Got up for 6:00 am start with the 3 of us and 2 other couples from the hotel - one French and one German. The air was warm and still as the sun rose and gradually the people got about their daily business in front of us. Many did the puja ceremony and women and men bathed themselves while the dobi wallers washed the hotel sheets on stones with soap. Our boatmen told us both his parents had died and been burnt on the burning ghat for 500 rupees each - now it is 700 rupees for one. On the burning ghats there were the remains of 3 or 4 pyres and one was still burning with the grieving family crouching around. Another boatman offered a bowl of marigold flowers and a candle for you to float for 50 rupees. Boats draped with marigold strung necklaces were rowed up and down and we passed all the different ghats and different temples. There were pigs, dogs, cows alive and dead by the river.
I was amazed at how steep it was to climb down the mud to our boat - yet in Winter the river reaches the lowest balconies of the houses. We heard some chanting mantras as we passed priests, monks and families - We passed nearby Tulsi Ghat where there is a music and singing festival going on for the next few days
Had a lovely night in our lovely room and bathroom but got bitten to death by mosquitos and gnats already - only me though.
We saw a dad washing his daughter in the river - thought of Stella and you kids getting Stella ready for the day - just the same.
John rowed us back as we approached the hotel - so now he has rowed on the Nile last year, the Ganges this year and who knows the Amazon next year. It is a beautiful day and we are having breakfast of the rooftop restaurant. A chill out day today.
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