after the taj, we left or diver (but not before dipping into pizzahut - we know - it doesnt seem right to do this in india - but the place was full of people all desperate for something that isnt a curry!!!!)

had our first indian train experince and it wasnt too bad - although the conducter hussled charlotte out of her seat saying the office had cancelled the ticket and it had been resold to someone else - which we later found out wasnt true - harvey was the true gent and gave up his bed and slept on the floor :)

we arrived only 2 hours late the follwig morning and are preparing oursleves for the next long train journey now! arrived in varanasi and the hotle the agency had booked for us was fully booked upon arrival (!!!!) so they moved us to another hotel which was rubbish and far to far away from the bit we wanted to be at. we spent the next 3 hours trekking round unsuitable hotels until harvey finally lost his cool and told them which hotel we were going to! we finally got hold of the agency back in delhi and they agreed to pay the hotel we wanted so all was good. after a desperately needed shower and bottle of cold water we headed out on to the ghas of the river ganges. the dirt and poverty here in varanassi is unbelievable, even after all we have seen of india so far. has been shocking. the state of the animals here is rancid, dogs and donkeys litterally have holes in them and little fur and there are so many diabled people here too. we went for a late lunch and then hedaed down to the ghats to negotiate a boat trip. our boat driver rowed up the ghats so we could see the nightly religious celebration take place at one of the ghats, a celebtartion of music and fire and loads of flowers. we set off little lotus flower candles into the water - for the health of our family and freinds! was really quite nice out there but the river is absolutely disgusiting! it is brown with dirt and scum and we read in a book tat the faecal content is 3 times the amount safe to swim in - yet there are people bathing, washing clothes, rinsing their mouthes out and bathing there sick relatives in to heal them.....so groce!

we got up at 5am again this morning to take an early morning boat trip - just the two of us and our rower again - as the sun came up and it was just as we have read - very beautiful, the sky went all pink and the mist was rising from the water as we rowed upsteam. set off another candle a well. we rowed up to the burning ghats where pople were being cremated - the buildings behind were all black with human smoke - pretty rough!

found a great little place for breakfast that is very chilled out, does awesome food and donates profits to local charities - one of which is a school that we went to see after we had breakfast. we are back there right now writing this blog and waiting for a pad thai to take with us on our epic train journey which commences tonight 26 and a half hours here we come! hopefully we have seats this time!

we have run out of international calling credit 9711870495 - dont know what the international dial code is though. so would like to hear from the parents especially so when you have a minute - we will be pretty bored on a train for the next day so speak to you soon hopefully! love to all xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

P.s. There are some epic photos coming.