Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Wednesday in Varanasi





Last night, we went down to the river Gange for a religious ceremony, called an arti. It was very beautiful! The man in the red kerchief was selling little lights called diyas ... basically floating candles, that you light and set afloat in the river.

They have many ghats along the river, and each has a ceremony. It was very moving for Gopal, especially.

The people here are very friendly. The vendors are persistent, but not obnoxious. It is still cleaner than Delhi.

This morning, Mike and Gopal took a boat ride on the river to watch the sunrise and Gopal went to the temple for Shiva. We also saw the Ghat's where they do the cremations (pictured above), children with chicken pox (they are only allowed to bathe in the river at this ghat, and the ghat for widows).

Then they came back to the hotel and we had breakfast. The breakfast was good ... freshly brewed coffee, cappuccino, pancakes, as well as the usual Indian fare.

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