A man dressed as a Santa Claus poses at the front of the Kollhoff Tower at Potsdamer Platz square in Berlin December 14, 2014. (Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/Reuters)
In this Friday, March 13, 2015, Mitch Seavey's lead dogs with frosty whiskers at the Huslia, Alaska, checkpoint for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. (Photo by Loren Holmes/AP Photo/Alaska Dispatch News)
Children play on a donkey cart belonging to an elderly Afghan refugee sleeping on a roadside on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, February 18, 2015. (Photo by Muhammed Muheisen/AP Photo)
Central Bangkok and the Chao Phraya River are seen from an abandoned skyscraper in Bangkok April 19, 2015. The abandoned building, known as Satorn Unique, dubbed the “ghost tower” was destined to become one of Bangkok's most luxurious residential addresses but construction was never completed as the Thai economy was hit during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. Now, many travellers visit and explore 49-storey skyscraper. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)
Varanasi is a city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (200 mi) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It is holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism and Jainism. Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India.