December 1 Varanasi

We were organized to leave as the train only stopped for 15 minutes. Walked to the van, and drove across Varanasi, over the Ganges, which is huge, and got to the hotel to recover from the train trip, have breakfast, shower, etc. At 11 AM, we got into tuk tuk or auto rickshaws, and went to a local Indian restaurant, where the family of four cooked. They open in the evenings of course, but did an amazing cooking demonstration, where we participated in the preparation of our meal. He brewed chai for us, and we spent a few hours watching every stage of the cooking,  as the pics show

 The food was excellent, and totally authentic, what regular Indian families would eat. Very clean. The host had chef experience too. Amazing the spices that went into it all. It was not hot. There was very little chilli in it, but lovely spices like fenugreek, ginger onion, coriander, ground cloves, turmeric, and many other spices. Below roasted aubergines. We peeled the burned parts off, and made a fresh aubergine salad..... grinding the aubergines, and adding onions, tomatoes, and lovely spices.

 Cooking is usually done with gas tanks....see below

 Indian breads...chapati, and paratha with had black cumin seeds in it.

 our host

 Dough.....flour...we watched the whole process

 Frying the bread

 We watched

 Took a photo of the family, and all of us below. We had a fabulous lunch after of course, then returned to hotel. At 4 pm we went by cycle rickshaw ( a first for me) to the Ganges. You are quite high up, and it was amazing to be in the midst of a real crazy traffic jam....scooters, cars, holy cows ( pics to prove). We were dropped off, and went to the waterfront. There are the famous steps that go right down to the water. We had 15 minutes to check out the cremations going on nearby. It goes on 24/7. They were collecting up the ashes and throwing them into the Ganges. Families were standing by. No pics allowed.Then we met up with Abhi, and got onto a boat on the Ganges....now it was about 5 and getting dark. We bought little round cups with marigold and candle and floated them on the river. We watched the various rituals going on....quite spectacular. Lots of other boats, and we all docked as close to the steps as possible to watch. Four men in costume constantly ringing bells, there was someone else singing, and they had choreographed patterns with incense burners, candle lights in a triangular shape, and other hand patterns. Moving to watch. We watched a lot of the events on the steps. Hotels here too, up to the steps. Afterwards we went for another harrowing ride through Varanasi on our cycle rickshaws, with the incessant shootings, near misses of bicycles, scooters, pedestrians, and got back to the hotel for dinner and bed.