This morning we flew from Delhi to Varanasi which is the religious capital of Hinduism. It is one of the worlds oldest living cities in the world. It lies on the banks of the Ganges River. At first we explored Sarnath which is the site where Buddha preached his first sermon. At this site which is part of a large park is a stupa whch holds may Buddhist artifacts. As we arrived, there also arrived a large contingent of Buddist monks and followers who progressed to the stupa and participated in a religous ceremony.

Late in the afternoon we went to the Ganges shoreline to see the daily evening devotional ceremony of Aarti performed by devout Hindus. Because of crowding on the streets we moved from our bus to bicycle rickshaw for about a mile and walked the remaing 200 yards to the shore line. Once at the shore line we got on a small boat on to the Ganges and moved up the shoreline to witness some cremations of deceased Hindu followers. As the sun started to set, a series of bodies were brought to fires for cremation. The deceased had been wrapped in ceremonial dress, dipped in the holy waters of the Ganges, left to dry a bit and then placed on burning fires. We made some efforts to take pictures but good shots were not available especially after the sun had set.

As we watched this we could hear the loud sounds of the Aarti cermony back at were we pickup the boat. There was a large group of people there with at least 6 devoutees proforming the rituals. We did not stay as the weather became inclement and the electrical power went out.

On the trip back to the bus we were still in a power black out. Our guide lead us to a small dark alley way and as our eyes adjusted to the dark we saw that our rickshaw drivers were waiting for us. We loaded up and darted out of the alley and through the deemly lit street back to the bus. The rickshaw drivers seem to be able to move the rickshaw about with virtually no clearence with other vehicles, motor bikes or bicycle rickshaws. It was quite the ride back and everyone was excited about our first trip to the Ganges.