We arrived in Varanasi earlier than expected as we cut the sailing down the Ganges a little shorter. Varanasi on first impression seems really noisy, like most cities in this country.

We were taken out to walk along ghats, nearly all 90 of them. They were very busy and there were plenty of cows to dodge too. This is the last place we visit in India before going over to the border into Nepal, but it will be nice to not have to avoid all the different types of s*** on the floor, unless Nepal is exactly the same.

We did manage to experience a funeral on the ghats which I was interested in. I wanted and stay and watch but we had to move on. I could see the body it was all wrapped up in cloth and the logs that it was on were burning, fortunately all I could smell was burning logs and not flesh.

We took a detour off the ghats and through the markets, they were cramped as there was loads of people and more cows. Lots of people were trying to grab us to sell us tat, mostly fake silk.

When the sun was setting we took a boat out from one of the ghats and watching a Hindu ceremony praying for Sheba. Loads of boats swarm in from around to watch it, there must have been thousands of people. It was quite a fascinating experience, although I did feel sorry for the people that lived directly in the houses above it as it was very noisy and to put up with every night would prob do your head in. The Mosquitos on the water were bad too, there was billions of them, i was surprised as I don't think I got bitten once, although I did get a mouthful of them.

I didn't stay up late that night as I was shattered and was so looking forward to a proper bed. Unfortunately Varanasi doesn't have the same sleeping pattern as myself, luckily I was able to get some sleep even though people were letting fireworks off outside the hotel.

It was an early start to watch the sunrise, 5:30am, to be exact. We took a boat from the ghats and watched the sunrise, it was a lot more peaceful at 6am than the evening before. The sun lights up the ghats a golden brown colour so well worth the early rise. The only issue I had was the people feeding the seagulls with the feed that you can purchase from the boatman, it was complete nuisance trying to get into the experience with thousands of seagulls flocking round your head.

After the sunrise a few of us decided to go for a walk along the ghats to see the ghats further along. We saw a few more burning bodies along the way, we stayed and watched for a bit (from a distance). It was pretty grim as not all the bodies were covered up. It was quite an intense experience, we left when it looked like one of the morning family seemed annoyed that we watching on.

We leave for Nepal tomorrow morning at 4am, so another early start. We have a 10 hour bus journey to lumbini, but I thought I would reflect on my experience of India:-

Highlights - Everywhere has had it's highlights the Taj Mahal was great, Orchha was peaceful, the sailing down the Ganges was bliss, Varanasi was mental, chai tea, potato curries, crazy people, too many moments that of you blink you'll miss something mad, sharing the streets with cows, water buffalo, goats, monkeys and every type of vehicle you can get in India and millions of people getting on with their day.

Lowlights - constant smell of piss, watching people s*** and piss everywhere, getting a cold on the last day and the sleeper train