I turned up to Varanasi at about 7am. There was no announcement that the train had rolled into the station I had to rely on a random to let me know. He knew his stuff though and I managed to get off at the correct stop.
I stayed in Varanasi for 2 days. The city is very old apparently dates back nearly 3000 years (probably why the buildings look a bit worse for wear....)
As you can imagine the city is all focussed on the ganges (Although I did take some time to visit Sarnath - a Buddhist area nearby).
ONce at the ganges can stand anywhere on the banks on the river and you would probably witness within a 20 metre radius:
People swimming in the river, people washing in the river, people doing their laundry, someone performing a ceremony, someone trying to sell you a boat ride, people playing cricket, others urinating in full public view, yoga classes, random goats, dogs and cows, a beggar, countless bodies being burnt on a log fires getting prepared to be swept into the river....oh yeah and also a couple of pipes pumping waste water into the river.
Its a lot to take in. I went down to the river twice, the first time was in the evening. I was gonna go for sunset, however the boat driver tried to take more money off me for it so I stayed on the banks until dusk before heading out (there was cloud cover anyway so I didnt miss out on much). During the boat ride we stopped at a temple for an evening ceremony. Lots of people, lots of boats, and lots of fire.
The second time was in the morning at 5am for sunrise. Very peaceful. No regrets setting the alarm for 4:30am. Both times I went to the river I took a boat out. Once on the river the noise on the bank seems to fall away into the background.
After 2 days I boarded the train heading for bombay/mumbai. 27hrs later I arrived -1hr behind schedual
