Rishikesh India

Rishikesh is often referred to as the yoga capital of the world with its abundance of ashrams and yoga programs. The ganges river flows through town and hindu holy men - sadhus - are walking around everywhere, along with hordes of errant holy cows rummaging for food. Two different types of monkeys are seen in different areas of the city, the mostly white with black face langurs, plus another common red tinged Indian monkey. The langurs are larger and more easy-going and quite graceful moving around. They almost look like mini kangaroos jumping and swinging through the trees and environment with their big legs. The red tinged monkeys, some species of macaque I believe, are smaller, stockier and have much more attitude. They love to growl, threaten, and show their teeth and can be fiercly protective of their clan, as I found out one time when I mistakingly was caught in between 2 young ones and their clan.

At the moment it is off-season for tourism and most of the yoga schools, so much fewer than normal tourists and travelers are in town, making my foreign presence stick out that much more to the Indians, who often look at me as though I am an alien. In recent wks the city has been besieged by tens of thousands of Hindu pilgrims making their way to Rishikesh and onward to some Shiva temple outside town. Most of the pilgrims are in their twenties and teens and in large groups, all wearing all orange attire shorts and t-shirts, emblazened with different images of Shiva. The first several times I passed them in I found them a bit threatening walking in their groups often with fierce looks on their face. However I have found out they are all quite friendly inspite of their occassional intense demeanor and constantly coming up to talk to me and find out where I am from and my name. Also constantly getting requests for photos, which sometimes can getting irritating. During the several wks of their pilgrimmage the town was absolutely swamped with pilgrims and difficult at times getting around through the crowds. Pretty noisy too as they are often chanting names of Shiva and other words I find incomprehensible. It did often sound like they were chanting words like "Bum Bum" in reponse to a leader in the front chanting some other words. This chanting and racket could often be heard late into the night as the pilgrimmage apparently didn't slow down for many during the nighttime hours. During the daytime many people take to the streets, the temples, near the river, and pretty much anywhere relatively flat to sleep and rest their bodies.. Can't be too comfortable sleeping on the asphalt over night, at least cardboard and other paper is often put down on the ground to lay upon, providing cover along with protection from the everpresent cow feces on the streets

The city is located right at the base of the himalayas, so some picturesque mountains form the backdrop of the city. Like every other Indian city, the place is noisy as hell with endless horn honking from the over abundance of cars, motor bikes, and rickshaws driving the streets and working their way through all the pedestrians and cows. Street signs and lights are relatively non-existence, with the exception of seeing some non-working traffic lights at a major intersection in the middle of the city. The vast majority of the ashrams, yoga centers, gnats, and tourist areas are several miles north of the actual city of Rishikesh. Two large suspension bridges, about a mile apart from each other, cross the Ganges and lead to separate sections of Rishikesh. Lakshman Jula is located at the north bridge, while Ram Jula is at the southern bridge. Monkeys can often be seen climbing the wires leading high across the bridge. Often they come down low to the side railings and attempt to steal peoples food. One time I put my camera up to within 3 or 4 feet of one of the agressive macaque monkeys and almost had it swiped.

Coming straight out of the mountains and likely from the glaciers, the water is cold and relatively clean, free of the pollution and sewage runoffs further along its path, particularly the Varanasi portion which is supposed to be quite filthy. Gnats are set up in many spots in the city, these being steps leading down to the river. Here many pilgrims and Indians go to bathe and clean themselves, swim, as well as fill up containers full of the holy water. During the early mornings and evenings there are ceremonies going on with singing, chanting, instrument playing and the setting off of flowers with incense and flame to the Ganges as prayer and offering. One particular substance within the flame is camphor, which is supposed to symbolize the burning of one's ego. There are actually some locations in various areas of the city with decent sized beaches to lounge at and go swimming. I took a walk one day down to one of these beaches, littered with huge boulders and errant cows with the possible intent of taking a dip into the Ganges. However, this became infeasible within minutes as small crowds of Indians started coming over to stare and talk with me. At least I was able to walk in the Ganges for a little bit and get some good pictures. Next time I will have to find a more remote spot further away from the masses.
Food on the streets is pretty good, particularly the chai tea. Although it is cooked up in filthy dark pots crusted over with old tea grinds and other residue, it pretty much always comes out tasting delicious and is super cheap, typically the equivalent of paying 10-15 cents a small cup. Ingrdients are basically black tea, cinnamon, cardamon, skin milk, water, sometimes some anise and ginger, as well as other possible ingredients tossed into the typically filthy pot, heated up, and then strained into a small glass. The pot doesn't seem to be ever cleaned and is put right back up on the stove, usually covered. It's also nice getting cups that u just watched the cooks cleaned out with their fingers.

So far I have been fortunate and haven't gotten sick at all during my time in India, about 1 month and a half. I was sick once in Nepal for several days with awful diarrhea and fever, and Thailand several times. I better tap on some wood be4 I jinx my luck. So far in traveling over 7 months I believe my body has started to acclimate itself to the bacteria and other microbes in the environment no present in the US. Doing lots of yoga has also helped to detoxify, cleanse, and protect my body against sickness. Has also been over 2 months now that I have eaten meat, with the exception of one time in Nepal. Rishikesh is a holy city and hence it is vegetarian and alcohol free. I do hear that there is a restaurant and Inn on the far side of town owned by some Pakistanis that offers meat, although I haven't been there. The mangos sold by the street vendors are incredibly juicy and delicious, usually costing me 25 cents apiece. Also available for cheap are potato samosas, which perhaps aren't the healthiest being that they are deep fried, but they are delicious and fill me up.