Friday 11 December
The train trip keeps going and going! I thought it was supposed to be about 12 hours. But it's more like 15. It's about 12:30 by the time we get off and into tok tok's. At the hotel our rooms are not ready so we go have lunch. I do not feel like food at all. But it tastes alright. In our room we have pathetic, but warm showers. Soon it's 3pm and we are off through the city. The noise and craziness of the roads is not fun. Apparently the president of India and Japan will be here tomorrow. There are lots of police about and ppl painting the concrete road dividers black and yellow. Seems a strange priority to me! Eventually we get to the river Ganges and I'm surprised. The river itself looks pretty clean. We walk along the edge on steps that go up and down. There are lots of stairs and holy places. Places where bodies are burned and there are children playing. The main prayer is blocked off for the visit tomorrow. We are not able to take our planned evening boat ride either. We get some chai tea and head back to a lessor area for evening prayers. It's so noisy and so many ppl. Not a reverent space! It's a pretty impressive show. That's what I feels like - a show. We don't stay for the whole thing thankfully and wind through narrow streets with obstacles from motorbikes to cows. We decide to skip dinner and head for hotel. It's only slightly less busy than before!
Both our boat rides for tonight and tomorrow are canceled because of the presidents' visit. Very unfortunately. Malcolm, who is still feeling very off goes straight to bed. After eating some snacks and catching up with our guide I go to bed too. No wake up early for boat now.