Big travel day today..we haven't really come that far but like everything in India, things take time.. We left our Delhi hotel at 0800 hrs this morning and joined in the horn blowing traffic on our way to the airport.. the horns just blow continually and half the time I think it's my ears ringing...!
It took an hour to get to the airport, another hour to get checked in ..our baggage is limited to 15 kg checked so I came in at 15.6 kg, thankfully it was a group check in so those travelling lighter absorbed my extra weight.. My backpack is weighing in the same as my case..lol ..Next we had to get through security...this time we had to remove cameras as well as laptops fluids etc etc etc...once our bags were on the conveyor belt we again had to line up, men to the left women to the right we walked through the metal detector then the ladies had to go into a cubicle to get the magic wand waved over us before rushing out to collect out stuff off the belt.. all had luggage had to have a luggage tag which had to be stamped at the conveyor belt..we were the free to walk to our Gate which was Gate 51 and located about 3 klm from checkin !! The Delhi Do estimated terminal is as if as Changi airport in Singapore..Huge.
 We were all mixed up in our seating so I got to sit with Jan from Brisbane and David from Edinbough ..we passed our time chatting for the 90 min flight and just about crash landed in Varanasi .. I was beginning to think I had landed back in PNG !!
 The drive to the hotel took about an Our and it was awesome...So much to look at animals like dogs and cattle wandering along the road or sitting in the middle of the road and traffic zig zagging around everything...They are building a new road to the airport so there was dirt and dust everywhere and in the middle of it people were working and living as usual....just crazy.. I honk India is like Asia on Steroids...
We got to the hotel and had a late lunch and now we have some down time before we go out this evening .
We have managed to get some Rupee at last. But we have a couple of large notes that we need to change to smaller as the shops can't cope..No one seems to have much in smaller notes..how this country is coping is beyond me ...
This evenings activities were amazing, we got picked up from the hotel by Cyclo, there was about 15 of them and they loaded us up and off we went to join the crowds down at the Ganges river front.
 Varanasi is the religious Capitol of Hinduism, it's also the oldest living city in India and its colourful and chaotic . Religious devotees travel to the city to pray and wash away their sins in the holy river. they also bring their dead here to be cremated.
So after a mad mad trip along the main road to the river with thousands of people we made it to the River steps, these are called Gnats... along the top of the stairs were platforms for the priests to chant and ring bells etc , on the river in front were all the boats.. We boarded our boat and travelled along the river to see the cremation fires.. The bodies are laid on a rack and covered with orange material and they are dunked into the river 5 times, then they are left for a few hours before being placed on a fire and covered by logs and the cremation takes place..we sat in the boat and watched this process..we were not allowed to take photos up close only from afar.. Women are not allowed into the cremation area because they cry too much, men however sit and watch the bodies burn..
It was an unreal experience and when we got back to where we started we sat and watched the 20 odd priests chanting etc before making our way back to our Cyclos for a ride back to the hotel which took around an hour due to the chaotic traffic....it was a late dinner then bed until the fire alarm went off... I had to get up and check but it was a false alarm..I then couldn't sleep due to not wanting to be a headline back home..( Indian hotel burns to the ground Killing 20 foreign tourists !!!). Thankfully we survived the night.. we had to get up at 0500hrs so it will be an early night tonight.