Varanasi

Arriving in Varanasi after being in the cool mountains was like a slap in the face. It is scorching hot and by 10am it is too hot to wander around. So I have been getting started around 5am when it is a bit cooler.

My not so luxurious hotel does have a couple of luxuries. One is a free boat road on the ganga every morning at 5:30am and every evening at 5pm. So far, this has been the highlight and a good way to see a bit of the city without too much physical exertion on my part. The other luxury was the free pick-up from the train station so after my night journey it was great to have someone approach me with my name on a sheet of paper and escort me to an auto rickshaw. No hassles or stress.

The not so great thing about my hotel room was the first room I had was somewhat of a cell block. In fact, other travellers had written things on the walls and drawn pictures and that was written above the door. At about 11pm last night, I changed rooms. So now I am paying for two double beds, but I have A/C. My first room was only equipped with a ceiling fan, which more or less just stirred the heat around a bit. At night, it becomes not only hot, but very humid because of the river and the pollution.