Another early morning start to see the Ganges at dawn.The sun started to rise as we reached the banks of the river and boarded our boat.We travelled downstream to a cremation site,one fire was smouldering and wood was being transhipped for that day's burnings.We turned around and started back upstream passing people bathing and washing clothes in the river. A couple of boats with trinkets came aside and Kate bought a Gandhi Russian doll after much haggling.The price we offered was rejected out of hand but they relented after we rowed off and chased after us to seal the deal.We passed several former royal palaces on the river until we reached the steps that the Southern Indians use for their devotions and cremations.A short walk up the steps and along the lanes full of the locals starting their day and amidst all this what seemed like a farmyard milling about crowing,mooing and bleating.We stopped off at a local bakery for a delicious fresh breakfast with unusually for India decent free wifi. Next it was off in the tuktuks to a sacred site for Buddhists where Buddha preached his first sermon over 2600 years ago. Our first temple was one built by the Chinese community but maintained now by Thai Buddhists. The Chinese all left following the war with china in 1960. Round the corner was another Buddhist temple with a sacred Bodhi tree transplanted from Sri Lanka 80 years ago,on the site of the original Buddhist temple excavated by the British in 1900 which was by the actual spot of the first sermon marked by a stupa (monument) built over 2000 years ago.Several artefacts unearthed during the dig are housed in a special museum designed to look like a temple by the British 100 years ago.Across the road was a Jain shrine as it is a holy site for them too.We finished our tour with a look at a giant Buddha and another temple.On our way back to the hotel we stopped off in the Muslim quarter and a young lad showed us around the backstreets to view the locals weaving and embroiders in tiny workshops some in darkness as they had no electricity. We stopped to watch a new backstreet mosque being built.As few tourists come here the local kids and people are really friendly and don't pester you for money etc.All the worker's produce is sold on by a cooperative and naturally that is where we ended up although it was a private home.A cup of chai and biscuits refreshed us as we were shown the most exquisite items all made within 100 or so yards from where we were.We succumbed to buying a red mandala patterned table cloth for our dining room in Wales and as a gift we were given a shawl each just like the ones every bazaar and souk has tried to sell us in the last 3 months.Our ever patient tuktuk drivers duly drove us back ready to get ready for our evening meal and earned a well deep.