After enjoying an evening out with the "Gang Of Six" Saturday night, my friend Valarie (former Operations Manager of the DU Bookstore) and I had a nightcap at Patxi's, where Valarie had left her car earlier in the evening. Talk soon turned to her upcoming trip to India this December to attend a wedding and do some sightseeing with her daughter Cheyanne. I intend to experience their trip to India vicariously, so I was a bit disappointed when Valarie told me she wanted to concentrate on seeing various Buddhist sights, including the Bodhi tree (under which Buddha attained enlightenment). To me that seems a bit too rural an adventure. However, Valarie assured me that she still wants to see some cities, too, including Varanasi, one of the oldest, holiest, and most alien of Indian cities: people bathing and praying in the heavily polluted River Ganges, funeral pyres on the ghats along the banks, thousands of pilgrims roaming the city, touts on every corner. Now that's a vacation!.
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