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Published: October 27th 2007
Made it to Rishikesh yesterday morning!
I left Mcleodganj on the 5am bus to Amritstar on Thursday morning and got there about 11 am. It was a public bus this time, so the 'real indian' experience!! It wasn't half as bad as I thought it would be actually. Pretty bumpy, (which I expected) but other than that, not too bad. It was quite a good time as I was tired enough to get some sleep in the morning. By the time I came to it was 9ish and then it was only a couple of hours to go! The worst thing was having to put your luggage on the roof....when you only have a rucksack, its amazing how attached you become to it! I like it right as near to me as possible! I chuckled when I read in my guide book to be careful if you have to ride on the roof of the bus as many people get 'plucked off by low hanging trees', but I had visions of the same happening to my stuff! Anyhow, got there and all was safe n sound!
Got hijacked by a rickshaw driver getting off the bus, who insisted on taking me to a 'best hotel' despite me wanting to go to the golden temple..... you can stay for one night in the temple for free, just a donation required. In the end I let him take me to the guest house to show me. It was in quite a quiet place and I wanted to be somewhere a bit more central so was just a long way round to the temple. When I got there, it took a while to find where you could actually stay - its quite a big complex. I got pointed from one building to another, but eventually found the place where you could stay. Foreigners get luxury treatment as far as I could tell. Its just dormitory rooms, but it was off to one side with its own shower room. Toilets were communal with everyone and were pretty grim, but for nothing it was pretty amazing. They even feed you for free there as well. Out the front of the food hall are loads of volunteers peeling vegetable. They must cook huge quantities of dahl and chappatis every day as they get a steady stream of people going in to eat. As you walk in you get handed a thali tray and a spoon and then you go up and sit in this enourmous hall and people walk up and down the rows of people with huge buckets of Dahl and chappatis which they spoon onto your plate, kind of Oliver Twist styley!! The only requirement is that you cover your hair with something...not much of a price to pay!
I had something to eat and walked down to the golden temple itself, but there was a huge queue to actually go in and I wanted to make it to the border closing that evening. Went back to my room where there were another couple of girls. They said they'd shared a taxi to the border the day before and mentioned that a guy in the next room had asked them if they wanted to go that night. That turned out to be Emanuel (or Grigal) from Malta. He'd found a taxi driver who would take people for 70 ruppees each which sounded like a pretty good deal. We were supposed to meet at 4 and it was only 1ish, so went for a chai up the road. He mentioned he was going to Rishikesh that evening and was saying about an overnight train to Haridbar and then you can get a rickshaw from there. A few other people had said they were going to Rishikesh and I was pretty interested in heading there. It wasn't my plan to go that night, but I'd only really wanted to see the temple and the border in Amristar, both of which I would have done that night. Hence I decided to tag along with Grigal as I hadn't done the train thing before,so it was nice to have someone to go with. After a chai we went to the train station to book the tickets before we went to the border. That was an experience in itself. You have to fill in a form for what you want and then wait your turn in a line which didn't move hardly at all. An hour or so later we managed to get the tickets and headed back for the temple where we were meeting the cab.
We met the cab, but another guy (who turned out to be Dotan from Israel) was late, so we drove round in circles for 15 minutes waiting for him. (not sure why they didn't just park up and wait?!) Finally we were on the road to the border. It was supposed to start at 5 so we were cutting it pretty fine. About 25ks out the van started making loads of really funny noises and smoke started pouring into the back. Sounded pretty terminal, but amazingly it kept going! We pulled over a couple of ks later and the driver and his sidekick poured some more oil into the engine. Immediately we were lost in a massive cloud of smoke, but it still kept going! Got to the border just in time for the ceromony, but it was really crowded and we were pretty far back. I got let through into the women and children bit so I lost Grigal and Dotan for a while, but at least I could see past some of the heads. There were a few thousand people there. It was quite a spectacle. The crowd on both sides are encouraged to make as much noise as possible cheering their country, while the guards frog march (legs as high as possible type thing) up and down, and then eventually they close the gate. Pretty funny to see. The guards are all really tall and wear these tall red hats so it makes them look huge. It was well worth going to see. On the way out we tried this potato burger thing which was really nice..... getting more adventurous with the food now:O)
Met back up with the cab....still smoking and making loads of noise! About half a mile up the road there was a definite terminal bang (sounded like the big end had gone!) and it chugged to a stop. Complete chaos followed. We just wanted to get back, but the guys in the cab were trying to stop us getting in a rickshaw. Eventually we ended up in a rickshaw with a guy in the front of the rickshaw sticking his leg out the side with his foot on the back of the taxi, pushing it back to Amritstar! Really crazy! All 30ks of the journey too! Halfway there another rickshaw turned up and started pushing with his foot on the other side of cab! crazy crazy! it was really surreal!. Almost back to Amritstar (on the outskirts) they pulled over and stopped. Emanuel lost his temper and started to walk off up the road, only to be herded back to the rickshaw with promises of getting back in 5 minutes! All really mad!. They then decided to tow the taxi (not sure why this wouldnt have been a good move in the first place!) . Another few ks down the road and the tow rope snapped! We then pulled over where there was another nice new, quiet taxi waiting which took us back to the temple. It was a really funny evening! We seemed to cause a lot of attention in the rickshaw as well ..... had a coach load of girls waving at us, and another guy on a motorbike who'd trailed us for a couple of ks ...looking at us rather than the road (nearly got a bit messy a couple of times!) gave me his cell phone number! he he!
When we got back, we had time to have another meal at the temple (very brave! 2 sittings of the ashram food in one day!) and have a look round the golden temple itself. Then we headed back to get our stuff from the dorms and headed to the station. All seemed ok. After looking for 10 mins or so for the carriage (the carriages weren't in numerical order like 1,2,3, etc!) we found it and found our bunks. I slept with all my bags up on the top bunk with me as apparently they do get people trying to nick your stuff while you're asleep. Anyhow, woke up this morning to find everything still there, and amazingly I'd had a really good nights sleep too. :O) The bunks were rock hard, so not quite sure how I managed it. Maybe its something to do with the train noise rocking you off to sleep or something!
Arrived in Haridwar about 7.30 8ish. We walked up the road and got some breakfast. Grigal introduced me to these potato filled chapatis which were really nice. After that, we walked up to the Ganges as the sun was rising. There were several people swimming/washing and some making offerings. Families shave there childrens hair and burn that in this leaf type thing which they set float in the river as a type of offering or cleansing thing. Not sure if they came out any cleaner than they went in though - the water didn't really look that clean! It was really interesting to see though.
After 10 minutes or so we headed off to get up to Rishikesh. We had a real drama trying to get a reasonable priced rickshaw up there -its about 10 ks away. To be honest if I'd been on my own, I'd have taken any one and paid it.....even a couple of hundred ruppees is only 2 pound 50, so really its not worth worrying about. It is quite a lot of money over here though and Grigal obviously didn't want to pay it any more than 100. Anyhow, eventually we got a bike rickshaw back to the bus station as Grigal reckoned a rickshaw from there would be cheaper. On the way we passed a big rickshaw almost full and we shouted out whether he was going to Rishikesh. He was, but the bike man didn't want to let me off! Grigal jumped off but I felt really unbalanced with my pack on and didn't want to chance jumping for it. Eventually shouted at the guy and he let me off! We managed to get in the other Rickshaw and headed up to Rishikesh. We had to swop rickshaws half way as the guy didn't have the license to go all the way. (guess the rickshaws are licensed for certain areas) When we got out, the driver was going to charge us more than the other local guys in the rickshaw. They were really nice though and argued our case...they really did argue as well and it got pretty heated! Anyhow, eventually we paid the same as them (i think 60 ruppees) and off we got in the other rickshaw up through Rishikesh and down to Laxmanhula. I was pretty glad to have gone with someone as I'd wouldn't have had a clue where to go on my own. Anyhow, eventually we got there.
Grigal seemed to know where he was going so I followed him and ended up in a really cheap hotel. Actually I think it was an ashram, but with none of the ashram activities (apart from a yoga class you could get up for at 7). It was 60 ruppees a night and to be honest, I wouldn't have paid any more for it really! You got a room which fitted a single bed and about the same room again. I say bed, it felt more like a sideboard! Anyhow, it was fine for one night. Grigal met up with some people he knew and so I went for a walk around to get my bearings after a shower and change. Walked up to the next area of rishikesh (not sure what it was called) and looked at a few hotels up that end, as I knew I wouldn't be staying too long in the other place. Found a few and had then had a walk down along the Ganges. Its actually pretty clean up here, much more so than down at Haridbar. I also checked out a few trekking places to see what they were charging. They wanted around 20 pound a day, which over here is quite a lot. I definitely want to do some trekking while I'm here though. I was hoping to catch up with Naom, a guy from Israel who I'd met in Mcleodganj one evening. I was thinking of going on a 5 day trek with him and some others up there, but in the end he'd decided not to go there and head over to rishikesh instead. When I text him, it turned out he'd got pretty ill on the ride over here and stopped in Shimla to get over it. Not sure when or if he'll make it here, but maybe I'll end up doing some walking with him.
No sign of anyone back at the hotel, so I went over the other side of the river to get some food. Found a nice place with a huge chill out area - loads of low tables and cushions round the edge, and a tv showing films - Last Samuri. Chilled out in there and then headed back to the Ashram. Had my first slightly dodgy tummy (nothing too drastic though) but typical as I had to share a bathroom! Just not such good timing! Nevermind, woke up this morning and felt pretty much back to normal. I actually didn't sleep too bad considering we were right opposite this temple where people climb all the way to the top ringing a hundred odd bells on their way up! Not really condusive to a good nights sleep!
When I woke up, Dotan, the other guy from Amritstar had turned up. He has a motorbike over here and had left Amritstar the following morning after we left and headed up this way. He said he knew of a better hotel, but then he dissappeared so I walked up the road and ended up in a really nice place, away from the temple, and fairly newly done out. It was 150 ruppees compared to 60, but had its own bathroom and hot shower.....well worth the extra :O) The bed's really comfy too!
After taking some laundry in, I headed up for the waterfall. Felt much better having found a nice place to stay and was really looking forward to checking out the waterfall I'd heard about. 5 minutes up the road, a jeep stopped and offered me a lift. Well worth taking actually as it turned out to be a few ks up the road, before you started to walk uphill towards the waterfall. I realised when I got there that I'd worn the wrong shoes.....flip flops really aren't good for walking off road, and not really uphill! Not to worry, I still made it up there and carried on past the waterfall and up the hill. I ended up walking right to the top of the hill (about 2500m) where I met this lovely family. They gave me chai and some of his homegrown :O) and let me sit up there a while and rest....well needed! Felt like I'd walked for miles. They wanted me to take a photo of them and send it to them.... a small price to pay for their hospitality. I took a few of all of them and one of the two young boys playing peekaboo with me from behind a bench when I drunk my tea! I'll get them printed and send them some copies. I've also got a couple of things in my pack I don't need which they may like as well. They were really poor, but didn't actually ask me for anything - a realy lovely family! After I'd finished the tea, the guy walked me up over the brow of the hill and made sure I was on the right path to go back down. This apparently was a quicker way than the way I'd walked up and took me directly into Laxmanhula rather than 3ks up the road where I'd walked up to the waterfall. The path seemed to go on and on. I could see the Ganges, but it didn't seem to get any closer for ages, despite the path going down and down pretty steep. I couldn't believe how far I must have walked up.....my feet were killing me! Halfway down I met a load of huge buffalo walking up the path with a young boy and a girl. The young boy started pestering me - at first I thought he was saying 'peace' but I don't think he actually spoke any english. I'm not sure if he wanted money or what, but he kept touching me, making me feel a bit nervous. In the end I shouted at him to go away, which seemed to work and he scurried off back up to his cows!
After that I picked up my pace and made it back to Laxmanhula about an hour or so later. It was a long way and I was absolutely knackered. My shoes look like I've walked for miles! They were only flat, leather flip flops, but they're an awful lot flatter now than they were! My feet were as black as I'd seen them! Made it back to the laundry in time to pick up my washing though and then went to the Namastay cafe where I'd had brekky this morning. The brekky was fab and I was starving by this point so I had a Tofu, aubergine and mushroom 'singing sizzler' with garlic noodles. It came out literally sizzling as the name promised...a bit like fajitas would back home, on a hotplate type thing. The only difference being that the three things (mushroom, aubergine and tofu, the noodles, and some steamed veg) came in 3 cabbage leaves like 3 individual bowls on the sizzler. It looked amazing and it tasted fab! I even took a photo but was so hungy, I'd eaten some before I got around to taking it! It was worth remembering though!
After dinner I headed back to the hotel for a shower in my own bathroom! Just one night somewhere you have to share one really makes you appreciate your own :O)
Not too sure what I'll do tomorrow yet. Guess I'll wait and see what comes my way.
Hope you're all well n happy back in England. Missing u all, but having a fab time. Wouldn't change it for the world. I love India. Sure there are parts which are hard to deal with, but if you ignore those, it's a wonderful place. Full of culture and some amazing people. The only thing I really can't get my head around is the spitting! It's not just spitting though, its the snorting that they do leading up to it. Like a really loud throaty, nasaly snort and then they spit! Everyone does it as well, so when you walk down the street there's a whole chorus going on! Quite funny really :O) Its a small price to pay for enjoying this beautiful place though, and I'm sure we have habits they think are pretty disgusting as well!
Talking of snorting, I must just mention this guy, all done up in red war paint who accosted me in the street this morning with this finger full of saffron dye. He stuck a dot of it in the middle of my forehead, held up this brass pendant thing in my face and snorted (his whole nose vibrated when he did it too) and then tried to charge me 50 ruppees! Needless to say, he didn't get it! :O)
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Jackie
non-member comment
Lucky..
Lucky the snort didn't end up as a spit on your forehead after what you've just said about all the spitting. Are you joining in with the spitting in a bid to fit in?! Lol Jx