Hotel Green View Rishikesh

... something worth seeing. (uphill walks = sweat= kinda miserable... but we didn't care, it was raining and good things are always worth a high up walk).

When we reached the temple, we were asked for a donation, then another, then another and another, before finally climbing the thirteen stories of the temple. We were led by a devotee to the temple (picture included). He spoke only a few words of English, but as we ascended each level of the temple he announced ...

... people bathing in the river, which looked really muddy and dirty at this time of year. Rishikesh is supposed to be the world capital of yoga and is a very spiritual place. All over the town, there are holy men walking around wearing sheets of orange as clothes (orange signifies the men as spiritual) with long white beards. Meat and alcohol are forbidden in Rishikesh (only one turned out to be easy to obtain), and Ayurvedia is very popular around here. Many ...

... did seem rather impressionable about 'cool things' like tattoos and drinking vodka, and hence showed her age a tad more than Mari. I particularly enjoyed the company of Mari, who had a good sense of humour, excellent taste in books/music, had interesting thoughts on life and best of all, appreciated the beauty of comfortable silence every now and again. She was initially quite reserved and didn't seem to like noisy people or crowded places very much (reminds me of myself ...

... the market, we all agreed that we wouldn't have gone there alone and were happy to have had the experience.

I was back at the ashram an hour before I left but that's more than enough time for a bucket shower and to throw my clothes on. I did put on a bit of makeup (makeup? what's that?), I put pretty little bindi on my forehead and voila! I was ready to go.

The wedding was madness, as is everything here. There were probably about 1500 people. This ...

Arriving in Rishikesh was a bit stressful.



Staying in Rishikesh is not. My first night I stayed at a rather nice hotel for $10 a night but it wasn't really was I was looking for. I came here to get the ashram experience but I had no idea
where to go.



My hotel was so quiet and most of the people I saw were older ...

... manager for one last beer. At the Delhi international airport the next morning, I got a taste of the western styles ahead of me..that place, like most fancy new airports, was packed with high class duty free shops. Whoa! My trip back to Rochester was really smooth; I met some nice folks on the plane, and caught the subway straight to the bus station in NY! So, I'm back! See you soon, I hope!

... farther up the valley from Rishiskesh, and hiked about 3km up to a waterfall.  Although the waterfall wasn't very impressive, it was nice to get a good hike in, and to get some exercise.   Im starting to get a little sick, and so I've been taking it easy every night, but I fear I may be coming down with something rough.  Hope everyone is well, and I cant wait to see you all.  Later Days,  Dave

... in constant pain.... Thsi town is quite funny, full of ashrams, saddhus (holy men wearing yellow cloth with painted faces and crazy long hair and beard. It is also full of people wearing hippie clothes and quite a fwe women wearing saris. Now saris are graceful and beautiful and colourful btu I have to say most of them really cannot carry them off but who am I to judge... Off to some erstful sleep on a nice bed!

Rishakesh... where to start. It was a mix of deep spirituality and hippies "finding themselves". Rishakesh is important to Hindus because it is where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayas and the Ganges is considered the most sacred river in Hinduism. Rishakesh is important to westerners because its where the Beatles wrote the White Album. It was only a 3 hour cab ride from us so it seemed like a good weekend trip. A guy in our group had met a friend from back home's ...