After hiking up Laozhai Hill, Jim snapped this photo as the sun began to set behind the limestone cliffs of the Li River.

After a seven-hour first day of uphill hiking during our 10-day trek in the Annapurna sanctuary through Nepal’s majestic Himalaya mountain range, Jim and I stopped at Namaste Guesthouse in the town of Tolka for our first night.

At 5:45 am Jim and I took a taxi from our hotel on the east side of the Taj Mahal to Mehtab Bagh, a beautifully manicured garden across the river from the Taj.

The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus and is also a lifeline to millions of Indians who live along its course and depend on it for their daily needs including drinking water, bathing, waste disposal and even cremation.