Delhi-Dehra Dun-Rishikesh

Well we took a nice 7 hr train ride from the New Delhi Station and ended up in the town of Dehra Dun where we had to take an hr and a half taxi ride to the yoga capital of the world, Rishikesh..

Despite what I've heard and read, this town is in no way any cooler (temperature wise) then Delhi and in fact I think it feels much hotter... between the sweltering heat, hoards of people asking for money, the motorcycles racing down the narrow streets and having quite a few near misses, and the obnoxious "I'm better then you" hippie crowd... lets just say this town has made me a little irritable...

The actual town of Rishikesh is about 5km down the hill and is your usual town of cement boxes filled with shops and food stands and of course more then its share of garbage and feces littering the roads... but we are staying in the slightly nicer area between the Ram Jhula and Lakshman Jhula, which are the two suspension bridges that connect the West side of town to the East side over the Ganges river.. The bridges are supposedly pedestrian only, as is the Eastern part of town, but apparently nobody told the dozens of motorcycles drivers that come barreling onto the bridge and into town nearly missing dozens of people as they careen barely in control...

This northern part of Rishikesh is home to Dozens of Ashrams, Temples and Bathing Ghats. It was sort of in our plans to give the yoga and meditation jazz a try and check into one of the many Ashrams here but the majority seem to be catered towards the Indian crowds with all of the writing and teaching in Hindi. As for the ones we could understand they are barricaded behind tall fences where the tourists are shuffled in and out of via large air conditioned taxis , not wanting them to have to deal with the real part of this town, and cost way more then we could afford. So we made due with taking a couple Yoga classes that end with some "Om" chanting and meditation. The chanting and meditation weren't exactly my thing but I did sort of enjoy the Yoga part and trying to contort my body into weird positions (that left me really sore the next day) and watching the yogi bounce his limbs around is if they were disconnected from his body.

Being that this town is on the Ganges river, which is the holiest river in the Hindu religion, there are also tons of Hindus here on pilgrimage. They come here to bath in the Ghats lining the river, fill containers with the holy water to take home to loved ones who are sick, and visit the technicolored temples that look more like Disney land rides then holy sites. We have even seen a funeral procession in which a body was burned along the river banks and ashes spread into the river and every night there are dozens of butter lamps which are lit and began floating along the banks.

That whole aspect of the Hindu religion and the many Temples and statues and shrines dedicated to the different gods makes this place pretty neat to visit. All day long you can hear chanting and singing over load speakers from the different temples, the ringing of bells, uncountable numbers of Sadhus, and a rather consistent smell of weed.

There's also a fairly large rafting scene here and I originally had planned to join in on some crazy class III Ganges river action until I saw the types of people that were floating past us on the river... All paddling out of order, ignoring the guides (who didn't seem that well trained), and the river is well.. very polluted. I figured it would be more frustrating to me not being in control and having to deal with a bunch of people who had no idea what was going on and acting obnoxious and thought it best I just wait till I get back to Colorado to get back on the river...

So after 5 days in Rishikesh, which is far more then enough for me, we are headed to Amritsar tomorrow by train to Visit the Golden temple and then hopefully over to the boarder of Pakistan to watch the closing ceremonies which are supposed to be pretty entertaining...