Day 8 - Varanasi - Boat Ride to Ramnagar Fort

We took a boat ride out to the Ramnagar fort, also called the fort palace which is the ancestral home of the former Maharaja of Benaras.  It was about an hour boat ride away and we went by motorboat with Rahul and his 11 year old son Raksha.  Rahul asked if we could take Raksha into the fort museum with us as he had never been.  We gladly took Raksha with us as he knew the way to get to the fort after we landed on the beach.

Here is Kevin and Raksha before we took off.

I am watching Rahul crank the engine to his motorboat.

Kevin made friends with a bunch of monks from Yemen who were visiting the fort.

Before the boat ride, we ventured off into some of the busier streets off the main ghat.

We also learned about some rituals performed when someone dies - an offering is made and sent along down the river.  The offering is made of dough, strawberries, bananas  etc. which are combined as seen in the photo below.

Here are just some additional photos taken from this morning.