Varanasi to Panta

“The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men” - Mark Twain

I was to join the Pandaw upper Ganges cruise. However overnight Varanasi belly arrived with furore I’d been up since about 2 am and here it was 11 am I couldn’t even keep water down . I needed to be ready by noon would I make it I struggled to checkout and then collapsed on a sofa in the hotel reception slowly identifying my fellow travels but too exhausted to introduce myself. Finally the Pandaw rep arrived I put my hand up explaining my stomach challenges sadly to be told the train was delayed 2 hours I sat by myself sipping hydralyte in a 250 ml of water which was to last 7 hours. Finally we were bused to the station but the escalators and lifts were not working so up 2 flights of stairs with a porter carrying my case to the train. I must misunderstood the 1st class train bit or made it up no first class carriages on this train at least was air conditioned I needed my puffer jacket. I just need to sit down finally on board for a five hour trip. The train was crowded floor very dirty I use my day pack as a pillow and sleep. Arriving Panta was very dark our transfer bus was at the end of the platform but no porters to be found so we walked our own cases. As it was Diwiali the streets were crowded, firework’s going off everywhere . But we did arrive finally and my stomach was still fighting with itself. We were shown our cabins and had a light supper before going to bed

Internet is very unreliable but I’ll continue to post and try