Varanasi - 12/27

Afternoon Traffic in Varanasi.

Arrival in Varanasi - Walk down to Ghats.

Toward the end of the day at Chennai, I started to feel a bit sick and wouldn't you know it, I got the dreaded traveler's diarrhea again! This time it was much worse. I was unable to enjoy my comfy Ikea bed because I was up all night. I did enjoy the nice bathroom though.

The next day we took a plane to Varanasi, which in total took around 7 hours due to a layover in Kolkata and a random stop in Lucknow (which is by the way past Varanasi). Peter suggested we postpone our trip, but I was determined to make it North and stay on schedule. No way stomach cramps and diarrhea were going to stop me. It was quite a miserable trip though. Peter also did not sleep much due to a mosquito that mysteriously made it into our windowless room. We were both crabby and exhausted. I had a breakdown and yelled at the security guards at the airport because they didn't give me their stupid security stamp for my carry on bag...which I didn't know I needed until I had to board the plane and then was directed back to security which I had already cleared!

But, we finally made it to Varanasi by late afternoon. I was in no shape to visit the city at that point. Our hotel, though, was located right on the ghats and had a central courtyard/restaurant overlooking the Ganges river. It even had toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and lemon tea! Heaven for someone with dysentery. But the best part was that it had monkeys living there. Red butted monkeys roaming around like they owned the place. I don't think they were kept by the hotel because some guy kept trying to scare them off with a big stick. But, they were having none of that.