Our "city tour" comprised a visit to Sarnath the first place Buddha taught - made quite interesting by the guide and a Jain temple close by with some lovely wall paintings. We declined the visit to the Mughal town workshops as we had already "done "handicraft & the soft sell and preferred instead to watch England get thrashed on TV.
The following day however was an hour long boat ride on the Ganges at dawn which was absolutely beautiful. The bathing, clothes washing & fishing was intermingled with crowds of devotees ,pilgrims coming to pray & drink the water accompanied by a few cows . All of this had the very solemn backdrop at the ghats where there were several funeral pyres burning with small family gatherings watching. Ironically there was also a much more modern crematorium cheek by jowl with all this
The following day however was an hour long boat ride on the Ganges at dawn which was absolutely beautiful. The bathing, clothes washing & fishing was intermingled with crowds of devotees ,pilgrims coming to pray & drink the water accompanied by a few cows . All of this had the very solemn backdrop at the ghats where there were several funeral pyres burning with small family gatherings watching. Ironically there was also a much more modern crematorium cheek by jowl with all this
Sounds amazing! I am loving your posts. Keep 'em coming. x
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