India Part 2: The North

I meant to post this blog last week but unreliable Internet has thwarted my attempts. Anyways, we are currently in the city of Jophur located in the desert state of Rajasthan. I swear this is the last summer I go into a desert.

So here's my post from when we were in a cooler area in the mountains. Ah, the good ol'days when I could walk around at 2pm and not collapse from heat stroke.

Haridwar

As I write this I am in the Indian city of Haridwar. We arrived May 10th and are leaving tomorrow May 15. Haridwar can be reached from Delhi in about 5 hours by train.

Haridwar is significant because it is one of the seven Hindu holy cities. It is located at the edge of the Himalayas where the Ganga river leaves the mountains.

Being one of the Holy cities it is expected that Hindus make a pilgrimage here and bath in the Ganga river. That means that the city is filled with Indian tourists. Especially now in summer since this area is cooler than the rest of India.

Haridwar is actually my favorite Indian city so far since it's laid back. Even when walking through the bazaar I'm amazed how little I'm hassled. Since most of the people here are tourists on vacation, I find people to be friendlier than in Delhi. It's been nice.

It should be noted that since Haridwar is a holy city, one can not get any meat or alcohol within it. That means I've now gone 5 days without meat, the longest of my life. Now unexpected thing is that I don't seem to miss it much. Indian food uses so many sauces and spices, it took me a couple of days to even remember that I'm not eating meat.

The Temples of Haridwar

Now being such an important location, the area around Haridwar is dotted with temples. While we were here we visited Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi temples. Now that was an experience.

The first thing one notices on the way to the temples is the amount of people trying to sell bags of items which can be conveniently offered at the temple. Each one of these bags contains rice, lace, a coconut and some sheets of paper.

The temples consist of several little shrines, including one which is set up to accept offerings (and donations). At this shrine a priest takes you bag and accepts the offerings.

The temples are located in hills above Haridwar, but are easily reached via a cable c
ar and bus service. So it is all really convenient.

Perhaps the most significant impact that these temples left on me came from the visiting Indians. Namely I couldn't help but notice how for many Indians this was basically a family vacation and the kids/adults acted as it was. It funny for me to see how this holy pilgrimage can be compared to any random vacation a family takes in North America.

Oh it should also be noted that there were monkeys all around the temples. It was AWESOME.

Har Ki Pauri

Now the most memorable part of Hairiwar was Har Ki Pauri ritual. This takes every night along the Ganga river in a special area. Two hours before sunset people start gathering around the river to scope out a good seat.

Many people also obtain a leaf filled with flowers. Each one of these leaf baskets contain a candle to be lit at the correct time.

When the sun sets the ritual takes place. It is hard to describe but basically a several priest move torches above the river to the beat of a chant. As this takes place people light the leaf baskets and put them in the river. The whole ritual is quite enchanting to watch.

River Rafting

The Lonely Planet was really helpful in that it pointed us in the direction of an awesome adventure tours agent (Mohan's Adventure). Not only was he helpful in giving us things to do, he also was a cool guy who (and his brother) did the activities with us.

The most exciting thing we did was river rafting down the Ganga River. The rafting was good because it would be quick stretches of rapids followed by a good time to chill out. It gave us an excellent chance to enjoy the scenery.

The best part of the river rafting was for 2 kms we were allowed to jump in and float with the river current. It was good times.

Rajaji National Park

One of the advantages of Haridwar is that it is located close to Rajaji National Park. In order to explore the park we did both a jeep and elephant safari.

The jeep safari was cool because we got to see much of the park and some animals (like monkeys, deer and hogs) but the elephant safari was the best. Not only was it cool to ride an elephant (5 of us sat on the elephant) but we were lucky and got to spend about 20 minutes watching a herd of about 8 wild elephants.

It was an amazing experience and I learned a lot.

Rishikesh

Now this blog wouldn't be complete unless I mentioned the ashrams and the foreigners flocking to them. An ashram is essentially a temple where one can stay and meditate. This usually involves learning yoga, chilling out and experimenting with various substances.

While there are ashrams in Haridwar, the nearby town of Rishikesh is home to the most predominate ones. Some of you Beatles fans might recognize Rishikesh as the town the band disappeared to in order to find themselves. And as you can expect, since the Beatles did it, there are no lack of foreigners here staying at ashrams.

Next time: Rajasthan