Just keeping you all informed about the awesome place called Rishikesh.
Me and Emil left Amar Bhawan at 8.30 the 12th of December, since this country is India we planned for the traffic to be a mess, so we had roughly two hours until the train departed. Or so we thought. Turns out Indian Railways is as prepared for foggy weather as SJ is for snow. The train left at 14.30 instead, from the wrong platform of course, that’s and Indian tradition. We were due to arrive in Haridwar at 04.35 the 13th, we got there at 9 instead. Took a taxi to Rishikesh, and walked around looking lost for a bit. We hadn’t booked a hotel or anything so we just went over a rocking suspension-bridge (and I mean that literally, not that the bridge was funky/cool/whatever). We climbed a steep hill and took residence in a shabby hotel called Hill Top. Seemed like a brilliant idea at the time, now – not so much… my legs are burning.
Yesterday we were just chilling in the town, browsing some handicraft stores and enjoying the stunning views of mountains and rivers. Went for a stroll and ended up at a beach next to Ganges, spectacular. Ganges is actually green up here, not brown as in Banaras. Our room lacks any form of heating so we had about 12 degrees Celsius. Bought ourselves a room-heater that blew out the building’s electricity in a matter of seconds hehe. On the second time it went a bit better, so now one side of the bed is nice and toasty, while Emil’s freezing like crazy.
Today we went river rafting in Ganges. Quite the adventure, thought I was going to kick the bucket big time every now and then. Went trough rapids that were a 5 on the rafting scale, which apparently was quite a bit. It was awesome anyway, in the word’s original meaning – breathtakingly awe-inspiring.We also met a white guy claiming to be a monk and a previous cook for Rage Against the Machine. He approached me with the words; “are you proper straight edge, or do you just look the part?” Funny guy. He gave me a book, so I gave him some cash, everybody wins – yay.
Tomorrow we’ll go on a Safari in Rajaji National Park, and on Friday we’ll be trekking in the base of Himalaya, 1600 meters altitude, before heading back to Delhi with the night train and then fly back to Banaras from there. Next Tuesday it’s back to Delhi and next Thursday I land in Sweden, hectic and superb.
Will post some pics from the trip as soon as I get back to Bhawan, there are some nice ones indeed, and hopefully there’ll be more by the week’s end.
Over and out, miss you all, peace out etc.
Gorge
sacredbananas 