Varanasi & Bodhgaya

Burning and colourful ghats, mad rickshaw drivers, and the wide brown Ganges river make Varanasi a truly unique place. Well, mad rickshaw drivers aren't that unique, just especially crazy in Varanasi! The grousest bits were:

The banks of the Ganges from the Alka Hotel (Varanasi). Imagine a very hot place (even the river water is warm!) with a river so low that the riverbed has become a desert plain on the other bank (with whitish sand that beams back the sun making it seem even hotter!). The boats start their business before dawn and the local people bathe morning and night in the hope of gaining karma. There are colourful buildings and ghats as far as the eye can see. That was our view from the restaurant balcony over the Lalita Ghat. We sat there in the coolish evening breeze drinking cool Sprites (notice the change from red wine)... AND we had a water cooler in our room! A little oasis on the very hot, very noisy, very busy Varanasi.

The burning ghats. I've never experienced anything like it. People dousing their deceased loved ones in the ganges, weighing out the wood (to assess the cost) for their cremation on the very public ghats and then signing the government forms before the ceremony begins. There must be a hundred people burned each day. Women relatives (including spouses and, kids) are not allowed to attend because they cry, and crying at one of these ceremonies means that the deceased may not be liberated.

Temples. Bodhgaya has a temple representing just about every Buddhist sect in the world and each one is designed and decorated differently representing their own culture. Around the main temple there are monks from all around the world practicing their version of Buddhism. The best part about this place (most likely due to the peaceful nauture of Buddhism) is the calmness.

Next stop.... Palolem, Goa.