March 26, 2015 (Varanasi to Delhi, India)

Today we were flying to New Delhi, but first we did some things in Varanasi. We had another early wake up and had to meet in the lobby at 7. We had to leave early because if we left later the line to the temple would be longer, and we might miss breakfast. The first thing we walked to was one of the Hindu temples, Kashi Vishwanth. We were not allowed to bring any electronics in because of security. Past the security we had to walk over to the police men and get an interview if we could walk inside the actual temple. We passed and walked into the temple. Here people make offerings to Shiva, the Hindu god, we had to scrunch up next to people while there was pushing and nudging around us in the temple. We dumped our offerings in a pit where everybody else had.  Also inside the temple the priest marked my forehead which was supposed to be a blessing. This temple is 250 years old and is 1 of 12 most sacred Hindu temples in the world. They also believe that Shiva has also visited this spot.

Finished with the temple we put our shoes and socks back on and walked to a hostel near the Ganges river. From the top of the hostel we could look out at the other buildings and also Ganges. Next we walked over to the cremation site along the Ganges. Our tour guide talked to some Indian women who told our guide that her aunt died in a vehicle accident and is now being cremated. There was also a man that was getting his shaved except for one path on the back. He is doing this because one of his relatives had died and then he throws his  hair in the Ganges as an offering to Shiva. The people that are cremating the bodies, the people from the lowest caste, the Untouchables. They make sure to hit the dead persons head with the bamboo rod so that there memory will be erased for the next life. I had never seen a dead person before, this was the first time.

We waved our guide goodbye then drove through the noisy traffic to our hotel.

At the hotel we had a couple hours before flying to Delhi so we ate breakfast. We relaxed in our room and did our blogs.