Varanasi and Viruses!

We arrived back in Delhi from Kathmandu which by the way was the most security I've ever seen to get on a flight!!  5 times we had our bags checked before boarding the flight! We were then straight off to the train station to catch our first India train to the holy city of Varanasi. It was about 13 hours long on an overnight sleeper but longer if you account for delays which are frequent in India, unsurprisingly! What an experience. We travelled in 2nd class air con which wasn't exactly the height of luxury and both barely slept a wink all night. The whole process was difficult as everything is in India. Our train was not listed on the board, we had to ask a number of people before somebody told us which platform to go to. We then had to get hot and sweaty as obviously it was the furthest platform away. When we got there it was confusing to know where to get on. Once you've done this once it's fine but the first time was completely confusing! There are no announcements to tell you where the train is stopping which can be difficult when it's dark. So we woke up for the time we were supposed to be arriving and then an hour and a half later we reached Varanasi!
We were seemingly staying in an oasis in an otherwise chaotic city, slept, had a swim in the pool, chilled and I had a massage.
Varanasi is situated on the Ganges river and is a Hindu holy city where thousands of pilgrims come all year round to bathe in the water at one of the many ghats along the river bank. There are also cremation ghats were families come to cremate their dead and many people also come to the city to die as this is though to release you from the circle of life and death.
Varanasi is a maze of tiny streets in the old city leading to the array of ghats on the Ganges. The river is muddy and wide, built up on the Varanasi side and mud flats on the other. We decided to take a trip down the river at sunset. We stepped aboard the wooden rowing boat just before sunset as the light was waning. Our guide rowed up river as we watched pilgrims descend the steps of the ghats to bathe. Fires burnt at a nearby ghat cremating bodies as families watched.
Aarti lamps were floated on the water by Hindus in boats. We rowed down river to a ghat to watch the evening Puja ceremony. Holy men took part in an elaborate ceremony involving music, prayers, candles and incense. All working in unison, repeating moves over and over again in all directions. The smell of incense filled the night air as hundreds of people looked on. Young boys were fishing from a nearby boat.  As we rowed back after the ceremony the moon hung low in the sky casting an orange glow over the river.

The Puja ceremony

John and I were both unwell while in Varanasi so perhaps our accommodation and its food were not such an oasis after all!  The hotel were also incompetent as we were leaving which resulted in us missing our train, us arguing with them, them not caring and then us having to bribe officials at the train station to get a ticket out of Varanasi that day to Agra!