It is great to be a boy on Holi. Oh sure, Holi is for everyone, but it is hard to imagine anyone enjoying more than young boys the freedom to spray complete strangers with colored water–even using high-powered squirt guns–and throw colored powders at them! It is definitely a day for boys–young and old.Here’s the…… Continue reading Holi!

Forgot to post these pictures. The Buddha statue is inside the temple, and the other statues represent the Buddha teaching his disciples–that group of statues is located outside, near the bodhi tree, another picture of which is also attached.

So I shifted religious gears a bit today, from Hinduism to Buddhism, as I took a little day trip out to Sarnath, which is about 12 km away from Varanasi [However, it still takes roughly an hour to drive there–I believe I have mentioned that the traffic is not to be believed!]. Sarnath is the…… Continue reading Sarnath!

Today was the day I walked down to the Manikarnika Ghat, which is the main ghat for cremations, and said to be the most favorable place to be cremated. [There is another, smaller cremation ghat, Harishchandra Ghat, but it is nothing compared to Manikarnika!] As I think I have mentioned before, Varanasi itself is most…… Continue reading Cremation on the Ganges

Before talking about today’s outing, I want to mention that last night, I was fortunate enough to watch a ganga aarti ceremony–part of a puja in honor of Mother Ganges. They have one of these ceremonies every night at a ghat further down the Ganges, but tonight, Sunday night, is the only day of the…… Continue reading Benares Hindu University

So, I woke up to a lovely little surprise today–the internet in the hotel is working! So, I am writing this post from the little desk in my room. Very nice! After this trip, there are so many little things that I will never, ever take for granted again!Since I wrote such a long post…… Continue reading A Walk Along the Ganges

It is Saturday morning and I am here at the “Open Hand”–it’s me and about a dozen hippies from all around the world. Seriously, I feel like I am back in Boulder, Colorado, again–and, I must admit, it is a great feeling! I ordered breakfast, including an enormous cappuccino, and I am going to write…… Continue reading Varanasi & Poverty, part two

Hi, everyone! This is just a short post to say that I made it to Varanasi, and I just was on the roof of my hotel looking out over the Ganges, trying to take it all in–pretty amazing. Let’s just say that the hotel has character and leave it at that–but, I must mention that…… Continue reading Here in Varanasi!

Today was a fabulous day, but the schedule was a killer. I left at 6:00 am with a really nice driver from the travel agency here at the hotel, drove through what continues to be shockingly unbelievable traffic for four hours [Today, camel carts–yes, camels pulling carts–and cows/buffalo wandering across the roads were added to…… Continue reading Highs & Lows

Well, after more hours traveling than I care to remember, I made it to my hotel in Delhi last night [this morning, rather] at 2:00 am! I don’t think I have ever been so happy to see any human being as I was to see the gentleman from the hotel holding a sign with my…… Continue reading Taking it Easy in Delhi