From Agra was somewhere else I was really looking forward to...Varanasi. Varanasi is a sacred Hindu city, where people bathe, do their washing, cremate their deceased loved ones (and do everything else humanly possible) in the Ganges river. There is a massive line of ghats on the riverbank where all this activity happens and was so interesting to walk through. There are also Sadhus (old religious men) who live on the riverbank, are generally just stoned all the time, have amazing beards and walk around practically naked. All in all its a great cultural experience and very stereotypically India, so I'm glad it didn't disappoint. Some of my friends dunked themselves in the Ganges, though this was probably due to their common sense being numbed by weed, rather than anything else! The water didn't look particularly appetising, but not as bad as I thought it would. The body burning ceremonies were pretty cool to see too, but with cows eating the offered flowers and dogs wandering inbetween the bonfires, it didn't seem particularly sacred to me (but maybe I'm just cynical!!). We also celebrated Holi (a Hindu festival) in Varanasi, where people basically run around throwing brightly coloured powder and water over each other which was a lot of fun!

From Varanasi, we got another overnight train to Kolkata, where our tour ended. Kolkata I quite enjoyed, as it was a lot more civilised than the rest of India (i.e. it wasn't as dirty and didn't smell that bad), plus its quite British in its architecture and structure. I misjudged my dates of my next flight though, so rather than spend any more time than was necessary in another city, I went on a two day trip to Sundarban National Park, which borders Bangladesh. Unfortunately we didn't see any tigers, but the scenery was beautiful (we did see a 6m croc though) and the people were lovely. I much prefer the people of rural India, as they're geniunely nice without wanting anything in return or hassling you. Seeing the villages were really interesting, as was the ferry crossing in the pitch black across crocodile infested waters, with goats, chickens and people as fellow passengers!!

From here, I met up with Suzanne in Chennai and our southern India trip began...