Gange pants and the like....

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Well, we survived our first India train experience!

we shared our third class sleeper with Lisa the Indian model (who kept doing Le Tigre) and old mate sleezeball as well as a few other indian randoms. The bear on top bunk and me on lower keeping one eye on our luggage an the other on the sleaze! The toilet experience was...interesting...as using an 'indian' toilet on a fast moving train is never ideal...lucky no dodgy curries still!

Arrived in Varanasi sleepy-eyed to be greeted by a man from our hotel in a spectacular mustard vest (which he has remained in for the duration of our stay). Through the chaotic streets of Varanasi in our first Tuk-Tuk rollercoaster ride, we arrived at Alka Hotel - what a beautiful oasis! Our hotel is situated at Meer ghat (appropriately Clare and i have bought out mere Cat impersonations.....and numerous rounds of the friends tune 'smelly ghat, smelly ghat...what are they feeding you!")

Varanasi has been a real eye-opener: words can barely describe the sights we have witnessed as we watch the lives of the locals unfold as we walk along the Ghats (on the banks of the Ganjes). With in a few metres you will see men bathing in the river, women washing their brightly coloured saris in the water, a daily cleaning ritual of shaving and grooming, bodies are being cremated out in the open at the burning ghats and their remains are thrown into the river just metres from where they are all bathing, as well all this there are cows, goats, wild dogs, geese, cheeky monkeys and large amounts of animal poos....and when we say large, we mean large (just check the bottom of our shoes)!!!

Took a boat ride with old mate Prakesh and saw all of this unfold from the water. Weather been a bit chilly as expected so we are glad we threw in that last minute jumper as we have been in the same clothes for three days 😊

Off to Agra (home of the taj mahal) today on another of our ridiculously long train journeys.

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