When we arrived in Mirzapur we were able to take a shower and get some breakfast, then we were transferred to river boats where we spent the next 3 days sailing down the Ganges. It was lovely just relaxing on the boats which were very small and covered in cushions and blankets as we either used the sail or were rowed down the river. We drank lots of Masala chai (very sweet tea with spices-delicious!) and nearly froze to death spending 2 nights camping on the sand banks in the middle of the river! There were 3 boats in all… one of them being the ‘kitchen’ which cooked us fantastic food!

On the last day on the boats we stopped at Ramnagar Fort (1750) which had been transformed into a museum. As we sailed past we saw a Bollywood film being made at the fort right on the river bank… It was really colourful and we saw a woman who was sat sunning herself whilst a huge bodyguard stood next to her... Our guide got very excited as apparently she is a very famous Bollywood actress! However, the fort housed possibly the worst museum in the world... I don’t think any of the artefacts had been dusted since 1750!! James and I were also talked into trying the lassie (a sweet yoghurt drink) that’s meant to be quite famous... It tasted smoked and looked very dodgy so I was quite worried about my stomach after that one! As we got back onto the boats we saw cows being washed in the Ganges!!

We arrived into Varanasi that afternoon into one of the many ghats along the river; we were staying at a hotel by Assi ghat. At the hotel there was a massage service where you could have South Indian massages which the guide told us were incredible! So me and James both decided to have them... what we didn’t realise was that you had to be totally starkers and then have loads of oil drizzled all over you! So it was different at least!

The next morning we got up at 5.30 to watch the sunrise from a boat on the Ganges… It was FREEZING! It was also very beautiful and we sailed past all the ghats that line the Ganges at Varanasi which was really interesting. But there were loads of other boats doing the same thing and it felt like tourists were just being hoarded through taking pictures and videos of locals going about their daily business of washing themselves or their clothes and taking part in holy ceremonies.

In the evening we went out again on a boat for a candle ceremony where we all lit candles and left them to float down the river whilst two men played the sitar and tabla (like a guitar and a drum) That was very beautiful… the pattern of light the candles left behind on the river was stunning! It also felt very special as we were the only boat on the river doing it and it’s a Hindu ceremony of offering to their holy Ganges!

The next day James and I went shopping very unsuccessfully!! We’d been sheltered from the hustle and bustle of India for a while with it being so peaceful on the river and so found it hard to cope! We walked back to the hotel along the ghats which was really interesting but hard work with all the hassle!

In the evening we got on an overnight train to Agra. There was a Canadian guy on the train who ate the food that you could buy onboard (even though I warned him our guide had said it was pretty dodgy on this train!) he was up vomiting all night so loudly that it kept waking everyone up! I felt so bad for him he looked so ill… at least I didn’t tell him ‘I told you so’ in the morning!