There were 4 of us to a boat (we shared with Pauline and Karen) and 2 rowers. We had to be careful not to move as the rowers kept shouting "Balance" if we stirred at all!!
Lunch was served on the boats whilst drifting on the Ganges.

Calm waters on the Ganges

We saw Dolphins in the Ganges - 3 of them altogether!! Found out there are only about 4000 of them, a rare species, they are blind (not surprisingly considering what they swim in!)

We arrived at the campsite and got the tents set up for us. Dinner was set on the banks of the Ganges. 3 courses of Soup, Pasta and curried veg and fruit custard!
We did have a toilet at the campsite - a toilet tent with a hole in the sand - had to be good at aiming!!

Feb 7
We got awoken early by the ladies in the next tent talking about what a good sleep they had had (at 6am!) Toast was served promptly - cornflakes and toast with jam!

Set off in the boats again at 8am, it was a fresh start to the day (most of the aussies were complaining about the cold!). To keep warm both of us had a go at rowing the boat and also to give our poor rowers a bit of a rest. James thought he was better than me but I told him the only reason he overtook the other boats was because they all had loo stops!!

Rowing down the Ganges

Lunch today was the normal Daal, rice, potatoes. Its amazing how they can make such tasty food from cooking on a rowing boat and only using vegatables!!

The weather brightened up in the afternoon. James also had another stint at rowing. I think it was because we were going to stop but then we kept on going for another hour!!

Camping on the river bank again. Dinner was eaten in the dark - popadoms with tomato soup, pumpkin, chappatis, curried veg and chips!! Followed by rice pudding.

Feb 8
This morning we awoke to a damp mist. James had a yoga lesson with our guide, Shailendra.
Breakfast was porridge, toasty and hot chocolate!
We all had to wrap up warm this morning as it was cold - even for us!

It was only a short row this morning as we were arriving at Varanasi and finishing our adventure on the Ganges. Our final lunch was served on the boat.

written by  James & Tracey on February 6, 2007 from Mirzapur, India
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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Met the rest of our Intrepid group earlier - got 2 people from Austria, 2 from New Zealand, 6 from Oz and us 2 pomms. We have to meet up at 8am tomorrow.

So far today we had a bit of a lie in after about 18 hours sleep, this jet lag thing is awful! Didnt venture out of our room last night as we were knackered and only had a kit kat for dinner.

So today was the big adventure out. We had lunch - a chicken tikka roll and small pizza thing - should have known it would be spicy I'm in India but still tried to burn my mouth out!! Went for dinner out tonight at a restaurant the other side of town, had to watch out for the rickshaws and cars, but can hardly miss them as all they do is blow the horn!! We had a curry each wtih rice and naan for 6 quid!! (there is no pound sign on this keyboard)

Doing OK on the Delhi belly side at the moment, as James said he can still fart with confidence!! It is only 1 day in though. We also found out after our meeting that there is no toilet on the boat for which we will be on for 3 days - D'oh! That's may be why its not a good idea to swim in the ganges!!!

thats it for now (again!)

Feb 5
It was an early start meeting up with the rest of the group and getting on a bus in to Old Delhi. It was mainly standing room only in the bus, until a few of the locals felt sorry for us and were allowed to sit down!
First visit was to a Red sand stone Hindu Temple. Both of us were the only ones to brave the top of the tower. Not really worth it as the view was quite misty when we finally got to the top!
From here we walked through the mad little alleyways of Old Delhi, Stopped for a spot of Chaye, and carried on going. We ended up coming out on a relatively normal street, quite strange as it seemed like another little world in those alleyways!
Went to a Seikh Temple - one of the main ones for Delhi and where they feed up to 10000 people per day for 3 meals. Tracey helped towards this by making 2 chappaties!! Got a great photo, and also one of James with the orange scarf on his head!

We caught a cycle rickshaw to the spice market. It was just a cicle of stalls that sold spices - and so many of them. On the way out had a coughing fit as some of the dust got caught in my throat!

Busy road and autorickshaw

We ventured onto the Delhi Metro (underground) It was amazing, nothing like London Underground - It is clean and quiet!!And nothing like the Delhi above it. Went into New Delhi and had lunch with the group in Connaught place in a restaurant called "piccadelhi".

James and I had the afternoon free so we thought we'd walk to the India Gate. Little did we know how far it would be and how busy the roads would be to cross! The last road that ran around the Gate took us about 10 minutes to pluck up the courage to cross all 7 lanes of constant traffic. In the end we followed the locals way of just walking out and waiting for the traffic to either go round us or stop!! All the time constant beeping! The India Gate looks a bit like the Arc de Triomphe, but is not as good!!

We went out for dinner with the rest of the group before heading out to the train station for our overnight train journey.

written by  James & Tracey on February 4, 2007 from Delhi, India
from the travel blog: James & Tracey World Tour
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