Varanasi - Hindu Mecca
Varanasi is an amazing, amazing city. We took a sunrise boat tour on the Ganges on our first morning there and it was the most religious experience I've ever had. There are a hole heap of Indians there each morning bathing in the (filthy) water and praying and chanting and you can just sense the importance of the place. It is also just beautiful.

However....

2 things make it not so nice.

1: Saddhus. These are holy men that i am really petrified of. They dress up in crazy crazy garb and paint their faces and stare at you, and we were warned not to talk to them because they have been known to hypnotise poeple! They look like madmen, which is interesting since our guide, Anu, said he himself is scared of them cos you can never be sure if they are really holy men or just some nutter who has decided to dress oddly and yell at people.

2: I saw a dead body in the river, about a metre from the boat. Hindus believe that if they die in Varanasi they will be looked upon favourbly by the Gods, and we saw a few cremations on the ghats on the river bank, but this was different because this guy was fully clothed and must have drowned or something further up the river and not been noticed til the sun was coming up.

Aaagh i get shivers thinking about it!