Riverside Resort Rishikesh

Wow what a lot has happened since the last entry. I had a day in Delhi so took a rickshaw after a bit of haggling to the biggest mosque. Drove through allsorts of stange sights. A man doing his washing in a puddle on the roadside! RAw meet hanging in an open stall next to apuncture repair place. Anyway at the mosque you could go up a minaret BUT no single women, so I picked up a Dutch guy and we went in ...

... two hour yoga session wasn't too intense, but as someone who hasn't really done much exercising in the last few months, I was definitely sweating within a few minutes. The yogi did many of the same positions that I had been familiar with, and he was a really nice teacher who seemed to know what he was doing and made sure we were still having fun.

After breakfast, we decided to go to one of the nearby waterfalls with one of the Israeli girls that we had ...

... long flowing hair, was articulate and softly spoken, had the air of a liberal westerner and had the knack of boosting rather than depleting your energy. He dreamed of opening a tourism company in the mountains, and I have no doubt if he went for it then he'd be hugely successful. His personality and knowledge lends itself to being a great guide, and you got the impression he was more concerned with people having a good time than scrounging an extra 10 rupees here or there ...

... et apres chaque repas on lavait notre propre assiette. Le dimanche matin on faisait tous le menage ensemble (karma yoga) et aussi je partageais ma chambre avec 2 autres filles.
Ce furent des semaines tres speciales pour moi qu me firent decouvrir enormement...je suis encore en train de tout digerer.
Apres ca le prof sen fut au Canada, pauvre lui :P
Mais moi jai du partir parce que pour le prix que je payais ca valait pas la peine si lui etait pas la ...

... get pictures of us. This happens quite a bit around here. It's funny because we (the foreigners and the locals) are like two aliens checking each other out, each wanting a picture of the other. I want to take a pic of them taking a pic of me...next time!



Three cars the size of a mini cooper came to get us and we packed in like sardines (7 of us in each tiny car) and sped off to the bridge. It was 1:30am when we finally arrived back at the ashram ...

... We widdled away several hours this afternoon chatting about life.

The day before yesterday was my first yoga and meditation class. I started with the guided chanting class that ends in meditation.

I'm finding it ***********centrate on the meditation for some reason....I think. I'm not quite sleeping but I'm not quite meditating ...

... although we found that not everyone showed up!). The dining was an interesting experience for all of us. We sat males and females separately in rows on the floor and they came around with rolling 'wheel barrows' from which they served the food. The food was good, especially for Ashram food, which we heard was not too exciting. It had some spice and flavour and even some variety. Shayna and Justin got sick the second day we were there and decided not ...

... wandered around it a bit we went off to the aarti-the main event in a very religious town-where light and Ganges are worshipped through offering of fire and flowers. Our first view of the river was something special as it means so much to so many here. We watched all the offerings and people bathing in the supposedly sacred waters and even sent some flowers down stream ourselves. Although i'm not the as holy as thou, it was something special to see so much energy and faith in one ...

... lose your turban,", "Drive like hell and you'll be there"...and given how high we were and how dangerous the roads were..."License to drive - not fly!". The entrance to Ananda was like entering a palace (because it is a palace) complete with a guard with a crazy big mustache. The check-in was full of pleasantries including tea, a mala for each of us and lot's of bowing and people being nice to us. Given that we had a yoga package with lot's of spa and yoga ...

I spent the weekend in Rishikesh, which was amazing. One of the guys in our group has a friend with grandparents in Delhi, and their guru runs an ashram in Rishikesh, which is about two and a half hours from Mussoorie. We spent the weekend at the ashram, where once again I was amazed at the hospitality. The ashram is 110 years old and sits right on the bank of the Ganges (Ganga, as they call it here) River. They fed us, led us in pujas (prayers) and ...