8/13/11. 6am. Went to bed at 2am. Tired? Oh yes…. But we have no option, we hired a driver to take us up to Rishikesh and then down to Agra for a few days. Rishikesh is a city in the Himalayas, north of Delhi in the Uttarakhand territory, which borders Tibet (China) and Nepal. It’s a relatively small city though made famous by the Beatles in the 60s who went there for a spiritual journey and later inspired their album: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. It’s also India’s yoga epicenter and a spiritual haven for Hindis as its located on the Ganga River (not Ganges as we found out).
We gathered our backpacks (that already reek mind you) and met up with Sahdir, our driver. He put our belongings up on his beat up car and strapped them down covered by a bright orange tarp to protect them from the monsoon rains. However, we had sunny skies the whole 8 hour drive up to Rishikesh though we were told it would only take 6-7. What we didn’t realize, it was a holiday weekend ending in India’s independence day on Monday. Everyone was taking off work and traveling just as we were. As if there weren’t enough people in India (approx 1.2 billion people), everyone and their mother though it would be a good idea to hit the road and travel this weekend too, making traffic f*@$ing ridiculous. To make matters worse, the AC didn’t work and we were sweating our faces off in the blistering sun.
We wanted to maximize the day in Rishikesh but we didn’t end up getting there until just after 3pm (partially due to the excessive random stops by Sadhir where he’d get out of the car and leave us waiting for 5-10 min and then return). Upon arriving, we decided to stay across the river from main part of town where most of the temples and ashrams are, and only accessible by a footbridge.
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| Rishikesh footbridge over the Ganga with the famous Swarg Niwas Temple in the background |
So we took our backpacks and went across the bridge and ended up staying at the Hill Top Hotel. It looked nice from the road but the entrance was definitely on a hilltop, which we immediately regretted as soon as we commenced our steep journey up the road. By the time we got into our room, we all desperately needed a shower and park ourselves in front of the AC for a half hour.
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| View from our hotel's rooftop |
We didn’t have much time before we wanted to go to an aarti down the road so we quickly freshened up and head out the door just in time for it to start raining! Of course right…. The whole time we were driving it was amazing and then as soon as we start to do activities it downpours. Whatever, so we have to walk a bit and then go across another footbridge to the Parmarth Niketan Ashram located on the holiest river in India, the Ganga. People were packed elbow-to-elbow, locals and foreigners alike, to witness this daily ritual. For those of you who are unfamiliar of what an “aarti” is (as I was un till recently), it’s a religious ceremony for the Hindi gods. Each temple’s aarti is different and conducts a service according to the people from that particular area but usually involves offerings such as lamps and flowers. Additionally, there are people bathing, splashing, and even drinking the water. I merely stuck my toe in the water as the Ganga reportedly has 1,500 bacteria particles per drop. Of course, I was eagar to scrub my foot when I returned to the hotel however, that doesn’t mean much in India because after only a few days of walking around, my feet were permanently stained with filth.
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| Lord Shiva |
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| On the Ganga ghat for the aarti |
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| Band playing at the aarti |
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| Tibetan Dinner |
We weren’t the only ones, but we were the only ones clothed as the locals were only in their skivvies. It was a little… ahem… awkward as you can see by the pictures. After cooling off, we trekked back down the mountain where we found out from our driver that the day before, there was a murder from an altercation where a guy got his throat cut. Oh snap! Thank god we found out about that AFTER!
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| I know you're focusing on the waterfall |
Though soaking wet, we got back in the car and headed to Haridwar, a city not far from Rishikesh, but took FOREVER to get to courtesy of the holiday traffic once again. We arrived at Chandi Devi Temple which is on top of a hill overlooking Haridwar. Rather than hike again, we channeled our inner child and opted for the ropeway, which is the Indian version of the Disneyland skyway. The line for tickets took FOREVER and was infested by flies. So gross. But after an hour we were able to get into our gondola and were carried up the mountain in a matter of minutes… coincidentally just in time for it to start raining again! Lol. We walked around and took a lot of great pics but the temple was completely packed and everyone was chanting a hymn, which we obviously didn’t know. Moreover, while the temple was surrounded by beauty, it most certainly wasn’t due to all the trash, street vendors, beggars, and monkeys. So we skipped it.
The monkeys are rabid and pester everyone, especially those with food. Michelle happened to be eating some sliced cucumber with salt, pepper, and lemon (her favorite thing in the whole world as she had 6 of them that day), when a monkey came out of nowhere to grab it from her. The monkey proceeded to pull on her shirt, however she had both hands occupied with her cucumbers and ended up taking down her skirt in the middle of the plaza! So hysterical until we realized we had to shoo away the monster so she could readjust herself. Classic…
Our final activity of the day was another aarti but in city of Haridwar. We got there a bit early so we walked around the shops and bazaar. There were some cool items but I was so distracted by the rancid stench that it was hard to enjoy. On a lighter note, because the city was so packed with people on holiday, it made for excellent people watching and a magical atmosphere for the aarti. Before the ceremony started, we got amazing seats across the levied off section on the Ganga Ghat (a ghat is a stairway down to the holy river Ganga which was designed to give increased across to those who want to use it for bathing, cleansing, drinking, whatever). Oh and by seats, I mean a 3x3 square box to sit on what has to be the grimiest cement in India. Luckily we were separated by a thin piece of plastic and surround by thousands of people who smelled worse than we did. One man in particular sat right next to me and slowly kept creeping closer to where he was eventually sitting on my lower leg. I couldn’t do anything about it because there was literally nowhere else for me to go. Since I cant speak Hindi, I made it clear that I was pissed and kept trying to move my incarcerated leg to get the point that he was sitting on top of me. He then proceeded to do the unthinkable…. A 6 second fart. All my senses were being activated: ears, nose, the hot breathe on my skin, my gag reflex was kicking in, and the sound of laughter from this asshole (pun intended) was clearly identifiable. I was so dumbfounded that the only reaction I had was, “Are you f$#*ing kidding me?” But I still couldn’t move my leg! I felt like I was in purgatory… son of a bitch.
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| The ghat in Haridwar |
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| Shopping in Haridwar |
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| Namaste |
I did my best to think of the ancient Hindi philosophy: Karma, and move on to focusing my attention on the stunning aarti that was beginning. It was honestly too beautiful for words. The steady flow of drums was mesmerizing. The audience was so into it, chanting and throwing their arms in the air in unison. I cant give it justice here. Its truly an experience that makes it worth your trip to India.
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