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| the view |
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| A sari drying |
Rishikesh is absolutely beautiful. We arrived in the middle
of the night of December 1st. We did not know what to expect when we
awoke in the morning. The view from our room was STUNNING. The sun was shining
and the mist lifted to reveal its secret; the River Ganga, finally it was time
for me to formally meet Ma Ganga or Mother Ganges. All of India flows through
her waters; she is a gift from the gods, purifying the mighty sub-continent. We
headed out into this near perfect day to her banks, with rafting gear in tow. The
whole day was very surreal and spiritual almost.
Her banks are just as diverse
as the country, from skyward trees to sandy beaches, or giant smooth river
rocks. Steps from temples and yoga ashrams led down to her shores. I saw people
bathing, washing their clothes, meditating, or just splashing around. We stopped at a high rock, where it seems
that most of the rafting companies stop, so that we could jump of it. At first I
did not want to jump, but after some internal deliberation I did it, and I’m so
glad I did. Most of our rafting was smooth; we did get into a few rapids where
we were knocked around a little. We returned to our hotel soaking wet and spent
the rest of the day relaxing and taking photos by the banks. The next day a few
others and I decided to visit a temple on the top of a mountain… by cable car!
The
view was nice and the ride was fun. When we got off the cable car there was
still some more walking to do. The pathway was lined with beggars, children
selling CDs and men selling food and jewellery. We took off our shoes and left
them with an attendant so we could proceed to the temple. There was a relatively small shrine and a few
people in progress of their seven cycles around the shrine. We made our way
back to the rope way, retrieved our shoes and headed back to the guest house.
Tomorrow we go to Corbett National Park.
