Varanasi

I'm in Varanasi right now, in Uttar Pradesh, 2 states west of Kolkata and West Bengal. It's a holy city by the Ganges, established sometime around the 7th Century BC. Hindus believe that if you die here you go straight to heaven. And so many do. Where I'm staying is right next to one of the Burning Ghats where they cremate the bodies of the dead on pyres of wood. The base of the pyre is made of thicker logs placed at right angles in a rectangle, with thinner logs on top. The body, usually wrapped in white is placed on it, and then more thin logs are placed above it. The relatives then walk clockwise round the body 5 times with a lit bit of long straw and afterwards the pyre is lit from below, via gaps within the log structure.

Apart from the burning ghats, along the river side are various ghats where things take place. Some have no religious significance besides the river itself and people just go there to bathe, whilst others have religious significance. Lots of dhobies wash clothes and linen along the banks as well.

Loads of tourists here- saw a humongous boatload of China Chinese the other day, lots of Japanese too. A lot of touts too, which can be really annoying, so to amuse myself I've been making up stories about myself to tell them. Like how I'm a sewage engineer from Kyrgyzstan.