The ride was like the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland. It was freaking awesome! We were turning left/right and all over the place. It was pitch black so we couldn't see beyond the lights. I remember one Indian Jones movie, "The Temple of Doom" was to take place in India. Great! We landed safely to the campsite. Had to trek down a huge steep hill to the tents. Indian camping is WAY different than the camping I'm used to. I didn't bring anything besides my phone because I figured we wouldn't have electricity, or toilets. The tents were furnished with two cots and a bathroom (toilet, sink, shower w/bucket and mug. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (website for the camp)
We had arrived at the campsite around 2:30AM so we all quickly changed for bed and fell asleep. We had to get up around 7:30 to move to our actual location and go rafting.
When we woke up...this was the beauty that we hadn't had the chance to witness the previous night:
It was amazing! The birds were chirping, there was no horns honking every two seconds, no smell of pollution, just wilderness. Beautiful wilderness!
So we hiked back up the hill to meet the car that would take us to our campsite. Apparently the one we were at had a large group coming in later that day so they wanted to give us a more “exclusive” camp where we could have undivided attention from the staff and more privacy. It wasn't too far away and while I wouldn't describe the new camp as being as picturesque at the first, it did have it's own unique charm. (Other Camp's Website) The staff was also extremely helpful and would help us out whenever we asked for something without showing any disdain.
After we settled our bags in, a taxi was waiting for us to take us to Rishikesh so we could go rafting. The taxi-walla was an older gentleman and judging by his driving, he drives the mountain road regularly. Speaking of which, the road in the day time is a lot less fun than the road at night. You can see how far down the car could fall and the lack of safety features built into the road. Not only that, but the seat belts in the back of the cars (everywhere in India) never are used or missing.
We made it to Rishikesh and met with a guy who would take us across the Ganges to another car which would take us back up the mountain on the other side to go rafting. There's a lack of vehicular bridges across the Ganges up the mountain so you have to go all the way down to town (15 +/- kilometers) and walk across the foot bridges to the other side. While on the middle of the Ganges, I stopped to take a picture. Ooops! All the people selling stuff saw that and realized I was a tourist and started asking me if I'd like to buy stuff. Random crap too.
We made it to the Jeep, drove up the mountain (almost to where the campsite was) and got ready for our trip rafting. No one but myself had ever been rafting. Sid and Rahul never learned to swim so I was a little hesitant about the rafting trip. I think they were at first but that quickly changed for them. Shortly after we took off, we came up to our first set of rapids. They were small, mostly to get everyone's blood flowing. And boy oh boy did it get the boy's adrenaline going! Then came the second set of rapids. The guide wanted everyone to stand up on the edge of the boat while floating. I refused but Sid, Shweta, and Rahul stood up. And then Rahul and Sid fell into the water. Rahul tried taking me down with him. I was holding on to him at first but realized he was pulling me in so I let him fall hehehe
The fourth rapids were the worst. The boat tilted to the side and Rahul and I fell in. I wasn't expecting it, it came out of no where and I didn't have a chance to take a deep breath before going under. And the water was pushing me everywhere. I was trying really hard to kick my feet and swim up but the damn oar....I was still holding on to the oar! So I let go and managed to make my way up to the top. I felt the boat hit my head and I tried to grab on to the “lifeline” rope. And out of nowhere, as soon as I got up, I was pushed back under by another set of waves. Then I got back up and starting grasping for air because the 10 or so seconds that I was under water, felt like an eternity and I didn't know if there would be another wave again. Then all of a sudden the guide started pulling me up. But my pants were falling off but he wouldn't let go. He just kept pulling. The life vest was wedged in between my two front teeth and then I was landed safely in the boat...kind of. I was stuck in between the two seats of the raft. It took a while to get myself unstuck. Apparently when Rahul and I fell off, Sid and Shweta automatically went to our side of the raft to help us and it made the boat unstable. Shweta got stuck in between the seats too. Everyone got banged up a bit from the rapids. I was cold, wet, and slightly miserable. Life vests are a necessity but they get heavy when wet and my chest gets in the damn way every time. I learned it from rafting down the Deschutes so I was trying my best to not go into the water to prevent that scene but it happened anyway.
When the water was calm, the other three (mainly Sid) would jump out the boat and “swim”. Dude that guy was having a blast in the water! Then Shweta would jump out and join him. Those two would carry on and have fun. Rahul even joined them at one point. The guide asked me if I wanted to join him but I politely declined. I had enough “fun” in the water and didn't want to have to go through getting back in the boat again.
When we got to Rishikesh, the guide dropped us off at a spot on the Ganges where we could walk up to a market and find our way to our car (where we left it the previous night). The market was amazing.
I guess I should tell you a bit about the Ganges and Rishikesh first before I go into too much detail...
The Ganges (Ganga) River is a holy river in India. Hindus believe that the river was formed by Lord Shiva to help cleanse humans and fertilize the land. It also is supposed to carry the blessings from Lord Vishnu. Hindus believe that if you bath in the water, you will be cleaned and blessed. (Side Note: I fell in the water and was bathed by the holy Ganga, I'm officially blessed!) If you're sick, you should drink the water so the medicinal properties of the Ganga will help heal. Apparently for some odd reason, it fights off certain bacterial diseases. It's also one of the most polluted rivers in the world. I guess that's what happens when you have a bunch of people bathing in the water. The further down the river you go, the more polluted it becomes. Rishikesh is a combination of like five small cities and is considered a holy site. It's where the Ganga leaves the Himalayas and starts it's decent into the Ganga basin. There are a lot of ashrams and yoga centers in the area. Hindu pilgrims and tourists alike flock to this place. I saw plenty of white people...mostly hippies.
So while we were walking through the market, I was admiring the simplicity of the place. Everywhere you are, you can hear bells ringing from the temples. There's on in particular that I found fascinating and it was dedicated to Lord Shiva. Every floor has a series of bells (all outside) and from what I could witness, people would walk around the building and ring the bells. It was like a bunch of Catholic church bells going off at random times. Very spiritual. While we were buying water, very very dark or black guy, I think based on the staff in his hand, was dressed like Lord Shiva and spotted me and came towards me. I think it was to ask for money. It freaked me out more than anything so I quickly grabbed Rahul and walked away. I've heard stories of people being “cursed” by weird people like that so I was trying to stay away from him. In hindsight, I should have asked Rahul to ask the guy if I could take a picture with him so you could see how crazy he looked. It would have been worth the money. I also saw another black guy walking through the market with religious attire on. I wish I would have had my money with me so I could buy something from there. It was too magical. Oh and I also made them stop to find Aloe Vera for my sunburn which I had received over the course of the day. Nice huh?We made our way to the car and drove back to the camp. I took pictures along the way. I got some decent shots of Rishikesh from the mountains, and also of the MONKEYS! I was so excited to see the monkeys. Then Shweta started telling me horror stories about them. How one bit her leg when she was younger and had to get 9 shots and a bunch of stitches. Then Sid joined in about how one type of monkey will grab stuff from you and they 'hit on' females. I don't think any of them like monkeys. While I'm not in the mood to be bit and hit on, I do find them cute.
We got to the campsite after driving WAAAAY past it. From there I applied a bunch of the Aloe Vera cream on my arms. The three of them were way worried about my burn so they made me to lay down in front of the cooler in my tent. Coolers are like gigantic fans that you can put water in the bottom of so it spits out cool air. I like them more than A/Cs. After I fell asleep, Rahul came in with ice to rub on my arms because they were so crazy hot. I fell back asleep and woke shortly before dinner. The campsite guys had built a fire for us. We all sat around the fire talking, we were brought out snacks to eat before dinner (pakoras and some other crazy dish consisting of mostly onions). Then they decided they wanted to play charades. So we did that for a couple rounds. I'm not the best at charades but I think I do pretty decent. However, there's a HUGE difference between cultures which came to light while playing. Rahul and I were a team, Sid and Shweta were a team. Rahul had to act out “Madagascar” as we were doing movies. He broke it up into three parts, “Mad” “Gas” and “Car”. Any time I would get something right, he apparently was motioning that I was right but I thought he was saying “keep going, it's along that lines”... He was hoping that if I understood “Gas” and “Car”, that it would make sense. Really, all I understood from him was “Car”. Sid and Shweta wanted him to act out “Mad” ...and it came time for him to do that since I had no idea where he was going. So he started jumping around like a crazy person then slapped me! HE SLAPPED ME! I was stunned. What the heck?! Sid kept telling him that the word he was acting out means something different to Americans. So I thought he was handicapped, retarded, mental, crazy. That's how he was acting. I wasn't getting it so he gave up. Then Sid said he would do it to show the difference.
First he did “Car” since I got that right. Secondly he did “Gas”. It clicked! Rahul was using two hands to put the gas-pump in the car and it looked (to me) as if he was trying to shovel dirt. Sid used one hand and I got it. Then he acted out “Mad”. Instead of being crazy, he was pretending to yell. It made sense. After a few seconds, I was able to put the three together “Madagascar!”
I laughed so hard when they started talking about the differences. Sid was trying to explain to Rahul that Americans don't really think of “mad” as “crazy”, more of “angry” and then then that we Americans use one hand to pump gas, not two. I think Rahul was frustrated that I wasn't understanding his charades but I had forewarned him that it wasn't going to end well. After our game, we ate dinner and went to bed. I was exhausted even though I had a couple hours nap. I laid down on my bed and passed out with the cooler over my arms.
Next morning we woke up, had breakfast, packed, and left to go to a waterfall. My arms were still hurting so I wasn't in any mood to trek. Apparently there was a waterfall not to far away that wouldn't require a lot of walking. When we got to it, it wasn't much of a waterfall and a bunch of guys had just landed to go swimming. We were going to scrap the idea and just head home but Shweta really wanted to go to a waterfall. So we stopped and asked a roadside stand group of people if there were any waterfalls nearby. There was the one we saw. One across the street up a VERY steep hill, about 25 minutes walk in pure sunlight, and one that was a 2 hour trek but an amazingly HUGE waterfall. However, it was full of nothing but foreigners apparently. So after some discussion, they decided to go into town and apparently some city on the way back to Delhi had a waterfall to stop at. A short while down the road, we spotted the Ganga and a road leading down to it. Perfect! We parked the car and walked down to the river. There was a spot that was near the rapids but was surrounded by rocks so it wasn't fast, more of a pool. I put on one of Sid's shirts to protect my arms from the sun and we spent a good hour or so playing in the water. Really Sid and Shweta played in the water. Sid wanted to go swimming but I pleaded that they don't because the current was too fast beyond a certain point and we didn't have life vests. Sid and Shweta made their way out of the water after a little bit of time to the sand bank and decided to cover each other's feet in sand. Rahul and I found some rocks to sit on, dip our feet in the water, and watch the rafters go by.
About an hour later we decided to head out. Back to Delhi. There was a diversion and it took us an extra 30km. We passed through some city where a teenage boy made some lewd expressions to Shweta as we were driving slowly through traffic. Sid got angry when she told him. Almost ran the car into the boy, got out of the car and almost beat him. After yelling at him, they (Sid and Rahul) got back into the car and we drove off. Apparently it was a very heavily populated Muslim town. Riots break out over stuff like that otherwise he would have punched the kid a few times. The kid was scared shitless until he realized his parents were nearby. If I could have, I would have punched him myself. It was my first encounter with guys being nasty perverts (eve teasing), and guys who stand up for the rights of their female friends and companions. Funny how a bunch of my friends had warned me that Delhi had bad eve-teasers and it wasn't safe and I should be careful. Delhi so far has not shown ANY of that, and I've been here for some time. I get a lot of stares when I'm out but I attribute to that to being a fat white chick.It wasn't until we got out a ways to a crapshoot of a town where all those warnings happened.
There was another diversion and we had to go through Meerut. Ugh! Meerut has a reputation of being a seedy town. People disappear and are never found. We locked the doors and tried to get through there as quickly has possible.
It took us about 12 hours to make the journey from the campsite to Delhi. Since Aunty and Uncle had the key to my apartment, they dropped me off first. Rahul and Sid both apologized like none other to Aunty when we arrived for being so late. I don't think she cared much. She just wanted to go back to sleep.
It was a fantastic trip. For $30/night, we slept in amazing tents, went white water rafting, had a campfire, ate decent home cooked food, and enjoyed the beauty of the Himalayan foothills. That's how much I spent for a night in a hotel in Noida when I first landed here, not including the food. Part of me wanted to stay up in the mountains for some time longer, but I know there's other adventures that are waiting, and I can't wait to enjoy them! There's talk of the four of us going to Agra next weekend as a weekend trip. I hope it actually works out this time.
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