Once again we left the hotel at 6am, heading straight into the centre of Varanasi to take a boat trip down the water of the Ganges. Varanasi is the holiest of holy places in India, and pilgrims come everyday from all over the country to bathe in the holy waters of the Ganges, or to be cremated here on their death. We started in the dark, in an old wooden rowing boat, surrounded by other boats draped in souvenirs- we couldn't get away from them even on the water! It was like a little floating market, there were people washing and bathing all over the banks in the many ghats, there was so much noise and commotion, including dancing, chanting and people performing rituals with fire. We passed many temples, and people lit candles and floated them on the river as Hindus see the Ganges as a goddess to be worshipped. On the other side of the river however it was so serene and peaceful, and it was stunning to watch the sun rise over the banks and the water. The boat dropped us off at the ghat used as the biggest crematorium, where we saw the burning piles of wood covering the dead bodies and the ashes being brushed into the water, where people were swimming and bathing metres away! The smell was disgusting, and as we made our way up into the tiny back streets (Varanasi could well be the oldest city in the world so tiny little streets amongst houses and temples), which stank of human excrement and rubbish. They were crowded with beggars and shrines, which are creepy because they are always locked behind bars and covered in splashes of red or yellow paint, and little stalls which were like DIY funerals, selling ladders to carry the bodies on and shrouds to cover them! As we made our way back to the coach, we passed a huge white domed mosque, which was heavily guarded by armed police every few metres. It is the ongoing centre of dispute between Hindus and Muslims as the mosque is built on the remains of an earlier Hindu temple and is still visited as a pilgrimage holy spot. If you take a photo anywhere nearby the police will remove your camera and throw away the film! We then spent a lazy afternoon in the hotel, packing and watching tv, and ate a lovely chinese meal in the evening, before boarding another sleeper train at 6pm back to Delhi! There was great excitement caused by a mouse running round our carriage!