A trip through Haridwar and Rishikesh

We had a nice rest in Jandiala Guru in Punjab before heading off to Haridwar and Rishikesh, two towns at the base of the Himilayas. Both are placed right where the Ganges River comes out of the mountains, so the water is cold, clear and fast moving. The holiest of rivers here in India, the Ganges is the main attraction for tourists in these two towns. Hindus come to the towns to bathe in the Ganges (they call it Ganga here, kind of like Bombay is now Mumbai) to purify themselves. Haridwar, in fact, translates directly to holy (hari) gate (dwar).

The journey to Haridwar was long. The driver told us it was 400 kilometers from our starting point in Punjab. Piece of cake, we thought, with visions of I-280 or I-5  in our head. Well, we forgot that the roads here don’t always include even two lanes, often don’t include pavement, but always include way too many trucks and buses to feels safe, plus plenty of cyclists, cows and pedestrians, too. So, 13 hours later, we arrived in Haridwar, a distance that might have taken five hours in the U.S. Tired and cranky.

We were very excited about the hotel we chose, a former palace deep inside the Bara Bazaar in Haridwar. We had a little trouble finding it, though. So when our driver called the hotel for help, he was directed to a particular spot and told to park. From there, the hotel’s rickshaws came to pick us up to take us the rest of the way. Still tired, but intrigued.

The location was cool…down very narrow alleys lined with stalls selling scarves, shawls and sweets, and accessible only by foot or rickshaw. And the palace was situated right on the Ganga (we are going native with the spelling here), with a huge terrace overlooking the river and steps that took you right down into it. I’m sure the palace was once beautiful, with marble everywhere and big rooms, but yikes it needed a serious cleaning. And I mean deep. The rooms were moldy and had no windows and I am not really sure if they changed the sheets. Still, we made the best of it and set off to explore.

Our first stop was the terrace over the Ganga, where I first noticed a sign that killed me: “Please avoid hanging laundry on terrace to avoid monkey menace.” Really?  One of the first things I noticed in India was the laundry hanging everywhere, but even in hotels, people do their own laundry and hang them out on the shared terrace? That alone was amusing, but the monkey menace threw me. For a very short time. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of monkeys in Haridwar and they are not afraid of people. In fact, they are a little amused by taunting people. One jumped on my sister Joyce’s back and pulled her hair. I tried to convince her it was a blessing from the gods, but she still seems a little less charmed by the monkeys.

The next day, we headed off to Rishikesh, which bills itself as the yoga capital of the world. It is well-known in the west, so I expected lots of pretentious “I am so spiritual” Westerners staying in 5 star yoga resorts, but it was very authentic. There were plenty of westerners there, but they seemed to be staying in real ashrams. Rishikesh was filled with monkeys too, some of them a bit too aggressive for comfort.

After spending the day in Rishikesh, we headed back to Haridwar to catch the ganga aarti, a ceremony held each night at the Har-ki-Pairi (footstep of the god), where Vishnu is said to have left a footprint behind. For the ganga aarti, hundreds gather to send firey blesings down the river while ringing bells and singing.

Looking across the Ganga to Rishikesh

Crossing the bridge to Rishikesh

Taken with the zoom, since getting too close made them a bit nasty

Gathering for the ganga aarti at Har-ki-Pairi

Larry at the ganga aarti celebration on the Ganga river

Kuldip at the ganga aarti celebration on the Ganga river

I hope everybody’s holiday season is a happy one

Advertisement