Off to Chakki Bank
The previous places on our route, viz. Amritsar, Dalhousie and Dharamsala/McLeodganj had been just beyond the expectations. Little did we know that this extent of going beyond the expectations would be further stretched in Rishikesh.
The journey started in a rented car from Dharamsala to Chakki Bank (the station from where we were to catch our train to Rishikesh), where everyone enjoyed a good session of songs sung mainly by the back-benchers, Faheem, Gayatri and me. Rishikesh was gonna be a dry area, meaning no non-vegetarian food and no alcohol. So we decided to have some in the car on our way to Chakki Bank. It's hard to find Kingfisher in rural areas and so we had to quench our beer thirst with Haywards 5000. Pedro, after emptying two and a half cans (or Haywards 12500 as we call it), started feeling a buzz and went on laughing throughout for next thirty minutes until finally he peed and let the beer out of his body.
We reached the station a good one hour early and decided to have dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food was great there but more important the service was great. There was this little chap named Lucky who was serving us. We asked him what we can get in 10 minutes. He gave us precisely the menu that could be made available in 109 minutes. Roopali asked him whether the restaurant served Malai Kofta to which Lucky replied, 'Madam mil to jayega, but Kofta ka stuffing karne me time lagta hai aur phir pakne me bhi time lagega. Kum se kum 20 minute lag jayenge'. Impressed! On top of that, he knew the recipes for all the dishes. After finishing our dinner, we had a chat with the li'l fella. Turned out he scored 86% in SSC. Manish said 'Mumbai aaja, bahot aage jayega tu.' The kid was smart enough to come back with good reply, 'Sir, Bambai aayenge to bigadh jayenge. Wahaan aake aadmi paap karne lag jata hai. Hum yahin thik hai.'
We came back to the station, heavily stuffed, and waited for our train to arrive. Meanwhile, we played some new games on the station like passing a bag (with rollers) through two bottles kept at some distance. We attracted a good amount of crowd that gathered around us to look what we were doing. Apart from that the winner got a round of applause and a bugle salute from Nanu. The train arrived 30 minutes late. We boarded the train, played for a while and then went to sleep. This time the journey was going to be short, we would be in Rishikesh when we wake up the next morning.
Note: Rishikesh is a dry area, no alcohol and no non-veg. It just means it is not sold there. You can carry alcohol with you and drink inside your rooms, not publicly sitting outside in balcony and keeping it on display. Also, you can get alcohol and non-veg food just 2 kms away from Rishikesh in another city/village where it is not banned. Our guides were generous enough to go on their bikes and bring us whatever non-vegetarian food we demanded.
Similarly, Amritsar, or Punjab as a whole, and Dalhousie are a no smoking zone. You have to find proper corner to keep out from police view.
RishikHASH
The next morning, we were short of cigarettes, and as I am used to borrowing one from any stranger, I was looking for someone smoking at the door. Just then Faheem woke up and announce that he has one last cigarette. Great! We all (Faheem, Pedro, Nanu and me) gathered near the door to share the consolation prize. As we were smoking, there was a Fakir smoking something very peculiar and familiar to us, Charas! He caught us stag at him and said, 'Rishikesh ke Rishi, Zindagi Charas aur Nashe me Ghusi' (Most of the Fakirs and Babas are poets, of some weird kind). He then offered us the maal, but looking at his untidiness and uncleanliness, we turned down the offer.
We had already taken up a package deal for four days at Rishikesh and the guides were already waiting for us at the station when we arrived. Two Six-seater auto-rickshaws were ready for us to board. The guides took us through the Ram Jhula on to the other side of the Garhwal district, called the Pauri Garhwal. Our hotel had a good view of the Ganges, and the biggest rooms so far with a hall, a kitchen, a bedroom and a balcony. It was a proper flat.
Note: The Ganges river divides the district of Garhwal into two regions, Tehri Garhwal on the west side and Pauri Garhwal on the east. There are several tourists spots on both the sides of the Ganges river, and so you will have to go across Ram and Laxman Jhula several times. So do not spend much time taking pictures at the jhulas, since you'll get plenty of opportunities to do that.
Rishikesh is famous for four major things:
1. It is a highly spiritual place and hence you see a lot of foreigners living in this part
2. The Ganga of course (The Ganges river), which holds a high position in Hindu mythology
3. It is a great place for adventure sports, esp. White water rafting, Rock Climbing and Rappelling
4. Though it is banned, you will find almost easy access to Hashish (Grass), Charas (Cannabis) and Ganja (Marijuana)
All these things can not be covered over a weekend. You need at least a week to do justice to your visit to Rishikesh.
Our package included:
1. Stay at the Hotel for 4N/5D
2. 30km River rafting along with transport to the starting point
3. camp over night, with two meals and 1 breakfast (But they were very generous and gave us three meals)
4. Safari at Rajaji National Park
5. Two treks (water and snacks included)
All of the above included in a package of Rs. 28800/-. That is, Rs. 3600/- per person.
Neelkanth Trek
The first day was not included in our package deal and we had already decided to take rest for the day. But our guides (Vijay and Radhe) were quite some enthusiasts. They told us that we can do a small uphill trek to Neelkanth that day itself. So we agreed. Point of caution here: When the local people say it's a small trek, don't buy it on face value 'coz they are used to walking long distances. Always get a specific answer either in terms of minutes or in kilometers. Turned out the trek was 8 kilometers from the foot of the hill, the foot hill was again a couple of kilometers away from our hotel. And once you start the trek, there is no looking back. Not because you can't, but the trek is through a route where vehicles are not allowed. We somehow managed to creep up the hills, helping each other, and were completely exhausted by the time we reached up.
By the time we came down, it was dinner time. Our guide took us to the Topiwala restaurant, just in front of his office. The service was good, food was awesome, and the VFM was just super. Just imagine. Eight of us ... fulfilled with vegan food ... and the bill doesn't shoot up over 700 bucks. That's 700 bucks well spent! Since we all were tired from the overwhelming trek, we decided to sleep the next day to recover. So everyone woke up at their own convenience the next morning, sorry, afternoon. :)
Note: There is also a restaurant called Chotiwala, which is one of the famous restaurants in Rishikesh, but it is pointlessly expensive.
The next day we didn't have anything planned for the whole group, so we split up. Faheem, Gayatri and Gaury went on to check out the Laxman Jhula and surrounding temples (one of which had 14 floors), while the rest of the gang wanted to try a short rafting route to get ready for the big one coming up on Friday. The Jeep took us 17 kms upwards to the Shivpuri camp. The camps are basically a flat land with natural deposit of sand on the river banks. It was an amazing place with a picturesque view of the valley. Our rafting guide was Veeru and he was accompanied by a kid named Chintoo. Since it was our first experience of rafting in the Ganges, we had decided not to carry any cameras, but Gauri still handed over her camera as it was compact and sleek.
Note: The 17 km rafting costs not more than Rs. 300/- per person.
White Water Rafting
The guide gave us a quick crash course on the paddle movements and the calls he would be giving. A scream to cheer up: 'Ganga Mata ki Jai'! and we took off. The water was cold, and the weather wasn't that warm either, when we came across our first rapid. Rapids are parts of the river where the water is shallow due to which the current are strong and causes the water to wave up and down and thrash on the surrounding rocks. The raft banged against each wave in the rapid, which lifted it up almost 45 degrees upwards. Then suddenly the wave disappeared beneath the raft and sent it crashing down with a loud impact. It was thrilling! There are five to six such rapids, the best ones are at the beginning of the route. Half way through the route, our guide showed us the cliff from where they allow cliff-jumping. It was just two storey high and we thought of it as a cake walk. But as we stopped our raft there, climbed up the rock, and looked down the cliff, believe me we were petrified. The distance suddenly seemed like a mile and we started thinking of the impact. I can't talk about personal feeling of Nanu and Manish, but I know, it was the biggest achievement in my life. That is because I have never jumped into water from that height, and secondly, I am afraid of heights.
We were enjoying this rafting experience very much, but at the same time cursing ourselves that no one was around to take our snaps from the banks. Just then, as we were passing below the Laxman Jhula, you can call it luck, telepathy, god's grace, or sheer coincidence, the same time Gayatri, Gaury and Faheem were crossing over the Laxman Jhula. We were overflowing with joy I thanked anyone and everyone we could for getting this moment captured. We also showed our rafting skills by spinning are raft from right to left and back again.
Note: Make sure the Rafting guide is experienced and has knowledge about the names of the rapids that come your way. There are many interesting names like Three Blind Mice, Roller Coaster, Black Money, etc. and each has an interesting story about the choice of that name. These all names were given by a renowned mountaineer and explorer Edmund Hillary, who traveled in his motor boat against the current of the Ganges river during his expedition. All these stories add more interest to your Rafting experience.
In the evening, we went to witness the Ganga Aarti, which is carried out everyday somewhere around 1800 hrs. The Ganga Aarti is held in front of a temple of Shiva, where you'll find many idols of Lord Shiva, the biggest one sitting right outside the temple on a ramp over the Ganges. The main trustee of the temple, Muni Baba, performs the aarti. It takes around thirty minutes after which the bhajans start and lasts for a couple of hours.
We had our dinner, again at the Topiwala restaurant, and headed to our hotel rooms to end one more day at Rishikesh ... continued in Part 5.
The previous places on our route, viz. Amritsar, Dalhousie and Dharamsala/McLeodganj had been just beyond the expectations. Little did we know that this extent of going beyond the expectations would be further stretched in Rishikesh.
The journey started in a rented car from Dharamsala to Chakki Bank (the station from where we were to catch our train to Rishikesh), where everyone enjoyed a good session of songs sung mainly by the back-benchers, Faheem, Gayatri and me. Rishikesh was gonna be a dry area, meaning no non-vegetarian food and no alcohol. So we decided to have some in the car on our way to Chakki Bank. It's hard to find Kingfisher in rural areas and so we had to quench our beer thirst with Haywards 5000. Pedro, after emptying two and a half cans (or Haywards 12500 as we call it), started feeling a buzz and went on laughing throughout for next thirty minutes until finally he peed and let the beer out of his body.
We reached the station a good one hour early and decided to have dinner at a nearby restaurant. The food was great there but more important the service was great. There was this little chap named Lucky who was serving us. We asked him what we can get in 10 minutes. He gave us precisely the menu that could be made available in 109 minutes. Roopali asked him whether the restaurant served Malai Kofta to which Lucky replied, 'Madam mil to jayega, but Kofta ka stuffing karne me time lagta hai aur phir pakne me bhi time lagega. Kum se kum 20 minute lag jayenge'. Impressed! On top of that, he knew the recipes for all the dishes. After finishing our dinner, we had a chat with the li'l fella. Turned out he scored 86% in SSC. Manish said 'Mumbai aaja, bahot aage jayega tu.' The kid was smart enough to come back with good reply, 'Sir, Bambai aayenge to bigadh jayenge. Wahaan aake aadmi paap karne lag jata hai. Hum yahin thik hai.'
We came back to the station, heavily stuffed, and waited for our train to arrive. Meanwhile, we played some new games on the station like passing a bag (with rollers) through two bottles kept at some distance. We attracted a good amount of crowd that gathered around us to look what we were doing. Apart from that the winner got a round of applause and a bugle salute from Nanu. The train arrived 30 minutes late. We boarded the train, played for a while and then went to sleep. This time the journey was going to be short, we would be in Rishikesh when we wake up the next morning.
Note: Rishikesh is a dry area, no alcohol and no non-veg. It just means it is not sold there. You can carry alcohol with you and drink inside your rooms, not publicly sitting outside in balcony and keeping it on display. Also, you can get alcohol and non-veg food just 2 kms away from Rishikesh in another city/village where it is not banned. Our guides were generous enough to go on their bikes and bring us whatever non-vegetarian food we demanded.
Similarly, Amritsar, or Punjab as a whole, and Dalhousie are a no smoking zone. You have to find proper corner to keep out from police view.
RishikHASH
The next morning, we were short of cigarettes, and as I am used to borrowing one from any stranger, I was looking for someone smoking at the door. Just then Faheem woke up and announce that he has one last cigarette. Great! We all (Faheem, Pedro, Nanu and me) gathered near the door to share the consolation prize. As we were smoking, there was a Fakir smoking something very peculiar and familiar to us, Charas! He caught us stag at him and said, 'Rishikesh ke Rishi, Zindagi Charas aur Nashe me Ghusi' (Most of the Fakirs and Babas are poets, of some weird kind). He then offered us the maal, but looking at his untidiness and uncleanliness, we turned down the offer.
We had already taken up a package deal for four days at Rishikesh and the guides were already waiting for us at the station when we arrived. Two Six-seater auto-rickshaws were ready for us to board. The guides took us through the Ram Jhula on to the other side of the Garhwal district, called the Pauri Garhwal. Our hotel had a good view of the Ganges, and the biggest rooms so far with a hall, a kitchen, a bedroom and a balcony. It was a proper flat.
View from our Balcony
Note: The Ganges river divides the district of Garhwal into two regions, Tehri Garhwal on the west side and Pauri Garhwal on the east. There are several tourists spots on both the sides of the Ganges river, and so you will have to go across Ram and Laxman Jhula several times. So do not spend much time taking pictures at the jhulas, since you'll get plenty of opportunities to do that.
Rishikesh is famous for four major things:
1. It is a highly spiritual place and hence you see a lot of foreigners living in this part
2. The Ganga of course (The Ganges river), which holds a high position in Hindu mythology
3. It is a great place for adventure sports, esp. White water rafting, Rock Climbing and Rappelling
4. Though it is banned, you will find almost easy access to Hashish (Grass), Charas (Cannabis) and Ganja (Marijuana)
All these things can not be covered over a weekend. You need at least a week to do justice to your visit to Rishikesh.
Our package included:
1. Stay at the Hotel for 4N/5D
2. 30km River rafting along with transport to the starting point
3. camp over night, with two meals and 1 breakfast (But they were very generous and gave us three meals)
4. Safari at Rajaji National Park
5. Two treks (water and snacks included)
All of the above included in a package of Rs. 28800/-. That is, Rs. 3600/- per person.
Neelkanth Trek
The first day was not included in our package deal and we had already decided to take rest for the day. But our guides (Vijay and Radhe) were quite some enthusiasts. They told us that we can do a small uphill trek to Neelkanth that day itself. So we agreed. Point of caution here: When the local people say it's a small trek, don't buy it on face value 'coz they are used to walking long distances. Always get a specific answer either in terms of minutes or in kilometers. Turned out the trek was 8 kilometers from the foot of the hill, the foot hill was again a couple of kilometers away from our hotel. And once you start the trek, there is no looking back. Not because you can't, but the trek is through a route where vehicles are not allowed. We somehow managed to creep up the hills, helping each other, and were completely exhausted by the time we reached up.
By the time we came down, it was dinner time. Our guide took us to the Topiwala restaurant, just in front of his office. The service was good, food was awesome, and the VFM was just super. Just imagine. Eight of us ... fulfilled with vegan food ... and the bill doesn't shoot up over 700 bucks. That's 700 bucks well spent! Since we all were tired from the overwhelming trek, we decided to sleep the next day to recover. So everyone woke up at their own convenience the next morning, sorry, afternoon. :)
Note: There is also a restaurant called Chotiwala, which is one of the famous restaurants in Rishikesh, but it is pointlessly expensive.
The next day we didn't have anything planned for the whole group, so we split up. Faheem, Gayatri and Gaury went on to check out the Laxman Jhula and surrounding temples (one of which had 14 floors), while the rest of the gang wanted to try a short rafting route to get ready for the big one coming up on Friday. The Jeep took us 17 kms upwards to the Shivpuri camp. The camps are basically a flat land with natural deposit of sand on the river banks. It was an amazing place with a picturesque view of the valley. Our rafting guide was Veeru and he was accompanied by a kid named Chintoo. Since it was our first experience of rafting in the Ganges, we had decided not to carry any cameras, but Gauri still handed over her camera as it was compact and sleek.
Note: The 17 km rafting costs not more than Rs. 300/- per person.
White Water Rafting
The guide gave us a quick crash course on the paddle movements and the calls he would be giving. A scream to cheer up: 'Ganga Mata ki Jai'! and we took off. The water was cold, and the weather wasn't that warm either, when we came across our first rapid. Rapids are parts of the river where the water is shallow due to which the current are strong and causes the water to wave up and down and thrash on the surrounding rocks. The raft banged against each wave in the rapid, which lifted it up almost 45 degrees upwards. Then suddenly the wave disappeared beneath the raft and sent it crashing down with a loud impact. It was thrilling! There are five to six such rapids, the best ones are at the beginning of the route. Half way through the route, our guide showed us the cliff from where they allow cliff-jumping. It was just two storey high and we thought of it as a cake walk. But as we stopped our raft there, climbed up the rock, and looked down the cliff, believe me we were petrified. The distance suddenly seemed like a mile and we started thinking of the impact. I can't talk about personal feeling of Nanu and Manish, but I know, it was the biggest achievement in my life. That is because I have never jumped into water from that height, and secondly, I am afraid of heights.
We were enjoying this rafting experience very much, but at the same time cursing ourselves that no one was around to take our snaps from the banks. Just then, as we were passing below the Laxman Jhula, you can call it luck, telepathy, god's grace, or sheer coincidence, the same time Gayatri, Gaury and Faheem were crossing over the Laxman Jhula. We were overflowing with joy I thanked anyone and everyone we could for getting this moment captured. We also showed our rafting skills by spinning are raft from right to left and back again.
Note: Make sure the Rafting guide is experienced and has knowledge about the names of the rapids that come your way. There are many interesting names like Three Blind Mice, Roller Coaster, Black Money, etc. and each has an interesting story about the choice of that name. These all names were given by a renowned mountaineer and explorer Edmund Hillary, who traveled in his motor boat against the current of the Ganges river during his expedition. All these stories add more interest to your Rafting experience.
In the evening, we went to witness the Ganga Aarti, which is carried out everyday somewhere around 1800 hrs. The Ganga Aarti is held in front of a temple of Shiva, where you'll find many idols of Lord Shiva, the biggest one sitting right outside the temple on a ramp over the Ganges. The main trustee of the temple, Muni Baba, performs the aarti. It takes around thirty minutes after which the bhajans start and lasts for a couple of hours.
We had our dinner, again at the Topiwala restaurant, and headed to our hotel rooms to end one more day at Rishikesh ... continued in Part 5.
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