Blogs from Uttarakhand, India, Asia - page 3

India's high caste Brahmins say a prayer three times a day, just before sunrise, at noon and just before sunset, in which they praise water as the energy giver and healer. No water in India is praised more highly than that of the Ganges and our spiritual journey would have been incomplete without a visit to where this holiest of all holy rivers begins its life. Perhaps that's why we chose to go to Rishikesh - not so much to discover what all The Beatles fuss was about (), nor even to experience another evening aarthi ceremony (even though that alone was worth going there for). Rather, it may have been because Rishikesh was only a couple of hours from where the sacred Ganges is born. There's a popular misconception that the Ganges starts at the ... read more

The temperature had dropped like a stone as soon as the sun went down at Har-ki-Pauri the previous evening. Seated on a step within inches of the river watching the aarthi ceremony, I'd respected tradition with bare feet. They'd been as cold as the Ganges' icy water! Clearly, it wasn't much warmer outside this morning. We awoke to a heavy grey mist almost obliterating the view from our terrace at the Devnadi Hotel. It happens at this time of year - warm by day, cold by night... fog in the morning. We added an extra layer, went down to the restaurant for a hot breakfast and hoped that things might improve later. Satish, a knowledgeable guide booked for our next two days by the hotel's lovely Jasmeet, soon arrived. Thankfully, so did the sun... Visibility had ... read more

Return to India 2 The Gateway to God - Haridwar 14th January 2018 Continuing the travels of two somewhat elderly brothers, David (of ‘the grey haired nomads’) and the much younger, Mike, (aka, ‘keep smiling’) getting to know each other rather better as they travel through the north of this fascinating country. Haridwar The 0645 train from an extremely tidy but rather chilly New Delhi Station finally arrived in Haridwar, the 'Gateway to God', in Uttarakhand State, an acceptable one hour late. That’s Indian trains: incredibly cheap and extremely unreliable. But either way it’s not an unpleasant experience, particularly if you should travel Executive Chair. The one-mile long train trundles its merry clittery-clattery way for five hours through 200km of grey morning fog, past quiet towns and villages, tarp-tented shanty encampmen... read more

Despite the Silent Retreat having finished, we started the day out at 7 am in the morning and continued our practice of Babaji Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) and meditation. It was amazing to do it with the whole group each morning at the Ganges. The fresh air was chilly but the exercise kept us warm and we definitely woke up ;-). Our next destination was Rishikesh. The travelling began with a visit to the famous Chandi Devi Temple which is located in Haridwar but was on route to Rishikesh. The Chandi Devi Temple was installed by Adi Shankaracharya, an early 8th century theologian and philosopher. The temple is on a hill and a typical indian gondola takes you up there. Well, we all had fun to jump into the gondola and the view over the surrounding ... read more

This morning I start the day with a yoga session on the green deck looking out onto the mountains as the sun rises, the only thing disturbing the peacefulness is the relentless honking of the horns on the road below, which starts at first light. ‘Blow your horn’ is written in big letters on the back of all trucks and buses so I guess everyone is just following orders. For breakfast I don’t eat so much this morning as I am starting to fill up! I have a 'vada pav' which is Mumbai street food and is a fried potato mixture in a little bun, its absolutely delicious and the nearest thing to British food, I am able describe it as a spicy chip butty. Shenton decides to go for porridge but the bowl he has ... read more