Its been over 2 weeks since I was in Varanasi but the scenes I witnessed there will stay with me forever.

For the first time on this trip me and Kimberley had booked a hostel in advance and so when we arrived in Varanasi we had a Hostel rep waiting for us to take us straight there - so much less hassle and when you have someone else looking after the transport there is more opportunity to look around and take in the new city we found ourselves in.My first impressions of Varanasi where mixed - it was so busy, the roads, pavements, shops - were all packed with people there was barely a space to stand in let alone drive a tuk tuk through.I asked the driver if this was normal? He looked at me as though I had asked the most ridiculous question he had ever heard - That one look he gave me made me feel like I had painted myself blue, put on a white hat and ran up to him talking Smurf.He explained that we had arrived at the start of the most important 24 hours of Varanasi's year.There was a festival going on … but I will explain that shortly.

After a crazy tuk tuk ride and a 20 min walk through the narrowest alleys, all packed with street sellers on either side and excited people preparing for the festival, we finally arrived at our hostel, a lovely hostel with really cheap clean rooms, friendly staff, cheap internet and plenty of other travels to talk to.The first thing that me and Kimberley did was book a boat on the Ganges for the following morning to see the festival in all its glory. Then we treated ourselves to a very tasty Japanese meal for dinner and early to bed it was.

The following morning we were up and ready for 4.30am - 4.30AM! lol The boat driver was waiting for us downstairs and as soon as he saw us he told us to hurry, the festival had already begun and we had to get onto the water immediately.We briskly walked through the winding alley ways, dodging cows, stepping over and around the homeless and trying our hardest to ignore the stench that came from the s***ting corner (we had to walk past the place where the homeless go to do there business …. God it's the worst smell ive encountered so far and not nice at 5am).We could hear the buzz coming from the people before we saw them but as soon as we made our way around the last corner and came face to face with the Ganges I couldn't believe what I was seeing.50,000 people were lining the steps down to the Ganges - for one sunset and one sunrise each year around this giant mass of people come to Varanasi to worship the sun, they prey for good health and pure happiness and we were about to see this worship in full glory.

We arrived to the river in darkness with only candles lighting the faces of the people around us but as we paddled out into the river it was dusky, it was that hazy moment between night and day where everything seems a little surreal.As we set out onto the river, the first thing I noticed is that Varanasi only lines one side of the Gangeson the other there is nothing but endless space and the horizon - I'm guessing this is so that when they prey to the east they can see it?
I sat in silence and watched the people, 50,000 people all stood facing me - all of them were looking past me to where the sun would soon shine.It's weird to see, like soldiers on the steps all standing to attention for what they believe in.I watched as they mumbled prayers under their breaths, lit candles and anticipated the moment where their prayers would be realized.

And then the moment came… and what a moment it was. Me and Kimberley where sat in the boat taking in this astounding scene, the masses of people and yet the silence they were creating when all of a sudden there was a scream, this scream immediately multiplied and in seconds the thousands of people were all yelling, screaming, crying, praying and creating a noise like no other.It was deafening, overwhelming and for me a little bit scary.The sun had just broken the horizon, it had teased with a few rays and then finally gave the people what they wanted - they could now pray to the sun for the one and only time of this year.As we watched I saw people jumping into the river, blessing their families, tending to the devotion candles and passing around flowers for people to bestow their finest ideas into and then place into the ganges to float towards their shining sun, their goddess of all things good. My words and interpretations cant explain to you this scene, the fact it makes you want to cry and smile and attempt to understand what it is you are witnessing.I think this was my most memorable moment in India, something you only ever witness once in your life and you really can't understand the sensation of the atmosphere around you unless you are there, in that boat yourself.
It blew me away.

After an hour or so of watching the extreme way that these people ushered their prayers to the sun I noticed people starting to leave and within half an hour only a few hundred remained on the steps.Our guide took the boat down to the far end of the Ghats and as soon as I saw all of the wood piled up I knew where he had brought us - The Burning Ghat.This burning ghat is the oldest in India and the fire which was lit on one of the steps is tended to 24 hours a day to ensure that it never ever goes out - in hundreds of years the flame have burned constantly and is assisted by mere volunteers, I thought that was pretty cool.I was really nervous as we floated up to the burning ghat - I know that a lot of people want to see a body burning to get the full experience of this famous tradition but I didn't.At the end of the day it's a funeral - I would never want to go to a strangers funeral at home and I think that taking pictures is extremely rude. But I was still intrigued.As we floated up we saw a body being prepared, wrapped up in pink and gold cloths - the body was small, either a woman or a child.They ffinished wrapping the body and then brought it down to the river in front of us to dip it into the water.Our guide told us that the body would then be taken back to the family to mourn and later today it would be burnt on the river - people come from far and wide for this cremation and many save for a long time to be able to afford fast burning wood and to cover the cost of buying the fire from the Ghat leaders.

Im glad I got to see some of the ritual and later that day I caught a glimpse of a body burning as I wondered alone through the streets - that's all I needed to see to understand the ritual.

Varanasi was an exhausting experience, extremely emotional and again really interesting.Me and Kimberley couldn't have picked a better couple of days to see it and im sooo pleased that we did - it was a once in a lifetime experience for me and like I said before one of the most memorable.