Blogs from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India, Asia - page 31

Well we finally made it to Rishikesh in the north and it is fabulous. We have a balcony overlooking the Ganga and can even see our Ashram too. It's mad to think that we are actually at the Himalayas. The guy who met us at the railway station, Baba, turned out to be so nice and helpful, he collected us the first morning to bring us to the ashram, then brought Irene on a mad motorcycle ride to get a cricket bat for her brother. We got a message to return his call the first morning, so I phoned the mobile number but it turned out to be Mr. Siu - the man who had helped us find our correct carraige after we had literally just thrown ourselves on the train. He was just phoning to ... read more

So we leave Jasalmer at 10am on Friday, after driving for the whole day and having a bit of a long detour through Bikaner - due to Magnus, the Norgewian dude wanting to get food and Bengali being a thick fucker - we end up having to stay in this FILTHY roadside motel place....as Bengali won't drive at night, he even refuses to use his full lights - they have to be on dim the whole time. Bearing in mind that this is the country where they drive like maniacs and the rest of the population refuse to dim their lights even with oncoming traffic it's not a great idea! But the motel place was gross, we literally got in, slept and set off at like 8 the next morn tp avoid being there any ... read more

A little behind on my travel blogs, but do not worry, now that I'm traveling by myself I'll have plenty of time to catch up! Going back three weeks ago . . . We were still in India, still in Rishikesh, seems like a lifetime ago on a different planet. Rachel, Jordana and I had planned to go on a four day Himalayan trek to climb a mountain peak which reached a little more than 4,000 meters (the highest mountain peak in Lake Tahoe is at Heavenly, and is ONLY 3068 meters tall!). We had our guide Mokesh to lead us through beautiful mountains, remote villages and deep valleys. Despite cold weather, hail and rain, we reached our peak on the fourth day! It was exhilarating. Here are my pictures from that event, enjoy! Next Destination: ... read more

So, travel blogs are easy when the internet is fast. Luckily, here in the beautiful city of Rishikesh (where the Beatles spent six month sharpening their sitar playing skills), in addition to being the 'yoga capital of the world', the 'gateway to the Himilayas,' and one of the holier cities in on the Ganges river, Rishikesh also has fast internet. This is my second journal entry to my travel blog that I'm not sure anyone is receiving or that I'm doing correctly; it's very exciting. Since my first entry, Jordana, Rachel and I have covered a lot of ground in Northern India, maturing from the luxurious and always delayed trains, to learning how to ride the public buses. After Pushkar, where we ended up hanging around an extra day because it's incredibly relaxing (which is another ... read more

This man came to teach our yoga class. He wears bright orange because he is a monk. All monks in India wear only orange. He may look like an old man but none of us could keep up with his yoga session. He's an incredible athlete. How old do you think he is? The answer will be in my next blog entry. I'll give you a clue. He has been practicing yoga for more than 70 years!... read more