That's right, I am in Rishikesh. The old city where The Beatles got some learnin' in Hindu philosophy and also the epicenter of Yoga. I just caught my first glance of the mighty Ganga and at this point it is cold, clear, and "clean" (by Hindi standards the entire river is so pure that it can cleanse the mind, body, and soul no matter how much shit is floating in it). I read somewhere that if you stand on one foot in the Ganges from one new moon to the next all of your worldly problems and medical conditions will be cured. I'm not going down this route, but I may take a dip in the waters here or a little north of town. Also, I would love to do some whitewater rafting which takes place just a little bit deeper into the mountains- and its cheap, but who knows if these guys are the real deal or some fly by night bums? Of course they know what they are doing.... Sure.
One thing I am not gonna do is head to the ashrams or do any yoga. I just cannot get into that stuff, especially when I see that one of the ways to cleanse the body involves vomiting. I couldn't translate the other 3 ways to clean the body, but the Indian food has "cleansed" me twice so far on my journey if you catch my drift. Oh, and another thing... supposedly the town is so holy that it is strictly vegetarian here (definitely no beef anywhere, but usually you can easily get chicken). Not that I really want to eat tons of meat, but could you imagine a city like this in the US? I wonder if they have booze? Hmmmm.....
Again, I just have a short few minutes to make this post. Today was such a long day I spent about 11 hours on 2 different buses. I left the city of Shimla, which is boring (but maybe nice for and Indian style honeymoon, cheap suites complete with round beds and lots of heart shaped mirrors!!!), at 9:30 AM and finally got checked into a room at 9:00 PM. And the worst thing about today's trip is that if you look at it on a map, it seems like Shimla and Rishikesh are right next to each other. Ugghhh... traveling on mountain buses and curvy mountain roads is tough! I only have 4 more weeks in India and I was hoping to go all the way to the south and then I need to get back to Delhi for the flight. That is a LOT of miles to cover and not a lot of time. Not complaining, because even the bus rides beat another day at the ol' office!
Take care and let me know how things are out your way!
One thing I am not gonna do is head to the ashrams or do any yoga. I just cannot get into that stuff, especially when I see that one of the ways to cleanse the body involves vomiting. I couldn't translate the other 3 ways to clean the body, but the Indian food has "cleansed" me twice so far on my journey if you catch my drift. Oh, and another thing... supposedly the town is so holy that it is strictly vegetarian here (definitely no beef anywhere, but usually you can easily get chicken). Not that I really want to eat tons of meat, but could you imagine a city like this in the US? I wonder if they have booze? Hmmmm.....
Again, I just have a short few minutes to make this post. Today was such a long day I spent about 11 hours on 2 different buses. I left the city of Shimla, which is boring (but maybe nice for and Indian style honeymoon, cheap suites complete with round beds and lots of heart shaped mirrors!!!), at 9:30 AM and finally got checked into a room at 9:00 PM. And the worst thing about today's trip is that if you look at it on a map, it seems like Shimla and Rishikesh are right next to each other. Ugghhh... traveling on mountain buses and curvy mountain roads is tough! I only have 4 more weeks in India and I was hoping to go all the way to the south and then I need to get back to Delhi for the flight. That is a LOT of miles to cover and not a lot of time. Not complaining, because even the bus rides beat another day at the ol' office!
Take care and let me know how things are out your way!
Let s go to Shimla !!!
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