We boarded our sleeper train to find our whole party had been assigned to the same part of the car.The two young girls on the top tier,2 gents on the middle and the mature ladies on the bottom.Our luggage was forced under the bottom couch and with a padlock and chain secured to it as the aisle ran past our section with 2 other bunks opposite us lengthways across. These were already occupied by one gentleman already in bed and a rather annoying fellow who had clearly had too much to drink and wanted us to go to bed as soon as possible as he wanted to sleep. We didn't mind particularly as it was 11ish or so but he carried on pacing about and generally not settling down himself.Our carriage was full and so at the next few stops we weren't particularly inconvenienced by people getting,just the odd person who braved the loos.If you were lucky you got a European loo,unlucky just squat over a hole! At about 8 o'clock we arrived at Allahabad,one of the four holy sites in the Hindu faith where 2 rivers meet the Ganges. Most of our carriage got out here and we took advantage of the long wait to order some chai from the refreshment booth.Most welcome after a fitful night. Our guide found that the passenger in the bunk below him had borrowed his flip flops instead of putting on his own shoes in the semi darkness and had first wandered off to get some tea and then when the train started had gone to chat to a pal in another carriage. The porter had to be sent to demand them back as our guide wanted to go for a pee! They were duly returned but with no real apology.That's India our guide said.Another 4 hours saw us arrive at Varanasi where after stating we were going to carry our own bags the porters immediately halved their fee.50 rupees being better than no rupees! All our luggage was piled into a tuktuk and we braved crossing the road to our hotel which was opposite the station. A welcome beer and a snack followed by a shower and laundry collection meant we were refreshed for our tour of Varanasi,the holiest site for the Hindus.
We took a mad rickshaw cavalcade through the bazaars and old streets of the town .bicycles and tuktuks come at you from all sides often going the wrong way down a one way street honking incessantly as they go and we all trying to avoid the cows that wander freely about. Eventually we stopped done a dark alley and tottered down some steps and found ourselves on the riverbank. The Ganges stretching out from left to right with nothing on the other side but sand and trees in the distance. We watched a guru on a boat chanting mantras for a crowd of women who do not take part in the cremations of their loved ones that were taking place a few yards downstream. A boat took us up past this cremation site and we travelled downstream to another cremation site which is unique as it operates 24 hours a day whereas normally Hindus can only do it during daylight hours.We retraced our steps and moored up close to the steps where we witnessed a service to Shiva with lots of bells,chanting and fire. Chai sellers boarded the boat to give us refreshment and another to give us floating candles to set adrift. It was a charming sight to see the candles floating off in the night.Another chaotic rickshaw ride to a Nepalese restaurant where were able to eat a steak served with proper vegetables. Made a change from curry!Another nice touch was that the owner put on a Beatles hits album so we had a little singsong sotte voce.