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Rishikesh
All I knew of Rishikesh before travelling there was that The Beatles had spent some time at the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi back in the 60s. Although I wasn't there in the 60s, I can't imagine it could have been much different to the way it is now. It's still made up of ashrams, yoga and meditation centres, and people (both Indian and Western) chanting mantras. To get to Rishikesh we had to take a train to nearby Haridwar which happens to be where this year's Kumbh Mela is being held. Unfortunately all the early trains had been booked up so we arrived in the dark which is always the worst time for onward travel or finding accommodation. Eventually we found a minivan making the hour long journey to Rishikesh. These minivans are only designed to fit 7 passengers in them at the most but the driver insisted on squeezing in 10 which meant that for the duration of the journey my face was squashed against my bag and my legs lost all feeling. As passengers started getting off at various stops along the way we finally had a bit of space to breathe and found ourselves sat opposite a couple of Dutch people. One of them, an elderly man, told us quite excitedly that as we were arriving so late everything would be shut and if we hadn't booked accommodation we'd better just go with wherever a tuk tuk driver took us. We were less than impressed and feeling very chilly (Rishikesh is in the foothills of the Himalayas), hungry and tired we started to get worked up about what we were going to do. Once he left the minivan we told the driver to take us to High Bank where most of the backpacker accommodation is. Once we reached High Bank we went into a guesthouse and asked about accommodation. Luckily they had available rooms at an incredibly cheap price. Kenji's room even had a balcony overlooking the mountains and the River Ganges. Next we went in search of food. The lady at the guesthouse suggested the restaurant next door which we later found out was the only restaurant in High Bank. We rushed over there worried they would have stopped serving food but they hadn't and we settled down for a delicious meal.
The next morning we woke up late and decided to take it easy for the day. Rishikesh in the daylight is exquisite and the Ganges, surrounded by forested hills and lined with white beaches, is crystal clear and icy cold. As High Bank is quite an isolated spot made up of just a few guesthouses and one restaurant we walked into the main town of Lakshman Jhula. To get there you have to cross a bridge over the Ganges and I was delighted to see lots of monkeys there making a nuisance of themselves. Stepping into Lakshman Jhula was a bit intense. The air was thick with incense, there were flyers for yoga and meditation classes everywhere, and sadhus (holy men) seemed to be constantly wandering around aimlessly. The remnants of the Holi festival were still apparent and the streets and even cows still had colourful paint on them. A bit lost for what to do, as we weren't quite ready to join in with the spirituality of Rishikesh, we decided to walk to some waterfalls. The walk along the green Ganges was beautiful and we encountered lots of different types of monkeys along the way. Whilst they seemed friendly enough I was secretly very happy I'd gotten my Rabies jabs! When we finally reached our destination there was a big sign saying no entrance. We ignored the sign and trekked into the jungle to find the waterfalls - they were mediocre at best but it was worth the 10km round trip just for the scenery along the way. That evening we took a taxi to another area of Rishikesh called Swarg Ashram which as you may have guessed is mostly made up of ashrams! Here we watched a beautiful Hindu ceremony which ended with people putting lighted flower baskets into the Ganges.
The next day we decided to go white water rafting down the Ganges! I was terrified at the prospect of it as it looked pretty dangerous in the pictures. There were 6 of us in the raft including the instructor who gave us a quick demonstration on rowing and what to do if we fell out in one of the rapids. The first rapid we went through was big and we all nearly fell out but I got such an adrenaline rush from it and burst out laughing. The next rapid was apparently called "rollercoaster" and looked very intense. When we got through it I heard the instructor saying to Kenji "Why aren't you rowing?" and we looked back and saw that Kenji had dropped his oar! One of the French guys in our raft stretched out to reach for it a bit too vigorously and ended up throwing himself into the Ganges. I saw our instructor just shaking his head, no doubt wondering how he'd ended up with such a bunch of clowns. Oar rescued we rowed our way through the rest of the rapids, did some swimming, and ended the trip just wanting to do it all over again!
The next couple of days in Rishikesh were spent just chilling out at the beach along the Ganges and taking tabla (Indian drums) lessons! It's a lot harder than it looks to play the tabla but it was great fun learning. Finally we head down to Haridwar on our last day where we had an overnight train to Amritsar in Punjab. We arrived in chaotic Haridwar in the afternoon and made our way towards the river to watch the ganga aarti. Unfortunately we didn't enjoy this ceremony because, as tourists, people were intent on trying to scam us for every penny possible. Chris and Kenji also got quite a few punches in the kidneys from the old women who couldn't see over them! We were glad to leave the ceremony madness and make our way to the train station. The madness seemed to follow us though as we couldn't find our carriage and swarms of people were heading for the same train. Groups of men then started trying to stamp down the doors which the passengers wouldn't open because they were already packed in to the brim. Some of these louts were even breaking windows and climbing through. It was all very scary and when we finally found our carriage, which was on another platform ready to be joined to the main bulk of the train, I couldn't wait to just get to sleep. No such luxuries in sleeper class though. The carriage reeked of urine, was noisy, and the lights wouldn't turn off! Onwards to Punjab!
- comments
Girija C K Balan Good one. Think u may enjoy Punjab better as i was told by nephews (both from Punjab but now residing in Oz) that the state of Punjab is one of the cleanest in the north.
Priya Rishikesh is really lovely. So peaceful and scenic and a nice climate as well. I'd recommend it to anyone, especially for the white water rafting :)