Varanassi: 1st-4th February

So we bunged ourselves up with Imodium Plus and left Delhi to catch the overnight train to Varanassi where we were planning to see the sunrise over the Ganges and the morning rituals of the locals and pilgrims bathing in the Ganges, stay overnight for one night, then catch the overnight train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

The train ride here was ok and the Imodium seemed to have done the trick. We both felt very weak but definitely a little bit better. We reached our hotel just before 10am where we checked in, had some breakfast (toast and banana - first breakfast for a few days) then had a quick nap before heading out for a bit of sightseeing. We went to see the museum and ruins at Sarnath (the spot where the Budha gave his first sermon), but to be honest I don't really know what they were as we both felt so weak and rubbish that all we could focus on was finding somewhere to sit down and keeping the stomach cramps under control. After a couple of hours we decided to call it a day and headed back to our hotel.

We spent the next few hours lazing around our hotel room then decided to pop down to the restaurant for our first proper meal in 5 days. I opted for the cheese sandwich and french fries and Dan had some noodles. We thought these options were safer as they would not be so spicy!!

Headed up to bed and everything was fine until 4am in the morning when BANG, Dan was a mess again. This time he also had a soaring temperature to add to the worries and it was all really quite scary. After an hour or so I cancelled our 5.30 am pick up to see the sun rise over the river then called my mum for some much needed advice on what to do for the best (thanks mum and sorry for the 3 am wake up call!!). We decided to try more Imodium and some paracetamol to see if that helped but if there was no improvement in a couple of hours a doctor was going to be our only option. Anyway, to cut a long story short, after several hours, lots of cold flannels, Imodium, rehydration salts, paracetamol and ibuprophen the fever final broke and Dan started to feel a little bit better. In the meantime I extended our stay from one night to four and pushed back all our plans in the hope that he felt well enough to travel again by then.

We are now on our last day here and we have both been a bit up and down. We catch the train to Agra at 5.10 am tomorrow morning (its 1pm here now) which means we need to leave our hotel at 3.45 am (ouch!). Dan is still pretty rough but is feeling up to eating some dry toast and banana so I will order that from room service now and keep my fingers crossed it doesn't set him back again.

Thank you all for your lovely messages and emails over the last few days. They have really helped to keep our spirits up.

PS - sorry no photos this time - there hasn't really been much to see!!

Onwards and upwards!

Sue and Dan xx