Thursday 7th May 2015
Today was an extremely lazy day we had breakfast after which
we stopped in a café for a coffee and sat and read for a bit before heading
back to the guesthouse where we lay on the roof reading for a few hours it
wasn’t long before Mark was hungry though so we went in search of a late lunch
and ended up at a bit of a shithole. We ate and then headed back to the
guesthouse to have a shower before heading out to meet friends.
In the evening we met Sandeep on some steps by the river we chilled
out there for a bit before heading into the Royal café to watch this girl that
we met recite some poetry.
We could have walked all the way up to the street and around
to the café but in true Indian style someone had leant a dodgy looking ladder
against a shoddily made wall on the balcony and so we climbed up that straight
into the café. As I went up the ladder the whole thing was swaying and I kept
picturing the wall it was leaning on crumbling but we all got up safely so it
was fine.
We were a bit early so we had dinner sitting outside on the
balcony watching the sun go down. When we had eaten we moved inside to watch
the performance. It was all pretty deep stuff and the girl had a very real
talent as well as a great report with the audience.
Alter the show ended we said our goodbyes and headed down
the road to a café for some cake. We sat down the back on the balcony where we
were quickly forgotten about and Sandeep had to remind them about our order it
turned out they were short staffed and in the end Sandeep was the one who got
our cake for us!
Around 10pm we decided to head back and brave the dogs
barking and chasing us. We actually made it back without incident which was a
relief and were soon ready for bed.
Friday 8th May 2015
This morning we got up and had breakfast then went shopping
for a few bits a pieces that we needed while we were at the shops we ended up
buying a colouring in book and some coloured pencils I wanted the Ganesh or the
Mandala book but Mark wanted Tantra (he didn’t realise it was a sex book which
made it funnier when we got back and opened it up)
I also got some postcards and so we went into a café and I
wrote my postcards while Mark drank endless cups of coffee. When we were
leaving I asked for a muesli cookie and the girl gave me a peanut one it was
severely disappointing. But on the bright side as we were paying be bumped into
a friend from Pushkar so happy days on that front!
We found the post office and I sent off my many
correspondences and well as a little parcel each (Moo I sent you a package but
it’s your birthday present so don’t open it if it comes early!!!) we were just
in time as we were leaving they were shutting up shop behind us (even though it
was only 2pm…)
With all our jobs done we walked back to the guesthouse to
sit on the roof and do some colouring in we soon got rather competitive over
whose side of the page was better.
After a while we were melting in the sun even though by this
stage it was early evening and the sun was going down so we had a shower and
headed out to dinner. We went to the other side of the bridge and after eating
sat down by the river in the darkness for a time before coming back and eating
way to much chocolate in bed.
This morning we were up at a reasonable hour for once as we
had a cooking class booked. We got up and Mark was starving so we went and had
a quick breakfast before being at the place for 10am across the bridge in
Lakshman Jhula.
We arrived a bit early but got straight into it. Over the
next few hours we made a whole variety of dishes finishing in time to eat at
about midday. We learnt how to Make Aloo Paranthas (bread stuffed with potato),
chapattis, Coriander chutney, basic yellow dhal and vegetable curry as well as
lassi and ginger chai.
After the class we were stuffed but Mark wanted a coffee so
we walked down the road to a café that has a real coffee machine. The woman
that owns the place has a broken foot and everyone who works there seems to be
a volunteer the service is ridiculously bad and when Mark asked for a second coffee they told him
to make it himself which was wildly amusing!
We sat and enjoyed the cool of the café as the day was
scorching but after a while we needed to move and so we headed to the beach. Along
the way we stopped to pat a baby cow when a jeep sped by blaring its horn it
scared another cow who head-butted mark who fell down narrowly missing landing
in a huge fresh poo it was hilarious and I laughed about it for the rest of the
day.
the cow that ran Mark down
We went where we swam the other day but the river had risen
and looked completely different the current was much stronger and there wasn’t
much of a bank you stepped into the river and it was immediately deep.
We just paddled our toes and sat on the sad watching lizards
scurrying about for a while before heading back to the guesthouse.
I had planned on getting some washing done but instead I
ended up siting about reading my book and doing colouring in.
Around 6.30pm we headed out for some food we were both
pretty hungry so were upset that none of the dhabas opened until 7pm. Instead
we headed across Lakshman Jhula and down to one of the Ghats where there was an
event going on to raise money for families in Nepal after the earthquake.
There was street food and performers and a video about the
relief effort. We stayed until about 8pm when we decided to head for food (the
street food hadn’t satisfied our hunger) when we got to the restaurant there
wasn’t anything I felt like eating so I ended up dinnerless while Mark ate a
huge thali.
After food we headed back to the guesthouse and read the
evening away.
Sunday 10th May 2015
What a lazy day. We didn’t get moving until almost midday
and even then it was just to a café for breakfast, books and Wi-Fi for a few
hours before getting an ice-cream and heading back to the guesthouse to do
laundry.
Just before 4pm we headed out to meet Sandeep at a café for
a drink before attending a Shaman workshop. The other day whilst crossing Lakshman
Jhula we met some people who told us about the workshop. It was a Mexican
Shaman and we had no idea what to expect.
It was actually pretty interesting he talked mostly about
nutrition with a huge focus on water and how water these days is so treated it’s
not in its pure form which is why there is so much illness in the world. He
also talked about how bad diary is but I already knew that. (There was an Indian
couple there that left when he said that)
His talk went on for a few hours about awakening your body
and connecting to your mind but it was just an intro talk so didn’t go too far
in depth to anything.
After the workshop we went to dinner with Sandeep and a
German guy who also came to the talk we checked out a place that does Ayurvedic
cooking. The food was really simple but really delicious. We sat about all
evening chatting and eating before heading home to bed.
Monday 11th May 2015
Last night was hotter than any other night has been so I
woke up feeling groggy and not very fresh. We had idly for breakfast and then
moved onto a café for coffee.
We chilled out for a bit before walking along the river past
Ram Jhula to the Beatles Ashram (of course that’s not really what it’s called
but since they stayed there in the 60s it’s what its known as) the ashram was abandoned
in 1997 and has been left to fall into ruin ever since no one can tell me why
it was abandoned and a google search proved fruitless but its possibly because
the guru was a bit shady.
The land is now owned by the forestry commission and the
entire site is being reclaimed by nature although a lot of the buildings are
still intact.
We didn’t know how to get here and so followed google maps
as much as we could but the internet in Rishikesh is a touch bad and so it was
a bit hard we ended up walking for quite a while through the forest on a relatively
quiet road until we came to a small path there was a baba there who pointed us
in the right direction (and told us he would pray for our marriage)
The path was fairly short and before long we were at the
back gate of course it was locked (the land as I said before is owned by the
forestry commission and no one is actually allowed to go in but some
enterprising locals have set up a business letting people in at the front
entrance for a small baksheesh)
Luckily for us we are expert climbers and so we just spider-manned
over the locked gate as we were considering the best place to climb over
another guy showed up and we spent our time exploring with him. The place has a
great energy about it but at the same time is very creepy and sad its super
overgrown and there are the remnants of fires everywhere as well as a lot of
damage to the buildings and heaps of graffiti although most of the graffiti is
pretty awesome artwork.
Almost all the windows and toilets have been smashed and all
the metal seems to have been pulled out as well as all the plug sockets and any
electrical fittings leaving random holes in the walls here and there.
We explored loads of building as well as climbing onto the
roof of several which awarded us spectacular views. The place was pretty empty
we only saw a few other people poking about and millions of spiders and funnel
webs.
After having a good explore we decided to leave through the
main gate hoping to blag that we paid on the way in, but the guy wasn’t having
any of it and refused to let us out saying we had to go back and climb back
over the fence wherever we came. In the end we hopped over the fence right in
front of him and cheerily thanked him for all his help.
We walked back into town and
stopped for a juice by the bridge where we bumped into Sandeep he was about to
leave to catch a train so it was good to say goodbye. We sat and had juice and
fruit salad and then walked across Ram Jhula and up the hill back to the
guesthouse along the way a dude stepped out in front of me without looking to
hail a bus and inadvertently stubbed out his cigarette on my hand, despite the
fact that it was blatantly his fault he blamed me for the loss of his smoke and
the fact that the bus didn’t stop! I was pleased to get back to the
accommodation to chill out and do some colouring in.
We hung out for a while waiting
for it to be after 7pm so we could get a thali at one of the dhabas we ate and
then headed to a café for some tea and to sit and do colouring in. while we
were there a huge storm started and we ended up trapped until the rain eased
off which it did eventually.
We had to walk home in near total
darkness as the power seemed to be out everywhere occasionally the way was lit
up by a flash of lightening but that only served to make me even more blind. We
got back to the accommodation where the power was also out leaving us no choice
but to go to bed.
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On top of one of the many abandoned buildings
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Some teachings still on the wall
Standard cleanliness of an Indian toilet haha
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Mark nervously watching a creepy grasshopper thing
Some more abandoned buildings
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Te Ashram is full of beautiful and not so beautiful graffiti
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The back gate we climbed over
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Weird egg topped building
Underground meditation cells
beautiful empty building being reclaimed by the forest
Abandoned House
Overgrown Pagoda
The Ashram even had a postbox
Tuesday 12th May 2015
After the extreme rain last night
the weather was much cooler today we went to have breakfast but every place we
tried was closed which was annoying we finally ended up in a café across the
river which has great coffee but ridiculously bad service.
We had a lazy morning and then
went and had a lazy afternoon by the river paddling our feet and doing some
yoga on the sand. The beach was pretty much empty except for the rafting boats
going by so it was lovely and peaceful.
Eventually though it got a bit
too hot and Mark was hungry so we went and got him a thali. Before heading back
to the guesthouse to chill out on the roof.
In the evening we had dinner at a
dharba and then chilled with books all evening.
This monkey stole someones ice-cream!
Every year people drown in the Ganges on Sunday an Indian tourist drowned whilst swimming her body is yet to be recovered
So many cows in the streets here
Yoga by the Ganges
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