Ganges Sunrise

​​We started today incredibly early, with a 4:30 am rise for a 5 am leaving time. 
We set off to the Ganges for another boat ride. When we arrived at the riverside we have greeted by the sunrise ritual being performed by the Hindu priests. We then boarded a boat that drove us out to the middle of The Ganges river to view the sunrise. 

Floating along the Ganges we were each given six candles on a bed of flowers to which we lit and set down on the river. These represented our wishes and although many of the candles didn’t stay lit the atmosphere was very spiritual as we all soaked in the many different religions that were important within this city.

​ After dropping our wishes on to The Ganges, the boat continued on down the river to where we saw the steps leading down to the water, where peoples lives were in full motion, even at this early time. 
The boat then took us back to our start point where we got to witness the free yoga that is put on right after the sunrise service. 
This yoga is free for anyone that wishes to take part and consists of screaming and laughing yoga. 
When we made it back to the hotel at around 8 am we went for breakfast which, being our first breakfast on this trip, we found to be very minimal consisting of the basics such as toast and eggs.

We were then given the optional activity of going to multiple Buddhist temples, which we were all pretty intrigued by. Once in our Tuk Tuks, we headed to the first Buddhist temple that actually homed the people who chose to pray there. The little apartments circled around the temple and within the temple, there was a large centralised Buddha statue as well as many little ornaments that surrounded this larger Buddha. Once we had finished at this temple we continued on to where Buddha was said to have given his first preaching. The temple and the gardens which surrounded the temple were large in size and represented the clear spiritual meaning these monuments had. Within the temple, pictures covered the walls within, these were painted to represent some parts of the teachings of Buddha. Besides the temple was a little section which had prayer wheels within as well as statues that represented the first preaching of Buddha. As we continued through the gardens we came across a miniature zoo, and because of Alex, we, of course, had to go and check it out. However, getting to the zoo entrance we soon realised that it was definitely more of an attraction for children and was a lot more expensive for tourists than Indian orientated people, although this didn't turn out to be that shocking as the majority of places had the same pricing system. The sign that displayed the prices was pretty amusing as well.

​Being let down by this zoo we got back into the Tuk Tuks and continued to our last stop to finish the viewings of the Buddhist religion. The massive Buddha which was the main attraction of this visit at first wasn't very clear as all we saw was the average size one inside a Temple in the middle of these picturesque gardens. Although, as soon as we looked to our left-hand side we finally laid our eyes on the giant Buddha. This towered over us, almost daunting looking in between the trees, which did nothing to match the height of the statue. It was an amazing view and the thought that people had some how managed to build such an extravagant statue was mesmerising. We stood there for quite a while taking in the beauty of not only the statue but the little ponds, lily pads and surrounding gardens.

When we soon realised that the Tuk Tuk drivers would still be waiting for us outside of the gates we left and returned to the hotel.

​For the rest of the afternoon, we relaxed and got ready for the evening. When we met the rest of the group we once again got into the frequently used mode of transport; the Tuk Tuks and had a bumpy journey towards the destination of the palace. 

Once we arrived, it was so peaceful that we almost didn't know what to do with ourselves as they even posted a sign saying no honking. 
This palace almost represented a high-end estate with the gates and the built up hotel with a few boutique shops for the residence. Although the prices were a bit more expensive than what we had paid in previous restaurants it was still worth it. We sat in the bar where we had a few drinks before we walked across the gardens to the palace structure where we ate our dinner within the restaurant that was situated there. When we were all stuffed from the meals we had just eaten we decided that to continue this lovely evening and go for a couple drinks at the hotel where we had previously had lunch. (How we were still standing after the early start I will never know but when you're in that atmosphere you never want to miss a second of the day).