5am wake up call on the train, slept soundly - some friends not so well, from the station we have the luxury of a private bus to take us to the river...
sailing boats, hmmm, well they have a sail I guess - but there's no wind anyway so its a moot point. All aboard three or four to a boat, I share with Kasia and Junior and get comfy whilst two scrawny local lads prepare to row us down the ganges..
a bit of sleep, a bit of connect four, a bit of usic, as we take in the sights of the river bank - kids swimming with buffalo, or running along the ridge waving frantically at us. A few steps, one cremation, a dog about 20m from shore tearing into some kind of carcass, baitfish skipping across the surface, tiny frogs sitting on every patch of froth.
Little sis wants a turn at the oars, one of the lads readily gives up his seat! Then Junior gets in on the action - but gives up pretty quick, letting me take his place, the boatmen are pretty happy now with Kasia and I at the oars, Kasia packs it in after a while but I stick at it for a good while longer enjoying the extra sweat - when I do want to turn it in the other oarman trys earnestly to convince Kasia or Junior to get back in, to no avail!
Kasia is less than impressed when a request for a toilet stop is met by pulling up to a barren, flat sandbar in the middle of the river rather than either shore where bushes, rocks, and walls abound!
Sunset is amazing! Eventually we set ashore onto a large sandbar to set up camp for the night.
(my stomache is somewhat distuurbed, under contol but no appetite)
