Varanasi - we're in!
Hello! It's Saturday morning, and the start of our second day in Varanasi. We got in yesterday after a 20 hour train ride, and had pizza and delicious apple pie at a riverside restaurant. In the evening, we walked along the Ganges River to see the Puja worship at sundown - truly a surreal and epic experience. People of all kinds were everywhere, pilgrims, sadhus & holy men, tourists, and local merchants selling peanuts, flowers, boat rides, massages, and palm readings. Boats lined the river to watch the ceremony. Bells and singing and drums and incense and flowers and food made for an experience that reached all of my senses at once. I found myself closing my eyes and trying just to listen for a while, just to smell, then opening them and just seeing, and then combining everything into one powerful sensation.