Delhi to Varanasi

Got the sleeper train to Varanasi, after missing the train the day before. I upgraded to AC which was the best idea I've ever had, got good food and a good nights sleep (Was actually cold during the night). Met an American who was very nice and had travelled extensively in India and gave me some ideas about where to go next...Checked into the hostel at 6.00am wasn't tired after my nights sleep on the train so had breakfast with a Brummie named Alex. We decided to go along the river. Near the Ganges, there are lots of Ghats - Stone stairs where people come to pray to the 'Mother Ganges' or get cremated. Saw a couple of people being cremated, wasn't that nice, supposedly smells of bbq according to the tout, didn't hang around to smell it...Walked along the Ganges until we were opposite Ramnagar fort, then after much haggling got a boat across. Once we got to the fort it had one price for Indians - 10Rbs and one for foreigners - 150Rbs, out of principle we decided not to pay to go in. This turned out to be a good decision after we chatted to an Aussie couple who had just come out, and said it wasn't worth it. On the way back across the river our boat got stranded on a sand dune and half the boat had to get out and wade to shore, luckily we did not/ played ignorant. Once back we had a spot of lunch, i had my first Thali (Rice,Nan and a selection of different vegetable curries and some chutneys, turned out to be very nice!). I am sporting the worlds worst sun burn. On the way back some young boys called us tomatoes....Either way, i'm satisfied i've seen enough of Varanasi after spending 6 hours on foot, I think i'll try book a sleeper train towards Siliguri which is a short bus from Darjelling. Depending on the weather i'll then either head further into Sikkim for some trekking or head into Nepal. There was some terrorist attacks in Lahore so i don't know what the border situation is with Pakistan at the moment, so i'm keeping my ear to the ground. I might spend more time in Nepal and then fly out to Chengdu in China, all depends... Will hopefully have some spare time tomz to upload some photos!