Day out to Haridwar

---

Yesterday we got a rickshaw into Haridwar which is about an hours drive. It really is quite hard because whenever you want to spend money i.e go in a rickshaw, they try and charge you astronomical amounts. So after much fighting and about 50 drivers around you you CAN actually get a very cheap rate. You have just got to have patience, pretend you are going to walk there and fight (not physically!) It is quite amusing actually. So we got to Haridwar and visited the temple on top of the hill from a cable car, that was good. However you have to pay a donation for your shoes, to go into the temple and then there are about 20 shrines in the temple all full of money. Apparently it is one of the holiest citys in India but to me it just seems like a money grabbing occupation for foreigners and Indian's alike! (By the way we did not part with much money). After this we went to the water and were 'blessed' for 20 -/ Rupees, they then asked us to throw money in the river (we said we had already donated so we didn't). It's funny because you can see men in the water with a stick and a see-through plate to pick up money from the water's floor...to steal...! There are also many men on the bridges askng for donations from EVERYONE however of course we had already donated.... We watched another celebration/ worship - similar to the one in Rishikesh - very beautiful and then left in the evening. Really great day out.

---

Photos

Squeezed into a rickshaw
Squeezed into a rickshaw.

Hairdwar
Hairdwar

View from the cable-car
View from the cable-car going up to the temple.

Ashley feeding a monkey.
Ashley feeding a monkey on top of the temple in Haridwar.

Man and monkey.
Ths was also at the temple...the view is amazing!

After being 'blessed'
After being 'blessed' by the 'Mother Ganga'.

The Streets
The Streets.

The 'blessing'
Me getting 'blessed'

The 'blessing'
Putting the dot on my head.

People bathing
Peopla bathing in the 'Mother Ganga'

Waiting for the Aartie
Waiting for the Aartie (this is the celebration thing I was talking about in Rishikesh)

Waiting for the Aartie
Waiting for the Aartie.

View
View by 'Mother Ganga during the Aartie.

View 2
View by 'Mother Ganga' during the Aartie.

Walking back
Walking back along the bridge to the rickshaws.

Comments

[jo]

This is so like Veranasi (?) where we went on Mother Ganga for sunset and placed candles on the water - the river is deemed to be very holy though those who have not completed their lives ie, children, those in accidents, pregnant women, etc. are taken to the middle, weighted with stones and left to sink and decompose ... The rickshaws are amazing, dicing with buses, bikes, pedestrians, four wheel drives, cars and cows plus we also saw some police horses in the melee ... Loved the marmite pictures!! All great stuff xxx

[Caitlin]

Hey...it's sound like you are having the most fab time!! And the pictures are stunning! Oh, and I've never seen you with brown hair before...looks good :) Miss you xxxx

[rahul thakker]

i love photos
its inceridble photos. and i love it bcz its been a very prosperious life ok.