Following the rivers west across India...

From Kolkata we travelled west to Varanasi - the most holy place for Hindus in India, if not the world. Millions of pilgrims come here each year to bathe in the Ganges - some also come to die, believing they will be freed from the cycle of reincarnation. Rituals are performed to honour the river every evening.

We stayed in a room with a great view - a balcony overlooking the river and the riverside ghats that run about 5km along the Ganges' western side. Beggars, pilgrims, cows, holy men, tourists, dogs and goats all intermingle freely along the side of the river.
There are 2 main 'burning ghats' in Varanasi where you can watch cremations before the remains are dumped into the river (anyone for a swim?) Apparently if you are a child under 10, a pregnant woman or a holy man, your body is taken out into the middle of the river instead, weighted down with stones and thrown overboard. The water also reportedly contains the contents of 30 sewage pipes that discharge directly into the water.

Despite this, we saw hundreds of pilgrims bathing and washing their clothes in the water each day. Shaun originally said he was keen to take a dip in the holy waters but in the end we settled for an early morning rowboat trip to check out the water quality at close hand. I've never seen bubbles floating along the top of a river before...

From Varanasi we moved west along the river again to Allahabad, a town that does not see that many foreign tourists - and which does not deserve many. I got groped twice at the train station in the space of half an hour (they were duly punished) and Shaun found himself chanting over some coconuts with a holy man in the middle of a rowboat at the auspicious spot where the Ganges and the Yamuna meet ... (here Shaun is rueing the 100 rupees he paid for his coconut ritual)
It was then on to Agra and that famous building. Despite the fact that foreign tourists are charged 37 times the local price to visit the Taj Mahal, it was still worth it. We got up at a very chilly 5.30am to view the Taj from across the river, and then headed over to explore.
Agra also has some lesser-known (but amazing) buildings from the same era - built by a succession of Mughal emperors during the 16th century. Shaun found the harem quarters of some of the old forts and palaces particularly interesting ...

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