Rafting the Ganges
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2008
1
11
13
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Rishikesh,
India
Friday, September 26, 2008
I went for a 26km rafting session down the Ganges, it was great seeing the valley from teh bottom up and experiancing the rapids. The dingey really does take a pounding as you fly almost virtically downwards into a rapid, manically paddling yourself.
Afterwards I returned to the hostel, where a group of Indian politians had essentially taken over, apparently they were all there (about 20 + families) to elect a new chairman for which they had to come to a hotel by the Ganges for 3 days. So far i've seen them sitting around, eating, drinking and being loud. I got talking with one of them, and he invited me to have lunch with them, I never decline a free lunch. Then one of his mates - another 'politian' came over and I was reliably informed that he was an astrologer and that he'd beable to tell me about myself from my hand. It was free so I didn't mind. He told me 4 things:
1. I came from a weak family background.
2. I had many struggles in my life
3. That I had to struggle through education and to get into education.
4. That my future was bright.
He then asked me if what he said was true, and not wanting to hurt his feelings said "maybe a little", but essentially everything (except the future I hope) he said was the opposite of me. So that was nice.
India is actually really nice, once you know where to go, i'm not saying its the travellers paradise of Thailand or Malaysia, but I think you need to give credit where its due. I'll enjoy the rest of my time here, but then it's back to Delhi for the remaining few days....
Life is interesting.
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