Varanasi

We did make it onto the train, I think Erika was not feeling as bad as me and kept me going...We arrived in Varanasi after a 14 hour overnight train trip made our way to a hotel and went exploring. We went to some of the ghats on the Ganges and saw cremations taking place. At first I didn't notice the bodies in the burning piles of wood and actually it was not so much of a shock as I expected it to be. One of the funeral pyres was right below us and I always expected burning bodies to smell, but they didn't. Mostly it was men near to the pyres as women get to emotional and some have thrown themselves on the fire in the past apparently.

We then took a 2 hour boat ride on the Ganges and saw everything from the river.
I also had a go at rowing the boat.

There were many people taking a dip in the river but I settled for putting my hand into it as we saw dead bodies being washed in the river before being placed on the fire and our boatman told us that after the cremation the ashes are scattered into the water, plus some people are not cremated at all and the bodies are thrown in weighed down by rocks!

We also took another boat ride in the evening at sunset and watched some ceremonies taking place at the riverside. We also light some floating candles, made a wish and let them float away on the holy river.