We got so many warning about this place from the Lonely Planet guide book, the Surviving India story I am reading on my kindle and from Anna, our tour guide. Everyone seems to say brace yourself, for the manic traffic and intense hassling, it is not for the faint hearted. We arrived in Varanasi on the overnight train from Delhi, I thought that train was comfortable; it was clean and didn't smell. We shared with an Indian mother and daughter who lived in Varanasi and had been visiting family in Delhi. It was quite hard to sleep but not impossible as we were already quite tired, although someone was snoring very loudly right near us. Eventually off and managed to catch the lift we had arranged from the Guest House. We had chosen a place to stay near Assi Ghat, in the south and away from the intenseness of the Old City. This was a great idea as it meant we were staying in quite a quiet area, but were also not too far away from the things we wanted to see.

In the afternoon we took a tour with a local driver who took us to Ramangar Fort and Museum. To get in it costs 20 Rupees for Indian and 150 Rupees for Foreigners. Although still not a lot of money, it feels like everywhere we go we are being overcharged to everything. We then went around the University which is the main one in India, a bit like Oxford or Cambridge are in England. On the way to the Main Ghat to see the evening ceremony we also stopped by some Temples. The evening ceremony was amazing, there were hundreds of people crammed onto the Ghat to watch what appeared to be these men playing instruments and singing Hindu songs while some others performed these ritual moved with flames and fans and all kinds of objects. There are Indian people here from all over the country, you can see the difference in clothing depending on the areas they have come from. We met some lovely women who we think were from the mountains in the north and all the women had shaved heads.

Another early morning, up at 5 o'clock to catch a boat ride up the Ganges to see the sunrise, this is a special time where people come to bathe in the river and pray. You can almost feel the presence of the Hindu Religion here, it is truly the beating heart of the Hindu Universe.

Before getting the overnight train back to Delhi later, for our flight to Goa tomorrow, we heading off to Sarnath. This is where Buddha preached his first sermon after reaching enlightenment. With India being a majority Hindu country, this is our first experience really of Buddhists and their way of life. However this is also where we really missed Anna. I think we have been totally spoiled, she was amazing and we learnt so much from her. So now we are on our own our driver dropped us off and we seemed to just meander around not really knowing what things were or where to go.

We survived Varanasi and that I am very pleased about, things certainly step up a gear here. The traffic mainly is pretty scary. It would appear there are no rules of the road. But I suppose what can you expect in a country were in some places it is possible to just buy you licence and not take a test. We are ready for a rest now, Goa here we come!