Varanasi is not an easy destination, in fact it’s an assault.

It’s crowded and filthy on a level that you are unlikely to experience anywhere else. The warren of narrow alleys behind the riverfront are flowing with tourists, beggars, dogs, cows, motorbikes, rickshaws and tuk-tuks all dodging piles of garbage, betel nut spit, piss and excrement of every variety. When you finally make it through all that heaving humanity to the river it is a shock to the senses to suddenly be in the open and in relative quiet.

This is the business end of Varanasi - where the devout come to die, be publicly cremated and returned to the universe.

This is not for the faint of heart. It is distillate of India, a very strong elixir. It is arrestingly beautiful because of all that.

We did sunrise on the river and watched the ceremonies performed on the ghats to greet the light (skip the sunset - it is a funhouse mirror version of the morning with way too many western yoga tourists.)