Time for another outing with the Delhi Road Trip Group! And a 6am Saturday morning rendezvous! This time, I was very conveniently picked up from my apartment.
We hung out at the nearby Durga Temple (one of many, many “Durga” temples as I found out trying to Google it), and got some looks from the locals while we munched on some surprisingly good packaged cookies and waited for all 10 of us to arrive.
What religion couldn’t do with more blue statues?
Soon enough, we were off to Rishikesh! There is only one major road between Delhi and Rishikesh, so it was familiar to me, being the same one we took in March. It must be noted that if and when they finish / improve this highway, the drive will take a fraction of the time.
We stopped at a road-side food court that included a large Haldiram’s and a large McDonald’s. And the longest bathroom lines ever in both places (at least for the ladies room.) But I was totally all over the attendant to re-fill that toilet paper, which she did, mostly thanks to the people who translated my request. Incidentally, I don’t like the system where you pick a stall door to wait behind. There should be a single line for all stalls. Just sayin’.
McD’s in India
For some reason, we decided against Haldiram’s. So this marks my first actual Indian McDonald’s meal. I had an Egg McMuffin with Cheese and a Hash Brown thing. It was actually very tasty. My co-worker from Colorado, John, who was able to join us at the last minute, ordered a Sausage McMuffin. Based on the sign, I have to assume it is made of chicken…
The drive was, again, long and interesting, though I found that I was less riveted than I was the first time as I’ve gotten used to many Sights of India. We again passed through the Muslim town where all the women were in burqas. The traffic was as crazy as ever, I lost count of the number of close calls with trunks and buses we had. The Major kept us occupied by pouring us all a glass of mango juice, pointing out the mangoes on the trees everywhere (it is clearly mango season!), and having everyone do a self introduction.
What I enjoyed most about the drive up was the chance to practice my Japanese! I sat in the back with a woman about my age from Japan (who also had lived in New Zealand) and stumbled over words that came much easier eight years ago. Still, it was fun to meet someone who knows what “Trivia No Izumi” is (best show ever) and we bonded over how some of our loved ones asked us “WHY India?” And since no one else in the car could understand what we were saying, I didn’t worry that I was accidentally being offensive. Though they assumed I was singing a Japanese song when I imitated the “Hey” button from the trivia show and wanted me to sing it. I thought I might try to sing a Japanese song I knew anyway, but I could not even remember one full lyric of any of the half dozen songs I used to be able to karaoke. Ah, well.
After we passed Haridwar, which looked nearly as crowded as last time, we took a different turn and headed up to Rishikesh, but on the other side of the river, and soon started the ascent into the foothills.
View from the back seat
The road up into the hills was one lane, so naturally it was used by vehicles going both ways, speeding around blind corners, swerving, and honking. The view was beautiful – stunning – even if I could only capture it from a moving vehicle (as there was no place to pull off really. Not safely at any rate.) I also discovered as I looked at the city below that there are not one, but two iron footbridges spanning the river. I kind of wished we had a chance to visit the other one as it looked just as nifty as the one I visited last time.
Overlooking the temples of Rishikesh
(from a moving car)
We drove along the Ganges, then turned inland following a road along a tributary until we saw the sign for our tent site: Rainbow Jungle Camp, then turned down a four-wheel-drive road to get to the entrance.
Our Griswold Truckster
Let’s be clear. We were not camping. A “tent” was comprised of two twin beds with frames and sheets (though oddly, no pillowcase) and an electric light within. Full flush toilets (with sinks WITH SOAP) were across the lawn. And lunch – a surprisingly tasty buffet with standard Indian staples like paneer curry, naan, sliced cucumbers, a potato dish, and bitter yogurt – was being served in the nearby building.
Our “camp site”
As we got set up in our tents, we found out that the other vehicle had not taken the correct turn at Haridwar and had ended up on the wrong side of the river. While we waited, we kicked back and relaxed at the lovely site. We had earlier stopped along the route to buy liquor (since both Haridwar and Rishikesh are dry) and the Major handed it out. However, after just a few sips, one of the staff approached John and said, “Please hide your drink. It’s not allowed.”
John wrapped his beer bottle in a bag and that seemed satisfactory to them. I kept to the lemon mystery drink they served me.
Beautiful camp site locale
We decided we would check out a nearby temple, so we piled back into the Innova, went up the four-wheel drive road, then kept going further up the hills following a wooden sign to a temple dedicated to Shiva. Apparently Rishikesh is Lord Shiva’s old stomping grounds, so the city and its hilly surroundings are quite holy.
There are also goats.
Toward the top of one hill was the temple. The driver parked as close as he could and we walked through a whole bunch of gift shops and places selling roasted corn on the cob to get to the temple.
I decided to turn down the opportunity (?) to take off my shoes and wait in line to pay my respects this time. Instead, I wandered nearby and found…
A temple monkey!
And the hills beyond
On our way back, we found out that the other car, who had eventually turned around and found a bridge (there are very few!) had taken another wrong turn into the ashram neighborhood. We stayed in the car and drove back down the mountain to meet them.
We were back in the same neighborhood of ashram I visited almost three months ago, driving down a road I had once taken a curious photograph up into. Last time we were here there was a Yoga Retreat. This time, it was a gathering of people who wanted to Save Ganga (the Ganges) from pollutants. We watched for a bit, finally seeing our companions near the statue on the platform.
Devanagari numbers
While John and I waited at the car for the Ganga ceremony to be finished, we were approached by a group of women and girls who seemed absolutely fascinated by us. Many of them said “Hello” or “How are you?” as if they were trying out phrases they had learned in school and I returned the greetings and shook hands with them. One of the older women offered me a kulfi (a milky ice-cream-bar-type thing.) I took it. Luckily, just then, everyone had returned and I was able to surreptitiously wrap it in a napkin in the car because I didn’t really want to eat something I wasn’t sure if a stranger had licked or not. John was a good sport and ate his, though.
By the time we got back, it was dark. Tables were set up in the main lawn and speakers were blasting music. The other guests at the camp had clearly already finished dinner. I was bummed that we missed a meal (though I did have a fresh kulfi the Major handed me on our way out), though someone managed to wrangle up some very tasty appetizers. The Frenchman brought out his wine again – no one seemed to care about the alcohol bottles anymore – and I had some in a plastic cup.
Some guys from the other camp site groups were dancing and I watched the synchronous close-quarters movements in fascination. (Men would just not DO this back home.) Being exhausted after all the hours in the car, the wine really did me in. At 9pm, I decided to go to bed just as I was told dinner would be served around 10pm. I figured if I was still awake, I’d have some. But despite the loud music, nonstop conversation outside my tent, slightly-too-hot-to-be-comfortable temperature, and the idea of bugs (I had already seen one very large ant), I crashed, but not before setting my alarm for 6:15am for the river rafting excursion the next morning!