So, we left for Varanasi 2 days ago... we got a shared jeep from Darjeeling to Siliguri (which took almost 4.5 hours after waiting for the jeep to fill up) then an auto-rickshaw to the train station 12km away. We waited hear for an a few hours for our train to Patna (Katherine decided as we had so long we should buy our onward train ticket to Varanasi - this wasn't until 2pm the next day and would take 8hrs). We got the train to Patna and arrived at 3.30am - so we decided to look for a hotel - everywhere was full and we were being followed by an inredibly annoying cyclo man. We went back to the station to wait after an hr of walking. I went to see if we could get an earlier train... this proved incredibly easy and we left 20mins later... in 2nd Class! It was jam packed and the people were very unhelpful except one lovely man who let us put our bags down and get a seat on the luggage rack! The train emptied a little after this and Katherine sat on the seats with pervy men learing at her for 3hrs whilst I slept (I have recently started taking my anti-malarial tablets and I think they are making me very sleepy). We arrived at a small st. MGS to change trains to Varanasi (getting an express train which took only 30mins to travel 12km, lol) after being followed around the train st at MGS by a very 'helpful' man.

So things weren't going too well. We got a cyclo to our accomodation (we were both sweating more than our cyclo man). We werent sure where to stay so we let a tout lead us to a hotel (Lonely Planet specifically warns you against this but we couldn't care less and its possibly the nicest place in the hole). We had some food and went for a walk - I took some pictures of a burning ghat - big mistake. An angry man with a stick accosted us. His 'friend' gave us a lecture about it being sacred la la la. So. I offered to delete the pictures. This apparently isn't the thing to do! Instead they demanded money (because obviously this makes the suffering much easier to bare!) We were very shaken by this incident but only had 400 rupees to give them so all was not lost! We immeadiately booked our train tickets to Agra and didnt leave the hotel past dusk. Today we took a boat ride along the Ganges (you cant get acosted by bully's and there 7 mates when you're on the water!)... it was very nice and we saw some people getting married as well as learning lots about the Ghats as well as the price of the local accomodation nearby... we even saw a dead person being dipped in the Ganges and a dead cow floating in the water! We had already paid the boatman 200 rupees (without haggling) and he still wanted a tip!

We have just returned from a silk shop the man in the hotel took us to. Looking to possibly buy a scarf and a blanket (for the train) the man whipped out (not before offering us tea that we never got!) all the bed spreads - we asked on numerous occasions to see other things but they are sooooo persistent. So anyway Katherine eventually bought the cheapest scarf she could find (which is nice!) and we made a hasty retreat - I'm not really appreciating India's people at the moment!