Leaving Varanasi

Z wakes at 5:30am with upset belly. Gastro from Johnny who we found out was sick the day before. Marty up at 8am and made up rehydration salt drink for Z to sip and more sleep. Marty up and gets breakfast at 9am (curry & puri & chai 125, water 20, butter toast 30) at rooftop. Brought Z butter toast and Jalebi that Kailash brought for us to try. Check out at 11am but Shiva says Z can rest in room til 12pm and then rest in dorm room thereafter. M goes out to get a shave - asking 50, gave 30 INR tip. M withdraws more cash, had to go to 3 diff atms - first two would not allow transaction of 10,000+ INR. Z well rested now, and although still unwell, feeling way better than this morning & packed bag for checkout at 12pm. M back at Shiva guesthouse and pack his bag, take downstairs, settle bill and let Z rest more. Go up to rooftop for fresh air, saw that Johnny and Sasha were still in Varanasi and had not left on a train last night like they had planned - now taking same sleeper train as us to Khujaraho at 5:40pm. Z hungry - more butter and honey toast to share. Chill at rooftop - Z now has more energy, leave bags at Shiva and go out for lunch at Monalisa cafe - egg biryani to share, coke and sprite. As we were finishing, Frank joined our table again and chatted for a bit but we left shortly after. Bought bread rolls from brown bread cafe to take with us on train. Head back to Shiva and picked up shower gel from smiley lady at corner shop. Grab takeaway from Shiva - egg biryani and cheese and tomato toasted sandwich to take on train. Met Johnny and Sasha at lobby at 3pm, walked to main road and roundabout ask J&S wanted to take an Uber to Varanasi Junction. Said goodbye to local friends we made along the way (Kopal & Ayush at travel agency, other people who recognisedus and shared smiles and "good mornings" with us). Could not see Uber anywhere on busy roundabout, so just caught a tuktuk 150INR for all 4 of us. Got to train station, trying to find carriage B3, found all the way at other end of platform. Met Regina from Mexico and Tom from England. M&Z having a good chat with Regina and was interrupted by tout from Khujaraho travelling with a German girl (G girl had previously travelled to Khujaraho, met this tout who took her for a “trip” around khujaraho and kept in contact. She did not like Varanasi so called him to pick her up and accompany her to khujaraho..silly girl). Tout bashing and saying how much he hates Varanasi, saying how all people are all cheaters in Varanasi because they talk to you but all they want is your money. In the end he explained he had a tuktuk and he can take us around if he wanted 🤣, he got rejected very quickly and he quickly realisd game would not work on us so left W girl. Z feeling weak again, fell asleep on Marty’s lap, M had a great chat with Regina. M made Z's bed and his, everyone heads to bed. Tomorrow we wake in Khujaraho.Read more