India continued:
Tuesday Mar 23. arrived in Varanasi in the am, OMG it's hot, already it is 40 degrees.  We went to a Hindu ceremony in the evening right on the bank of the Ganges, lots of insence burning and singing, Our hotel is very central, right on the river and about halfway between 2 burning ghats. It is a maze of alleys and small streets and shops.Up at 5:30 to take a boat and see the sunrise, very lovely and at that time of morning the temp was bearable.It was amazing the number of people around, we went by both ghats and watched some of the burning, it goes on 24 hrs a day here, they bring the body down the river, wash it and then a priest performs a ceremony and then the body is placed on the pyre and lit. Some one from the family stays until the body is completely burned and the ashes scattered in the Ganges.No women are allowed, there is smoke everywhere. On the boat we did pass a body floating by, usually if the body is not burned it is because it is a holy man or someone who was bitten by a snake, I guess there are several why a body is not burned..It was a little disconcerting to say the least to see a body floating by and people washing and drinking the same water. After our boat ride we went o a yoga class and I was so hot/dehydrated I was a little sick, the temp is now 42 degrees.
After Varanasi we went to Agra, Truly one of the most beautiful buildings in the world, the Taj Mahal is really magnificient. Since the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays we took a local bus (37 rupees one way) to visit the ghost city of Fatehpur Sikri formerly imperial capital of the Mughal emperor Akbar. The city is 40 kms south west of Agra and was built between 1569 and 1585.Shortly after the new capital was built, it was basically abandoned and Akbar moved his capital back to Agra.Spent the afternoon there and returned to Agra to watch the sun set over the Taj Mahal..