The steps to the Ganges

It is my time to write and it is our second day here in Varanasi..... The train ride was incredibly long, and I was surprised that we had very few chances to buy food along the train route. I'm currently am sitting in our hotel in the fan cooled lobby which is an attempted at providing cool air. Readers from America may think were crazy but thank goodness even for a fan when its 120 outside, and I do not think I'm exaggerating the heat. Varanasi has a lot of marble, so the heat is even more exemplified, but let me tell you not so much of the heat but rather our trip. We woke up early this morning to take a boat trip along the Ganges River to see all of Varanasi. We saw many Ghats which means "the steps to the river", these Ghats (which literally are steps) is where thousands of Hindus come to bathe in the Holy Ganges and I must say it is pretty amazing to see people bathing and washing themselves in the river as they do! The water could be comparable to the Tar River of Greenville... so imagine that! However, the heat has taken its toll on me today, so I'm currently inside due to heat exhaustion. I'm going to take it easy for the remainder of the day, but here in Varanasi we will be exposed the the classical music scene of India... and I'm pretty sure someone will soon be reporting on that! One last note... so far compared to Agra and Delhi.... the people here have not hassled me as much to buy things as they did in those two cities! When I say hassle I mean literally following you till you give them cash! LoL :) Oh note from the local Indian... it is 43C outside right now, he says it is even too hot for him, so do the math conversion to give you the true temperature. Good bye for now! Kathryn