Beak's on the Wagon

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Our rather expensive taxi eventually found our destination and we checked into a place called Bhaj Govindam. Quite a nice place with a few bamboo huts on the bank of the Ganges (cool). It was still very early and we tried to stay up but we were falling asleep on the lawn - so we decided to have a nap...

Got up around 11:00 and headed out for a day of sightseeing. Went to a temple called Mansa Devi up in the mountains on the north side of the river. There was a cable car, however in our eagerness to get there we ended up trekking up thousands of steps in the seering heat for about 45 minutes. Drenched in sweat we then had to fight with hoards of other pilgrims for a wander around the temple. Great views were afforded. We then (thankfully) found the cable car and had a most pleasant ride to the bottom, then onto a bus for a 15 minute ride to another couple of temples, Chandi Devi and Anjani Devi, on the other side of the river. We'd got the cable car thing sussed now and so got one up the mountain. These were a little less busy with great views again and we spent some time taking five. When we got back down we ended up having to wait about an hour for our bus back to the main hub which really sucked.

We were getting peckish by now and so straight from the India guide book we went to a restuarant called Big Ben - rubbish! Probably the only place in India that didn't do Indian food! We had a rubbish choice of some sort of European and Chinese. It was around this time that we had begun to realise that Kingfisher was also conspicuous in its absence... The waiter informed us that because Haridwar is so 'holy', no booze is available!!!!! Nooooooooo....... So we had a coke..... Further reading in the trusty guide book confirmed our worst fears and we were looking at a dry night....

It was getting dusky and so time to head for the Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat area where every night hundreds of worshippers (and sweaty beaks) gather on the banks of the Ganges to watch banana leaf boats float for about 2 metres before sinking in the turbulent water. Stayed there for a while and got collared by 2 different sets of official donation collectors who demanded donations - we did get receipts though...

Then with the knowledge of no booze we walked as slowly as humanly possible back to the hotel and just kind of sat and drank pop. Went to bed early, looking forward to our only good nights sleep for ages.

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Photos

On the banks of the Ganges
This is where we stayed in Haridwar - Bhaj Govindam, and is located on the banks of the Ganges. It is slightly upstream of the Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat, and has approx 10 bamboo huts set in a lovely garden (which is home to several mango monkeys who are constantly trying the patience of the gardener!!)

View from Chandi Devi temple
Although this photo is a little hazy, the building in the middle of the shot is Mansa Devi Temple. Earlier we walked up thousands of steps to the Temple in seering heat - we were a little thirsty and sweaty when reached the summit!!!

Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat
Thousands of worshippers gather every evening on the banks of the river ganges to watch the priests perform a river worship cremony called 'Ganga aarti'.
Some worshippers set banana boats full of flowers and candles afloat, only for them to capsize several yards dowstream!