Varanasi

We arrived in Varanasi three days ago - to noise, bustle, chaotic traffic, rickshaw drivers, thousands of people, a few con men, cows, goats, ferrets, chooks, dogs, dogs, and more dogs, and our hotel right on the burning ghats....yes the 24hour cremation ghat! The air is constantly smoggy and the Ganges is not quite as clean as the Clarence! This is a very significant place for Hindus and many people come here to die and be cremated on the Ganges. We have seen many, many cremations in the last few days - visible from our balconies and the restaurant in our hotel!
We have acquired many new "friends" since arriving in Varanasi. This fellow though has been quite useful and has given James and Robyn several tabla lessons. He also took us to a concert just near our hotel and it was fabulous. There was a sitar player, a tabla player, a singer with the most amazing vocals, and a dancer. They were all so enthusiastic and we were a very small audience - we were very lucky and spoke with the players after the concert.

In the mornings there is much activity on the Ganges - washing hair, bathing, prayers, laundry being done, cremations, buffalo swimming, fishing......really interesting to sit back and watch. At night there are rituals and prayers and candle boats being placed on the water.

Pampered buffaloes!

It can be very colourful with the washing - especially the saris laid out to dry on the steps of the ghats.

Passing the time away on the Ganges!

Our introduction to India has been a little confronting but we figure if we've survived Varanasi we can cope with the rest of India! We are off to Agra tomorrow night on the overnight train and then it's off to see the Taj!

We are all travelling well and the food so far has been good - we found a lovely retaurant last night which had very delicious food for just over $20 for 2 courses and drinks for the four of us!

Hope everyone is well at home - thanks for the comments - keep posting them as we love to hear from you. Love to all and miss you xxx