Amritsar was a the sleeper hit the first time I lead this itinerary.

The Golden Temple is spectacular, but more moving is what happens here. No one goes hungry in Amritsar. 4,000 meals are served daily in the gigantic communal kitchen operated by an army of volunteers. We’ll eat among the masses and explore the site from daylight to darkness. Like the Taj Mahal, the Golden Temple is a living painting.

We’ll also witness the theatre of the changing of the guard at the Pakistan Border, and visit the Partition Museum to learn the horrific history that lends depth to the that display.

Varanasi is an assault on the senses.

For this reason, our hotel sits slightly outside of the main event: the funerary ghats along the Ganges. The holiest city in India, this is the best place on the planet to die. For $35, one can be cremated on a bundle of monsoon resistant mango wood and be released from this mortal coil forever. When engulfed in the eternal flame that Shiva set 4000 years ago to warm his mother in his absence, a human becomes one with the source.

While not obligatory, we are welcomed to watch the 3 hour process. Immediately upon entering the rapidly sinking medieval city, one WILL encounter bodies wrapped in traditional fabric carried overhead by family to the flames. Like death itself, it’s unavoidable.