On Wednesday morning the 6th we take a
boat ride to a special sand bar at the confluence where we are
sprinkled with water and blessings. Only our guide goes for a dip.
But he tells us our sins are washed away just by being there. These
are not western style tour boats, no seats. You are supposed to sit
or kneel. Not comfortable. For the ride back I lie flat.
 |
| the boats gather at the sandbar |
 |
| a family heads out to bathe |
 |
| a view of a few tents |
Time for the long ride back to
Varanasi. We arrive back at our former hotel. Two rooms have been
booked for us to get cleaned up and organized for the trip back. One
for 8 women and one for 5 men. About 9PM we leave for a train station
out of town and safer. The station entails dragging the bags up long
flights of stairs. The porters tried to over charge so we managed by
ourselves. The men helped the ladies who over packed. Packs of rats
live down on the tracks. A cow comes by to graze out of the trash
can. How did she get here? We wait there until our train comes at
about 2AM. We have sleeper berths. Not too bad. We get a solid four
hours sleep. The train attendant comes by with tea way too early on
Thursday the 7th.
 |
| Can you spot the fat rat? |
 |
| how did this cow get here? |
In Kolkata (Calcutta) we meet our new
guide and head out to the outskirts of the city to our hotel. Lots
of high rise apartment buildings being built out here. We are too
tired for the afternoon trips to the temples. We hear the
crystal/silver temple was amazing, but we were just to tired. We did
wash.
No comments:
Post a Comment