My flute lessons are going pathetically. During today’s lesson there were Sadhus sitting near the temple listening to the master play. However, when I started my lame wailing each one of them got up one at a time and left. Ouch! It was funny in a very humbling way.<\/p>\n
The day started early at 5am. The goal was a boat ride along the Ganges. The sight of the sun rising over Varanasi and the river is supposed to be spectacular, however it was both cloudy and foggy so the sunrise eluded us.<\/p>\n
We were also privy to lots of not-so-nice things: a pack of dogs ripping apart a body, dogs attacking a weaker dog, dogs fighting, and a floating body caught on the moorings of a boat.<\/p>\n
There were also the typical views: people bathing, a man doing odd stretch exercises, women bathing in their saris, and a boatful of beautiful women tourists. You could also see the ghats, palaces and temple better from in the water. A few of them were falling into the Ganges and one was half under the water as though being swallowed by its depths. During monsoon the water must be about 6-7 feet higher.<\/p>\n
Today there was more rioting; Varanasi is just a tense place to be right now. This time it was Micha and Inga who had to run for safety as students came charging down the streets destroying everything in their path.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"