The morning of leaving Agra, a big festival was taking place to celebrate one of the Hindu gods. Everybody following a statue carried on the shoulders of men down the streets. I watched this at first from a roof top cafe and could hardly see the people below for all the coloured powder that was being thrown. I decided that the best pictures were to be taken on the ground.

They say that hindsight is a wonderful thing and in this case I'd have to agree - to a 10 year old boy with all his friends, excited with the whole atmosphere of the festival, with the perfumed coloured powder in both his hands and also being allowed to throw it at people, a western traveller with an expensive Nikon camera is one hell of a target and is just way too tempting an opportunity to miss. Within seconds I was covered in the sweet smelling, flowery powder with a group of giggling kids stood around me, I even had the parents run over to opologise. But the camera was fine and after a minute of not being able to open my eyes I could see the funny side too.

That evening I got on the train to Varanasi and arrived there the following morning. I've been here a few days now and my mood has been up and down. I spent the first three days of Varanasi in bed with severe stomach cramps and was only able to start eating again on the fourth day, (thanks to my new friend Real from Canada for the antibiotics.

Varanasi is totally different from anywhere else in India, the Ganges run to the east of the city and is the heart of it's community and more importantly - it's religion.

The Ghates (steps that lead into the river Ganges) are used from cremating people from all over India to bathing and washing clothes, as a result it's terribly polluted and no amount of money would have me jump in, but no local seems to have a problem. Everyday thousands come here to bath, worship or Cremate.

The town itself (or more the old city) is a maze of narrow streets and tunnels that anyone could get lost in.

Yesterday I took a 5.30am boat ride from the hotel to watch the sunrise over the Ganges - it is a pretty amazing place and the people here are more than happy to help you find your way. In a few days time I'm heading north to Sunauli, the Border town to Nepal.