Ganges

We had a 3 hour drive to get to the boats, there were 3 boats for passengers and a kitchen boat. We were in a boat with Gi, Mary Phillip, Prue and Alisha in another and Pat, Bronwyn and Carli in the last one. We floated down the river a little then they tied the boats together and enjoyed the delicious lunch they had made while floating down the river.

After lunch it was more peaceful sailing down the Ganges. David decided to have a go at rowing, which he found out was very hard work and he ended up with 2 blisters on his hand. In the evening we stopped on an island where they set up our tents and a toilet tent. We had a lovely dinner or rice dahl, eggplant, chips, pasta, chai and we finished off with custard and fruit. They lit a small fire which we stood around talking and watching the flames. We headed off to bed at around 10am and were very warm with our 3 blankets even though the temperature was supposed to get to 6 degrees Celsius.

We got up at 6.45am and had a cup of hot masala chai. Pat, Phillip, Mary and Alisha joined us for yoga by the Ganges. Just before breakfast Phillip and Pat went into the Ganges, up to their necks for a dip. Catriona went in up to her knees. They made toast, and porridge for breakfast with some more masala chai. After they packed up the camping gear we set off again into the fog down the Ganges.

We snuggled up under blankets to keep warm but the boat men were pulling their clothes off as they warmed up rowing down the river. We quickly lost sight of the other boats in the thick fog which did not clear until around 10am. When the sun finally broke through it did warm up and David, Gi and Catriona played a couple of rounds of Uno. We had lunch on the boats they  lashed together again before disembarking and boarding a couple of cars for the one hour drive to Varanasi.

We arrived in Varanasi around 4.15pm checked in showered and met the group at 5pm for our orientation walk. We wandered along the Ghats (steps leading down to the river) where people were swimming, bathing, drinking the Ganges. We also saw people being cremated and people getting ready for the puja or prayer ceremony. There were children trying to sell us little dishes with candles and marigolds in them, and many persistent touts trying to sell postcards or necklaces. We left the Ghats once we reached the old town where we were given the opportunity to visit a cloth shop where the proprietor gave us a rundown on all the different types of cloth available. A few people in the group spent up big buying pashminas and scarves some over $50. We left the group to find an ATM as we had been struggling to find one that was open. We could not find the group again so decided to walk back to the hotel and passed another wedding along the way. It was 9pm by the time we made it back to the hotel. We had a dinner in the hotel restaurant then headed off to bed very full.