Day 16 - Varanasi to Delhi

Started the day with a yoga and meditation class.  Then an Indian breakfast, masala dosa.

Left for Varanazi airport at 12:30 pm.  Then a 1.5 hour flight to Delhi, checked into our hotel for a 2 hour stay, dinner at 7 pm, transfer to airport at 8:30 and check in for our 11:30 pm flight.  Yikes.

Day 15 - Varanasi

Early morning, 5:30 am departure from hotel.  We drove down to the Ganges, boarded a boat for another cruise on the river.

From the boat, we watched people on the ghats , stairs, performing yoga, washing clothes, taking a dip in the river, and offering flowers and incense to the river.

Laundry

Bathing

The young in training to become priests

Floating flowers with candle - offering to the river

Priest 

The river is a circle of life, very interesting.

Back the hotel around 8:00 for breakfast.  Greeting the doorman.

Next was Sarnath, the ancient Buddhist learning center.  This is where Gautama Buddha preached for the first time.

The pilgrims put gold foil on the bricks as an offering.

We walked clockwise around the stupa 5 times - good luck.

Nearby is the new statute of Buddha to replicate the one destroyed by the Taliban. 

Tomorrow, a yoga and meditation class, flight to Delhi, and flight back home.

Day 14 - Khajuraho to Varanasi

After breakfast, we visited the temples in Khajuraho that the Chandelas constructed in the 9th and 10th centuries.  A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Due to the dry climate, the temples survived.

This temple is still an active Hindu temple.

Then we were off to lunch at a small restaurant run by two sisters.  Once again great Indian food.

Next was a short flight to Varanasi.  We checked into our hotel and then took battery operated rickshaws to the Ganges to watch the evening ceremonies.

We boarded a boat and watched the priests perform the sacred light ceremony on the ghats, stairs.

The boat took us past the cremation steps, ghats, on the river's shore.  Operating 24 hours a day.  

The sacred light ceremony from the shore.  Seven priests.

The streets were packed with pilgrims and tourists.  An amazing site.

Day 13 - Arrived Khajuraho

Three hour train ride.  Then lunch. Then a four and a half hour bus ride.  

We saw the country and lots of villages.

Definitely do not want to drive in India!

Article V  of the Highway Code of India -  All maneuvers, use of horn, and evasive action should be left to the last possible moment.

Article IX - Overtaking is mandatory.  Overtaking should only be undertaken in suitable conditions, such as in the face of oncoming traffic, on blind bends, at junctions and in the middle of villages/city centers.  No more than 2 inches should be allowed between your vehicle and the one you are passing; 1 inch in the case of bicycles or pedestrians.

Tomorrow the temples and a flight to Varanasi.

Day 12 - Agra - The Taj Mahal

Wednesday morning was all about the Taj Mahal

The grounds surrounding the Taj Mahal 

Looking back at main entrance

Next we visited the Agra Fort from the 16th century

View of Taj Mahal from the Fort

Dinner at the hotel tonight - Indian buffet.

Tomorrow is a traveling day.  Train from Agra to Jhansi, and then bus to Khajuraho.  Khajuraho is the site of a group of temples from the ninth and tenth century - a World Heritage Site.