Arrival in Varanasi and lunch

We pulled into Varanasi station at 6am. We all looked rather the worse for wear as we staggered off the train! We transferred to our hotel in autos. It was not the hotel that was on the itinerary for reasons that were never explained. Once there, we were told our rooms weren't ready, but they would be by 9am. In the meantime, we had the use of two day rooms, and we could get breakfast in the hotel restaurant from 7.30. This all sounded very reasonable.

However, it didn't quite work out as planned! Breakfast wasn't ready until almost 9. It came out in dribs and drabs. It was as if they weren't expecting us! By the time we'd had everything - toast, coffee, omelettes, and fruit - it was a good breakfast, but it took so long!

Back in the day rooms, nobody wanted to do anything until they had their rooms. We were all tired and in desperate need of a shower. We just had to wait. The rooms were finally ready at around 11.45. Fiona and I, and Hisa and Mari, were allocated the rooms that had been used as day rooms, so we had to wait even longer while they were cleaned and the beds changed.

Eventually, we got into our room and got ourselves sorted out. We were meeting at 5pm to go on a guided walk of Varanasi and to witness the Ganga Aarti ceremony. Before that, Fiona, Kathy, and I walked about 10 minutes to the Beer Café for lunch. When we got there, the door was locked and it appeared to be closed. However, a man appeared, led us back downstairs, and up in the lift to access the restaurant via another door. We were the only customers when we first arrived, but the staff were very friendly and helpful, and soon Fiona and Kathy were enjoying their first Kingfisher of the trip, and I had a Diet Coke with loads of ice 😀. We had mutton kebabs, jeera rice, and chicken lababdar to eat. Everything was delicious.Read more