Varanasi - Lonely Planet Travel Video

[MonuGuestHouse]

Great video !! especially love the kid playing with the bowl

[cesaryusuf]

India seems a very poor country

:S

[monostereotabla]

Varanasi is an excellent place and the most popular ancient city. Famous for it's chaos, music , culture and of course the Ganges. People do sometime miss interesting places like Sarnath and the Ramnagar Fort, which they should not in Varanasi.

[DronningV]

I will go to Varanasi in 2 months. I just can't wait!

[dubkulture]

Really dont like the pick of music.... nice video though

[shisha86]

horrible background music

[raghurb]

Lovely...particularly the shot where the kid's ice cone falls down, and he nonchalantly picks it up...excellent eye for detail, sense of observation and details. Loved this video.

[honuheiau]

is this part of lonely planet? bravo for making it there, but the video is poor, shaky, and random, i was there in 1993, looks about the same, with so many possibilities, maybe you were there long enough, i don't recall the heat at all, i remember the holy cows, and the kids jumping into camera, as in your video, the exotic early morning vibe rickshaw ride to the river boat for sunrise, when the bathing happens.........

[Boeuf65]

Horribly unsanitary place.

Cowshit, bullshit, goatshit, dogshit, horseshit, donkeyshit, manshit everywhere. People urinating everywhere, sleeping everywhere, littering everywhere, eating everywhere. Flies flying everywhere. Simply makes no hygenic sense.

Possibly the most horrid holy city in the world.

[Ronniefromohio1]

@Boeuf65

Its more of an irony to me that what disgusts you in this video is what you are from inside and you know it better... It ridicules me specially when someone seems so adamant about his thought and can't spell the word "Hygienic". The shit you have in your stomach is not hygienic at all neither the parasites within your body... We Humans are a nuclear garbage comprised of non-hygienic proteins... Now don't feel so proud that you live with lots of so called HYGIENE surrounding you...

[Boeuf65]

@Ronniefromohio1 Eezi my boy. D'ont let a simpl speling erer upset u. U mite do a litl brushing up on sum gramer, usige, and punktuashun yorself. and for yor imformashun, the shit we have in r stumuks IZ (for the moust part) hygenic, so long az its not shited out at will like on the shitty indyun streats, and i have no parasites within my body az u mite.

[sodatta11]

@Boeuf65

Claps!!! You are so damn offended aren't you? :D Well you did not have to write all that to testify that you knew the spelling of hygiene...:) Nice try perhaps.

[Boeuf65]

@sodatta11 I was indeed. The fellow thought I had parasites.

[Ronniefromohio1]

@Boeuf65

Holy shit that was hilarious. Now I'm more than sure that u are n INDIAN...What amazes me is that you know you're lame, attention seeking and inferior besides you're ridiculously oblivious. I swear you need a serious help in grammar and punctuations. Nonetheless, u're wasting time searching for videos in youtube you dont like. You don't like a shit, but still you give a damn. That makes you a proud shithole who got his ass wiped in some youtube thread. seems like you're makin up for it.

[Boeuf65]

@Ronniefromohio1 Sorry to disappoint you. I am not an Indian. But I would rather be ashamed if I were.

[Ronniefromohio1]

@Boeuf65

I bet you are... And you should be ashamed of being what you are... Unfortunately your ass got wiped again in this thread... You can checkout some other threads and see if you could find a greater asslicking lame... bust his ass and may be that will help you forget how your ass got busted in this thread.

[Boeuf65]

@Ronniefromohio1 You don't understand English, do you. You can bet whatever you like, but I am not an Indian. I would hate to be one, cannot imagine being one, and would not have the guts to admit being one even if I were one. Because, as you say, I should be ashamed of what I am if I were one.

[Ronniefromohio1]

@Boeuf65

You don't have the guts to admit that you're ashamed of being what you are... because of which you get your ass kicked every time. I'm damn sure I'm not the first person to say that to you. Oh yeah you are not an Indian. at least your deliberate claims vouch for it. Besides, you may be an American with a bruised tag "Made In India" and you are often embarrassed to show it because you are embarrassed by your own..Now don b upset. A lame ass like you getting screwed in youtube is normal.

[Boeuf65]

@Ronniefromohio1 Have it your way, my boy. Have it your way.

[sodatta11]

@Ronniefromohio1

You seem to be North Indian.

[MrTumhum1]

@sodatta11 and u seem to be a north indian hater.

[sodatta11]

@MrTumhum1

That was a bad attempt to hijack this thread...you followed my comments and came here bothering me... I told you I'm from east and I don't hate northie or southie...

[MrTumhum1]

@sodatta11 east where--japan?

[sodatta11]

@MrTumhum1

no south korea...

[mussomoro]

Firangi......

[lucius215]

I will be there within the next two weeks, personally i dont give a crap what other people say about this city, im gonna take a look so ill KNOW, what my thoughts and feelings will be.

for now, im still very excited ;)

[asdarunasd]

if ur visiting India...do visit South India as well....i recommend beaches in the state of Goa and Kovalam,varkala and the backwaters in the state of Kerala

[Skimeister19841988]

If you are reading this and you live in the US of A you better count your blessings. We are so LUCKY!! Keep free enterprise in our country and get rid of all the politicians so we can keep thriving as we've done in the past and kiss the ground you walk on!

[kg0479]

Why would anyone want to visit this place, apart from Indians? The whole place looks fifthy, ugly, 5th world country. I wouldn't set foot on this place even if I'm get paid 1000% for it.

The rat temple, dead bodies on the Ganges, stinky curry, etc what's good to see?

[myromax]

meaning, divine and beauty of another culture. Under all this filth, dirt, death and what ever seems to to disturb you there is something so amazing you cry your eyes out. Not an easy thing...its a hard kick in your mind... but beware, lame people always stay lame people and closed minded always be closed minded... and with a closed mind there is no beauty to see there... allthoug the view might change at home ;). just kidding maybe nobody told you, its just awesome there ;)

[Doleafol]

There doesn't seem to be much on the opposite side of the river from Varanasi. One would think that there would some settlement there. It looks like flat, barren land. Very unusual.

[saurabhgarkoti1]

the narration was out of world, who ever made this video God bless you

[yoyoyo1418]

i wanna go theree!!

[bigblackbasterd]

I love Utar Pradesh- ---Whilst in Varanasi i drank the Ganges water.

I swallowed dead fish, a cat, tampons. a condom, a human foot, and some industrial waste along with human fecal matter.

It cleansed my soul.

Peace....

[mallywon]

I been there... that's hilarious

[murdarrar]

nice one... think i got to visit this place one time

[bigblackbasterd]

I love this place in Utar Pradesh.

drank the Ganges water in Varanasi where Indian people go to die...

Whilst drinking i fooled myself into believing that the water cleanses the soul and i swallowed dead fish, used tampons, a feutus, fecal matter, a human foot, a pair of knickers, a dead cat, a KFC chicken bucket, and some sewage (raw).

Indian People go to Varanasi to die with the belief that they will someday come back as a Bollywood

[zenniesha]

great video. well done :)

[KarthikSoun]

One moment your in 500BC the other in 1500s, 1950s or back to 2009.! Its in time lapse..and then you meet the most fraudulent people waiting to take you for an ride on the other extreme you have people who want nothing from you or there are really the nicest people around.

Some people who love the way their little town in the West feels hate when they come to India and the others who have read books and imagined places wonder how the past is still alive! Its weird Indyaaaa! hate it or love it.

[buengine9]

Yup!!! The music makes me sad too !!

[GreskylosMK1912]

varanasi is great and beutifull but the people are nothing compared to south. Shoutherns for me are the best especially in places like gokarn....by the way goa is dead

[twilightkinko]

Why the depressing music, now I feel sad....

[00000011a]

Bum Chanka

[bigbrothermagazine]

whats with the corney music like really.

[spritz0]

Smallest Dosa I've personally ever seen in my life!!

[mytujuan]

my son Juan Jose and Julie are there today traveling around... Salud Guys Love.

[navidanj]

nice video/.....music was bad

[amica1982]

awesome video

[tuxicans]

Excellent video. I enjoyed it!!

Always wanted to make something like this.

[bengreens]

testing

[w1a2n3g4]

lonelyplanet is really cool. how can people go so many place take all these amazing photos. i really want this kind of life. you and youtube make this true. 3x! litake a whole new download tool

[sappho01]

It's amazing how we all limit our experiences in foriegn land to what we want to perceive, except for the accidental encounters that may be thrust on us. I am tired of this portrayal of India as the Burning Ghats of Varanasi, Taj Mahal, Forts of Rajasthan and Goa. Let alone ASIA, that's not even 1 per cent of India.

[jaygowda]

We need travelers who can see today's India.

And share our success stories with rest of the world.

[Ossadawn]

It's a Neo-version of the Grand Tours around Europe,where an entire generation head to the same places somehow convincing themselves they are having unique experiences. It may seem pioneering to individuals,but in fact it's all quite text book. I'm speaking as someone who has travelled to India several times since 1997 and did follow the Lonely Planet routes (enjoying it) but also broke away into (like you say) the many other aspects of India that don't confirm pre-existing romantic notions.

[Ossadawn]

I think that's essential not only for self honesty but also for people who want to hear about a nation that visitors go to. Far too often we go to nations to confirm our existing ideas of what they are like. If we find it isn't how we expected, we can easily hole up in places that fit the idealistic notion we had. It's the old - "moving the camera a bit so the local wearing the blue jeans is out of the shot of the Lungi wearer" phenomenon. We all play that game with ourselves at different times.

[sappho01]

Everything said, Varanasi can be shocking for both the foreign tourist and Indians.

[chance7125]

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who was shocked...Benares is a tough city

[maliceandmannie]

That was interesting, some really cool shots from Varanasi. Love the kid with the ice cream. I wasn't too crazy about the music choice in the video... having actually been to Varanasi, I don't think the music conveys the feeling there very well. Other than that, I enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!

[DoubleDogFilms]

Great shooting, nicely done!

[Erinwolfrus]

wait, they throw UNCREMATED bodies as well as cremated ones into the river? No wonder it's supposed to be really polluted. It's a crying shame, because the river is holy. :(

[suntoucherr]

the fish actually strip the body of its flesh reletively fast

[Erinwolfrus]

omnomnom!

[megamarsvin]

Yeah humans flesh isn't terribly polluting unless it's stagnant water.

[tombud10]

The thing is there are also raw sewer pipes emptying into the river. Im going to Varanasi in November but I'll be keeping out of the water I think!

[megamarsvin]

Good idea, still not a very good idea to swim in there if you're not local. There's other pollution not to mention plenty of bacteria we're not used to ;)

[sappho01]

And the turtles and dolphins.

[smacben]

nice its a personal understanding of the culture of the people in india.

[mcctg13]

Thank you for sharing this, it's beautifully portrayed.

[chaaachaaachaaa]

I want to thank the freespirited travelers that shared this with me. As for Bobaklives (whom posted a comment on your experience),there is no place for judgement... don't pay attention to a word he/she says. It was your personal experience that will forever change and form the way in which you live your life from now on in.

Look forward to your next journey,

Andrea

[Bobaklives]

This is like the most pretentious aspects of a Wes Anderson movie come to life.

Some of the scenery is nice to see, but the shots are poorly chosen, too jerky, etc. It's a bit astonishing to see this under the LP label --then again I don't know what to expect from their videos.