickshaw dropped us at a certain point where we had to walk more than 15 mins in the heat and already becoming dehydrated.

On the contrary, we had some street curd, which was out of the world. No mud cup like last time but you can get it in one during the day. It was likely that the shop was eventually going to close for the day and had these to offer for now. Still a great experience.



The final day involved going to one temple and Vishalakshi Temple in Varanasi. The Vishalakshi Temple involved a long alley way walk and we were able to spare ourselves from standing in a major line by going a different route.

Ganges River from another perspective:



Vishalakshi temple:







Now to the crowds on the streets. When I came in 2018, it was never this bad, but I guess post pandemic has forced more people to focus on religion on a more regular basis.

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We hired the same driver from the hotel to take me and my mom to Varanasi airport (my dad came to drop us). It was an IndiGo local flight to Delhi before we transferred to Terminal 3 for our Emirates flights.

The issue with IndiGo was that we booked this flight back in December. However, out of nowhere they changed the flight time from 5PM to 4:25PM and suddenly introduced a much later flight time of 8:55PM which would have allowed a little bit lesser halt in Delhi and have more time to pack our things. To change the flight was quite expensive so we didn't proceed.

Some pictures of Varanasi airport:

The other side you can see the arrivals.



Past security and heading to gate 3. Mind you, the gate got changed 3 times in the last minute for Indigo.



Some nice shops, vegetarian and non-vegetarian/continental.



We sat down thinking we'd be boarding at 3:40PM, but turns out no IndiGo plane and also they delayed the flight to 5PM (well that was the original time). After the inbound plane came, they asked us to go to gate 2 down below, and in a matter of minutes back to gate 6 where boarding abruptly began. That unnecessarily puts a lot of stress on people.

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We boarded the Indigo flight and left around 5:30PM and only got to Delhi at 6:45PM



Exited after 7PM on the bus bridge



Claiming our baggages before transferring to Terminal 3 for our Emirates flights. At least the transfer is seamless.









Like the similar case, we were trying to find out if there were lounges inside T3 or not and it turns out only after security. But how can that be if you have a connecting flight 9 hours later? Especially if you have a Holiday Inn in T3? The worst part was we were able to enter T3 early but could only rest on the benches.

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Flight: Emirates flight EK513
Route: Delhi - Dubai
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300ER (A6-ENE), 11.2 years at the time of departure
Livery: Normal
Date of Departure: April 6 (4:15AM), Arrival April 6 (6:20AM)
Seat: 34A (Economy Class)
Configuration: 3-class (Suites, Business, Economy)

A few pictures after entering Delhi Airport Terminal 3 after 7:45PM. However, check-in only opened for EK513 around 11:30PM





















Check-in took over 45 minutes with many of the first people crowding up and short staffed in 1 line before continuing. By the time that was done it was 12:45AM. Security was only done after 1AM. On the contrary, here are some pictures of the airport past security.

Reminds me of Portugal and Frankfurt airport in this fashion









First time ever departing from Delhi International and it's massive and looks like a mall. Bangalore is close to that, but not as big a Delhi.











We went upstairs to the food court to eat a late dinner.







Carnatic Cafe was where we had some dosa along with chutney, sambar and some filter coffee. It was really delicious and that's how dosa should be in any region.

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More pictures of Delhi Airport before entering the gate side. Eventually we realized we could have gone to the domestic wing for Holiday Inn Express if we were concerned about the long wait and check-in time with EK