Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Site of the especially sacred Ganges River, Hindus from all over India, Nepal and other parts of the world make pilgrimages to Varanasi to worship or spend their final days before death and cremation. Family members bring the recently deceased for a sombre riverside ceremony on the steps of the 'ghats'.

Why is it hard to travel in India? Well, Varanasi sums it up nicely. The city is awful. Full of garbage, the dusty streets are a chaotic mess of honking cars, tuktuks and motorcycles. Dodging these plus all the bicycles, people and large-horned cows is harrowing. Add cow dung, human waste, standing puddles of putrid water, narrow alleyways, swarms of flies, beggars, touts, hawkers and the hot hot sun: it is fascinatingly unbearable. Walking anywhere is so unpleasant. Frequent power cuts mean aircon is seldom available, making the already-mediocre hotels even less inviting. It is a formula common throughout north India.