We arrived at our hotel in Varanasi at 6am after our sleeper train that I forgot to mention in my Agra blog was an adventure to the station. Due to an extreme amount of traffic from a festival and a closed road the two taxis we had had to spped to the staion and then we had to run for our train and didn't have time to grab our bags so these really nice men were running and carrying three at a time and we threw the bags in and all clambered in after them in time to leave the train. We were all so relieved as we were convinced that we were going to miss the train. So needless to say after all of that we were all really tired so went to sleep for a few hours before we did anything.

I ventured out locally from where I was staying in the afternoon to access the internet but this was about as far as we went untill the evening where our guide took us for a sunset boatride (although we missed sunset), here we were able to see the ghats and the cremations at nightime. It was such an amazing sight and a real highlight to my trip. Unfortunately some of the girls were really ill so were unable to enjoy this properlly. We all bought a flower candle and made a wish in the ganges and then watched the daily ceremony worshiping the ganges. This is definately soemthing that has to be seen if you are to visit India.

When the morning came it was another early start this time for a sunrise boatride again on the ganges. I'm really glad that we were able to do both boat rides as it shows you a different side to the ganges. We sailed further down so that we could see the smaller cremation site and witnessed people bathing, swimming and washing their clothes in the ganges all of these sites are well worth seeing.

After returning to the hotel for a spot of breakfast we went to the Sarnath which is just slightly out of Varanasi. The Sarnath is the birthplace of Buddism where Buddha first found enlightenment under the Bodi tree that has been replanted here from a sampling of the original. The temple itseld wasn't amazing but the sight if his first sermon was something that I'm really glad that I've seen. On this sight there was also a Jane temple was was really nice and all in all was a bit of escapism from the usual hustle and bustle of India.

After a restfull afternoon takes us to an eventfull evening where I will give Grand Parents warning to please stop reading now.

Our tour guide took us to this really lovely out of the way restaurant that had a real hippy feel where all of the food was organic. But this is not the eventfull part oh no, most of us decided at our tour guides suggestion to have a bang lassi. For those of you that don't know what bang is it is a legal form of marijuana in India as it is used to worship Shiva. So we all had the suggested amount of half a glass of this that by the end of I was very giggly at, but Liz couldn't drink hers so me and Emma thought it would be a good idea to share it between the two of us, really not a smart move. I have never in my life been so stoned. It was the most surreal experience being driven back on a cycle rickshaw on Indian roads in that state! This is something I suggest others that follow do in smaller doses. As even those more experienced than me and Emma who took less were all worse for wear and I can tell you I was not a well bunny the next day, forget about hangovers this beats it!

Somehow the next day we did manage to venture out to a really nice restaurant on the Ghats called the Lotus lounge which had amazing food and views. This also meant that we were able to enjoy Varanasi properly before we headed for our final overnight train back to Delhi. We did a little bit of shopping enjoying the narrow streets of Varanasi before heading back to the hotel, although I was very good and didn't buy a thing.

Getting to the train station again came with a mini adventure, at least for me and Emma as our rickshaw driver decided it would be a good idea to not stop at the station where he was meant to and instead carry on. We had to make him stop, tried to explain to him that we needed to turn around did train symbols but he just wanted to stand and chat to his friend. Unfortunatly both our phones don't like calling out so we couldn't contact anyone. Thank fully our tour guide did call us and we managed to make the rickshaw man turn around although he refused to talk to our tour guide on the phone. He then preceded to go as slowly as he could manage to get us to the train station no matter how many times we pointed to the exact spot that we needed to go. Eventually we got there and I have never seen our tour guide so angry as he was against the rickshaw man. I have no idea where he was trying to take us but needless to say he didn't get paid and instead got a hard wack around his face. Thank fully that has currently been the last of my major adventures as far as now.