This is a post about the rafting trip to Rishikesh in the Himalayas from mid June. We went in the Ganges river, and it was SOOO fun. We hit I guess Class 3 and 4 rapids, and the water was high, fast, and FREEZING. So cold, but refreshing. I also did some cliff jumping-small cliff jumping. Some of the Indian men were scared to do it, but I just pushed through them and was like-here I come!
Rishikesh is basically the birthplace of yoga (which they have figured out is a huge market) and also where the Beatles spent time there at some now closed yoga place and I think wrote a lot of songs there. Wikipedia tells me it was 48 songs, including the Happy Rishikesh Song. I've never heard this song, and something tells me mom will be more than willing to solve that problem for me. Amazingly, this is not a market selling anything having to do with the Beatles stuff and there was NO sign of the Beatles having been there.
I went with Caitlin and Bion, their friends Brenden and Marjorie. Lydia and Cesar were supposed to come but at the last minute didn't make it. Sandip was also supposed to come, but he had to work that weekend. He missed a train ride that had good food. Except the dal (lentils) on the way back which were by far the worst I have ever had in my life-one of the other people on the trip said it tasted like ashtray. Admittedly, I've never tasted ashtray. Oh, and the car ride from train station to the camp place we were staying was 3 hours (normally 90 minutes) and made me totally nauseous.
But it was well worth it as you can see below. In full disclosure some of these pictures are Marjorie's or Caitlin's.
Rishikesh is basically the birthplace of yoga (which they have figured out is a huge market) and also where the Beatles spent time there at some now closed yoga place and I think wrote a lot of songs there. Wikipedia tells me it was 48 songs, including the Happy Rishikesh Song. I've never heard this song, and something tells me mom will be more than willing to solve that problem for me. Amazingly, this is not a market selling anything having to do with the Beatles stuff and there was NO sign of the Beatles having been there.
I went with Caitlin and Bion, their friends Brenden and Marjorie. Lydia and Cesar were supposed to come but at the last minute didn't make it. Sandip was also supposed to come, but he had to work that weekend. He missed a train ride that had good food. Except the dal (lentils) on the way back which were by far the worst I have ever had in my life-one of the other people on the trip said it tasted like ashtray. Admittedly, I've never tasted ashtray. Oh, and the car ride from train station to the camp place we were staying was 3 hours (normally 90 minutes) and made me totally nauseous.
But it was well worth it as you can see below. In full disclosure some of these pictures are Marjorie's or Caitlin's.
This is the autorickshaw in that area of the world.
The traffic police really helping traffic along.
Big huge statue of Shiva. We saw a bigger one in Nepal, but that is another post.
This is the Ganges River, as seen from our little hike.
Me and Caitlin looking awesome.
Bion lying on a big rock. Behind him are people doing laundry.
Not the tourist view you normally see.
Washing clothes in the Ganges.
This is the place where we stayed.
My door to my little cabin. Marjorie and Brenden were next to me, Caitlin and Bion above me.
Ready to start rafting! Bion, Marjorie and Caitlin in the back, Brenden and me in front.
People were camping here. Total mosquito heaven.
Oh, can you tell I broke my sunglasses? This happened BEFORE the ride. Yes I am still clumsy.
Pre-ride
The rock from where we did some cliff jumping. It wasn't that high, but check out the gaggle of people that are just hanging out and not jumping.
Me jumping. I totally asked the guys-are you going to jump or what? They stood, I jumped.
Securing our raft after the trip down the river.
Reapplying the sunblock!
Cow in front of temple. You can't actually tell it is a temple though
If you get too close to the cow, it will nudge you politely out of the way.
A very crowded bridge across the Ganges to the main town area.
Nice temple on the other side of the bridge.
The town itself.
This is a Gujarati restaurant whose symbol or whatever is a guy that looks like this. (I guess kind of like Ronald McDonald is to the Mcdonald's). So of course they had 2 guys dressed up like this just sitting. You don't see this everyday.
View across the Ganges. We were just looking at pictures near that huge temple complex.
She and her family were playing with the cow. Obviously I know what can happen...
This is the NOT crowded bridge.
What a great weekend!
