Once the train arrived in Allahabad, around 2pm, we drove three hours to Batoli Ghat. After freshening up we boarded our boats and sailed a few hours down the Ganges. We sailed to Chunar where we set up camp for the night on the sandy river bank. Allahabad city is situated at the confluence of the Ganges and the Jumna. The ancient name of the city is Prayāga (Sanskrit for "place of sacrifice", Prayāg in modern Hindi) and is believed to be the spot where Brahma offered his first sacrifice after creating the world. It has a position of importance in the Hindu religion and mythology since it is situated at the confluence of the holy rivers Ganga and Yamuna, and Hindu belief says that the invisible Sarasvati River joins here also. An annual fair is held at Allahabad at the confluence of the streams on the occasion of the great bathing festival at the full moon of the Hindu month of Magh. It is known as the Magh-mela, lasts for a whole month, and is attended by as many as 250,000 persons in ordinary years, either for religious or commercial purposes. Every twelfth year it is one of four sites of the Kumbh Mela, which is attended by a million of devotees at one time. the others sites being Haridwar, Ujjain and Nasik.
It was dark by the time we arrived to our camping site. We set up tents and and had dinner and drinks before bringing in 2009 on the banks of the Ganges river!
