15.4.07

boat ride

A few weeks ago, I posted that the weather was so nice that I felt like I should be headin' to the lake. While that's not quite true now, about a week or so ago, we went with some friends to check out a few sites in the Capital. The first stop was a crematorium. I know, I know, not your typical #1 Hit on the sight-seeing route. But it's a great place to see some of the culture, because a large percentage of South Asians believe in cremation and dying auspiciously. This means many things, but one thing it can mean is setting the body off into the holy river, or in the case of the Capital, a branch of the river. And this particular crematorium is on that river, so you can see a lot of what they try to do to pass their relatives on successfully into their next life. We got there pretty early, before any of the ceremonies were taking place. So while we were taking pictures, a man on a small wooden boat on the bank of the river called to us and with a swoop of his arm motioned for us to come for a ride. We weren't sure where we were going, but we knew we may not have this opportunity again, so we very carefully stepped around all the trash on the bank of the river, and who knows what else, and got into the boat. He rowed us over to the other side of the river, where there was a small temple. We got out and took some more pics, and found it really funny that on this somewhat island of a temple, there was a dog. How did he get there? Even though the river was pretty dirty, it was fun to ride around in an old wooden boat, and was really nice!

Who knew when I said I'd like to head out to the lake, that I'd get the next best thing - a boat ride on a polluted river!

High Today: 104; High Today in Paris: 80

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

YOu have taken adventure to a whole new level!!! Nothing we're doing here can ever compare with the "thrills" you are both experiencing. Love to you

Sarah said...

Hmmm... Is someone looking forward to a vacay or what? :)