Roughing it down the Ganges

Before leaving Orchha in the morning we went white water rafting on the river. This was brilliant as we rafted past and saw the temples on thebankBefore we left Orchha we had a visit to a community project which was a paper making factory. Chris had great fun helping out.

Chris helps out at the paper factory

We then had to catch the overnight train from Jansi to Allahbad. This was an experience to say the least. The bunks were 3 high and we had top ones which were about 7-8 feet of the ground and had a rather precarious ladder to climb up. They were quite hard and the train rocked and shuddered alot. We did not get much sleep but just dozed. We were glad to get of the next morning!.

Top bunks on the overnight train

When we got off the train we had to carry our bags up and then down a massive flight of stairs with hundreds of people around us. Some how we managed it!!. After breakfast we drove for about 2 hours and got our first sight of the mighty Ganges.

First glimpse of the mighty Ganges

We then boarded our boats for our camping trip down the Ganges. A word about our bags - we had been really concerned about the size of our bags in India. The only difficulty came in carrying them up or down steps. On the flat its fine as we can wheel them. On the trains our guide was fantastic and managed to find space to fit them in and he always helped us with them. On the boat the bags did prove to be slightly large as the picture below shows but they got them on.

Loading our massive bags on the boats

So 2 days sailing down the Ganges. Very relaxing and peaceful and interesting to see the small village on the sides of the river. We did not appreciate quite how wide the river is and it has a really strong current so not much rowing was required to get us anywhere. Mostly we were just floating along. At one point both the boatmen fell asleep!. We arrived at our camp site which was a sand bar in the middle of the Ganges. The support boat put up some small tents for us and we had a sleeping mat and a sheet. They also dug a hole for the toilet and put up a toilet tent around it. For breakfast, lunch and dinner we were fed the most amazing food cooked freshly on the boat in front of us.

Our bed for the night

When we arrived on the island a load of children from the village on the opposite bank rowed out to us. They were really interested in us and initially asumed we were filming a movie. Chris managed to find some of them who were fishing so of course had a go. Another one to tick of - fishing the Ganges (did not catch anything though!!)

Camping on a sand bar in middle of the Ganges

Chris helps out the locals with the fishing

The toilet tent - a hole in the ground

We slept really well in the tents (mainly because we were really tired from the night before). We were woken up quite early by the sound of howling dogs (there were some feral ones on the island). At this point we were dying for a shower as we had not had one for 2 nights and were very very sweaty. We eventually got to Varanasi mid afternoon.

Our boats