From Allahabad I went to Varanasi. On my first day, after a long walk, I found Harishchandra Ghat, a cremation ghat, where several pyres were smoking. Next morning, I visited Sarnath, where Buddha preached and where Ashoka later erected stupas and temples; then, after lunch, I drove to 17th-century Ram Nagar fort, home of the former Maharajah of Benares. Before dawn next morning I was in a rowing boat on the Ganges and watched the riverbank come to life. Two large boatlands of Korean pilgrims added colour to an otherwise grey, misty morning. Then I walked through the old quarter for an hour or two before catching my next train.