Varanassi / Sarnath, India (2nd November 2007)Feeling clean and refreshed, we rejoined the group to have our initial orientation of Varanasi. As we were guided round the narrow alleyways full of small shops and stalls we learnt that Varanasi is known as one of the world's oldest living cities and is situated between 2 tributaries of the River Ganges, the Varuna and the Assi rivers. It is the holiest of the 7 sacred cities of Hinduism and it is said that to die he...

The River Ganges, India (1st Nov 2007)After a couple of hours our bus began a slow bumpy ride through what seemed like a deserted town before pulling up at a Cliffside, and at the bottom there were our boats. A full support crew were on hand to load our bags and help us onto the boat and under the sun-shelter. There were three boats, each carrying four of us along with a kitchen boat to prepare all our meals. Not long after we boarded the boat the crew were ready...

Allahabad, India (1st Nov 2007) We had what was quite possibly the most uncomfortable transportation we have experienced so far for the 2 hour journey to the river bank, imagine an old bus where each seat fits one and a half bums and each has a varying distance to the seat in front so it's a lucky dip as to how much leg room you get! We did however get a few distractions along the way. The first was stopping at the point where all three rivers meet in India and ...

Orchha, India (29th Oct 2007) We woke up with another day of travelling ahead of us, up at 9 to travel the 4 hours by train to Orchha. This journey made Kara realise she should have packed more pairs of trousers as her sensible ones had a run in with the metal armrest and didn't come off too well. We travelled from the train station in a Tuk Tuk on roads where animals seemed to have as much right to the road as vehicles and stopped off at a very questionable loo...

Agra, India (28th Oct 2007) Today has been the first full day of the tour and has been quite a jam packed one! After not getting to sleep till gone 12 last night it was a 6am start to get the train to Agra at 07:15am. The journey to the train station was an interesting one as we watched our bags being placed precariously on top of the van secured with just a piece of string and as we made our way to the railway station we saw our first accident and the preparati...