Banares Paying Guest House; Home Away from Home


I've had three exemplary experiences of hospitality in Nepal and India, thus far. Shechen Guest House and Rokpa were great and in a not-so-very-different way, so is the BPGH, run by Naveen and Krishna Yadav.

Naveen (left) and Krishna Yadav, the best hosts and proprietors of the Banaras Paying Guest House (they're awesome!)

The first floor of the building dates back 130 years with each generation adding a storey. With the brothers Yadav, the last storey has been added (there's a limit to how high they can build set by law). What they've done is brilliant, if still a little rough around the edges, but as you can see from the
First floor renovation
photos, the place is funky and fun. I'm here for another week or so and have been here for a few days and enjoying it tremendously.

There's a wonderful communal sense of place as so many international travelers come through. There are common areas where travelers meet and exchange stories and plans for future journeying. Both Naveen and Krishna are great fun to hang out with and talk to and both cannot do enough to help you out with what to do with your day (they can plan walking trips around the city, boat rides up the Ganges, arrange flights, buses and trains for you) or just be really great company.

The mornings are great, when we're just eating breakfast and gabbing and each day brings a different enhancement to the guest house. Lately, their uncle has been finishing out painting the first floor, making it as cheery as the rest of the place. And the rest of the place is cheery! Take a look at the rooms and the walls and that gives you some idea. There are more photos from the place in the
Yes, you are hungry.
Gallery.

As a friend of mine had mentioned, if you get a place with a fan in India, it's considered three stars. But there's a huge difference between places like Aum, which admittedly is trying, and BPGH which is succeeding. Both have fans. But one is full of life and a sense of community (plus amenities like complimentary breakfast of whatever you want) and the other, while quiet is a little more in need of some loving clean-up, shall we say.

This isn't to make denigrate the Aum Guest House, it's just that BPGH is so much more inviting and offers so much. I'm writing about this for the same reason that I write about anything; that there's much more than just a place to stay. A hotel, a guest house, any lodging can be just a place to stay or it can be a place to be. The BPGH is the latter.

For more photos, check out the gallery and scroll down to the Banaras Paying Guest House section.


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