27th July - Left at 7.00am for Delhi airport and our flight to Varanasi - it was a choice between a 13.5 hour train journey or a 1.5 hour flight with the price about the same, so this time the plane won. We took a taxi from the airport after landing for the 30km drive which took us over 2 hours - the traffic was terrible. Arriving at the river front (the famous Holy Ganges) our hotel met us by boat to take us 10 minutes upstream to our accommodation - a refurbished 20th century Haveli which was built by the Royal Family of Nepal as a retreat.

Varanasi is certainly unique and it is difficult to explain our experience and the atmosphere in words. There are 84 ghats along this 6km stretch of river and with long flights of stairs down to the river front, it is thronged with pilgrims and residents bathing in the river, people meditating, sitting in yoga poses, praying, children jumping in the water, boats full of people and cremations …………

Our first venture out was for a "stroll" along the river where our first real experience of Varanasi was seeing the burning cremation fires (pyres) of the Hindu cremation ritual where about 80 bodies are cremated every day. It was mesmerising, fascinating but also difficult to watch - dead bodies covered in cloth and tied to a bamboo frame. If a person dies in the Ganges and/or have their ashes laid in the Ganges, their soul will be transported to heaven and escape the cycle of rebirth (although their culture believes in reincarnation).

We didn't watch for long and continued our walk still being approached by touts to take us to their silk shop, have our palms read and even wanting to sell us hash. As well as huge crowds of people both in and out of the river, there were also plenty of dogs, cows and goats to accompany us.

Varanasi was a total assault on the senses having a vaguely surreal quality, somehow the happenings all around didn't feel entirely real. Life revolves around the Ganges and regardless of the time, there is always things happening both spiritual and mundane …… Cremation ceremonies, pilgrims collecting the 'holy water' and performing ritual dipping, The main ceremony is the Aarti which happens in the morning and evening involving hundreds of devotees chanting and singing, whilst the priests lead the celebration using fire, smoke and water - On our second night we watched the ceremony from a boat on the Ganges and it was spellbinding. The Aarti is apparently a ritual to wish the Holy Ganges "goodnight" before the gods sleep and "Good Morning" when they wake……. We were in fact watching a ceremony being offered to the Ganges, while we sitting on it - Placing ourselves between those that are celebrating and the object of their celebration.

On the more mundane side people were bathing, swimming, washing clothes and even washing their cattle in the holy Ganges. Watching these mundane tasks reminded us that we needed to get some clothes washed, one of the problems when travelling every day is how to find the opportunity to get your laundry done and at a reasonable cost…… the four-day stopover provided the time and the cost was quite cheap so we gave them our washing. Heather had bought a bright red top, which turned out, not to be colour-fast and gave Heather a whole new look to her wardrobe….. Dan escaped with only the pockets of his Khaki shorts being affected ……… His own fault - He had been warned several times on the trip to "Beware of Pinkpockets".

There is a distinct sense of spirituality and religious fervour and it is difficult not to be affected, especially as we arrived at the beginning of Sawan (a particularly holy month dedicated to the Lord Shiva) and Pilgrims from all over India (dressed in orange) had come to Varanasi to pay homage. However, beneath the strong and devout atmosphere that pervades there is still an undercurrent of people in the street trying to scam money …… Everybody has a family business, they draw you into conversation, then attempt very subtly to invite you to view the handicrafts of their family enterprise, which they of course operate largely for charity - No obligation to buy but it would be insulting not to look - The guilt card is played very well but lifelong training with Irish Catholic mothers served very well.

Every day should have a purpose, a quest and on day three we declared our Holy Grail to be the "Blue Lassi" …… Lassi was Heather's favourite (non-alcoholic) drink in India and the fabled Blue Lassi was the best of the best but only to be found in a remote corner of Varanasi - The search started badly, we were directed to walk to the "Ministry" and turn right …… We couldn't find the Ministry - It turned out to be "The Main Street" ….. must work on our listening skills. After 2 hours of searching through the narrow maze-like streets and getting poor directions from people directing us to their shops, we finally tracked down our "Holy Grail" - the elusive "Blue Lassi", which turned out to be the name of the hole in the wall shop that sold the nectaresque liquid. In the time it took to drink our well earned refreshments, five separate bodies carried aloft on funeral biers, accompanied by chanting relatives came past on the way to the burning Ghat for their respective funeral services ……. Death never seems far away in Varanasi

We wondered when we arrived why the Ghats had so many steps down to the riverside but 4 days after arriving, the steps outside have largely disappeared along with some small buildings. The water in that short time had risen about 20 feet, because of the monsoon effect.

We spent 2 days exploring the narrow backstreets, which were about 6-foot wide, with "hole in the wall" shops on both sides, these narrow alleys are shared by people, cows, motor bikes, dogs, goats and the occasional monkey …… They are both blinding and deafening with the array of colours and the fast, loud patter of the traders …… it feels like you are in an over-elaborate film set, where reality dissolves and you wander around in a bemused daze.

On our final day we took a detour on the way to the airport to a town called Sarnath.

We had spent 4 days steeped in the Hindu religion but Sarnath is one of the four important cities in the Buddhist religion and is reputedly where Buddha preached his first sermon and started his religion with 5 devout followers. There is an 80 foot high statue of Buddha in the town and several temples dedicated to him. The place however lacked the spiritual feel of Varanasi and was dominated by stalls and people selling mementoes and tacky religious style talismans. Interesting from a historical perspective and a few learning points like the origin of Buddhism being India made it a worthwhile stop-off but not somewhere to spend longer than a day.