Newe experiences with a new Roomie!!

My roomie, and partner April finally arrived. Still jet lagged I dragged her to a holy city for a language course. Our first day there, we took a gondola to the top of a hill, to a temple. The view on the way up the mountain, and at the top of the hill was pretty spectacular. The river Ganga runs through this city, making it a holy place. Many people go down to the river to bathe, and perform puja (worship). We observed people worship their gods at the temple, and then traveled down to the river to watch the evening Arti ceremony, performed with fire. The river banks were packed out with national tourists, who came on pilgrimage to the city. Many elderly people will move to the city, so they can die close to the river, and have their ashes thrown into the river, believing this will get them a step closer to god in their next life. Unfortunately we didn't get out too much after our first day, due to our diligent language learning, so we were glad we got to see what we did on the first day!