May 9, 2016
Three days in Rishikesh: R&R with a view
Day One:
Looking out the window, we see that it is windy and maybe threatening rain. This is the time it's nice that we have rest days ahead. We have a great breakfast in the restaurant, scrambled mushroom eggs, potatoes with onion and green pepper and toast. The croissants are not ready yet, but we expect to have plenty of good pastries while in Riskikesh.
After breakfast, we walk to Laxman Jhula suspension bridge over the Ganges River and walk along the water back to the Ram Jhula suspension bridge and a tuk tuk back to the guesthouse.
On the walk along the other side of the Ganges, we pick up a two souvenirs, a Madhuvan painting and a toy three wheeled bike taxi. The Madhuvan art is done on handmade paper and the paint is natural bright colors. We also found another bakery and stopped in for a nice cup of cappuccino and apple struesel. Returning to the guesthouse as the day heats up, we each are trying to finish our books to take advantage of a book exchange.
Early evening, we meet Ramesh and are reunited with our camping gear. We have very much appreciated the assistance Ramesh has given us by allowing us to use his address to ship the extra gear we didn't need for three months. Now as we head to the mountains, we will be doing more camping and cookiing. Ramesh is a guide to Adventure Trips India that offers trekking, rafting, mountain biking and more. http://www.adventuretripsindia.com
Day Two
Rishikesh, located at the base of the Himalayas on the Ganges, is known for Hindu pilgrimage, yoga, and adventure sports. This holy city to Hindus has banned non-vegetarian food, and alcohol is banned by law. The city was launched to fame in the 1960's when the Beatles came to study transcendental meditation at Maharishi Mahesh Yogis Ashram. Many songs on their White Album were written here.
Day Three
Today there were only two tasks. The first finding the post office to mail home the souvenirs collected over the last few months and a few items no longer needed. The second, buying bakery goodies for our ride to Shimla. This stretch will take us four days.
We take a shared tuk tuk then walk to the Ram Jhool suspension bridge and ask a couple of times for directions to the Post office. We finally find it tucked on a side street past a couple temples. "Yes, please wait" the postman says and brings one chair for Patrick to sit down. The postman brings a box, packs it then tapes it up, Patrick labels the box, we are given a tracking number and for 2880 rupees ($45 USD, more than the value of the contents) and the package is sent with hopes that it arrives home.
Wandering back toward the Laxman bridge, we stop again the German bakery for a cappuccino and pastry. In a few 3 weeks we'll be dreaming of this. We bought a few things for the road tomorrow.
Duties done for the day, we avoid the heat of the afternoon, and prepare to leave this nice haven.
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