Rishikesh, India

Arrived off a freezing cold 13 hour, two tier AC2 sleeper train into Haridwar. Immediately teamed up with a half Spanish half Uruguayan chewing tobacco addict and hopped on the local bus to Rishikesh for a pleasant hour-long jaunt up into the foothills of the Himalayas. Rishikesh is almost split into three parts: the backpacker haven on the west side of the river up the hill, the main town over the southern footbridge and "tourist town" further north on the east side of the river. This caused a little confusion on arrival. The backpacker haven is cheaper and quieter but an annoying walk to get to the town and the northern tourist town is, well, just tourists. We opted for the main town which seemed a nice mix of everything - and the Beatles ashram is close. Vehicles aren't allowed into the town, apart from motorbikes, bloody motorbikes, they're even allowed on the PEDESTRIAN bridge across the Ganges. Why is this so? Somebody stop them!

The bridge over to the east side

Checked into the Usha guest house for 200 rupees a night. Not in the lonely planet and set right at the back of Rishikesh it's quite peaceful. The staff (and dog) are very friendly and the the people that are here seem to be long-stayers. My room is nice and bright but also baking hot. As it's on the top floor at the end there's no passing traffic so I move the mattress outside and sleep in the nice cool air. A German girl in the next room also decides to do the same when she spots me.

Balcony sleeping

With the Ganges flowing right through the middle Rishikesh is a holy town. There are Babas, cows and monkeys everywhere. Monster relaxation is the main reason people come here. There's lots of tourists wandering about in post-meditation/yoga trances, wearing the popular travellers uniform of Ali-Baba pants and colourful tops!

I spend my time relaxing, inhaling the fresh mountain air with my tobacco chewing friend and a German girl. We take pictures, eat delicious dosa and paddle in the Ganges - it's relatively clean this far up! I spent an amazing afternoon at the Beatles ashram. I developed a taste for chai from a particular street vendor, run by a 9 year old called "lucky". He would mix and pour the fantastic chai for me and I would sit with him while he played the really shitty game (copter) on the really shitty phone I'd bought to travel with. 

Lucky

I ended up spending more time here than anticipated, mainly because of a complete balls-up in some planning. I'd booked a train to leave a day earlier than I wanted to, and only realised the mistake on the day that I wanted to leave! With that money down the toilet I went online and looked for the next train, the day after. I was on a waiting list of 7 people, which is a bit of a risk, but I booked it. The trains are so busy in India that people book them if they think they might need them, then cancel, hence the waiting lists are normally fine under a certain number (I've been successful on a 10 person waiting list before). Next day came, I ran checks via SMS and it went down to 6, then 5, then 4. I packed my stuff, got a tuk-tuk to the bus station, then a 1 hour bus to Haridwar and checked the SMS again... waitlist 4 still. I hung about in Haridwar for a while checking the SMS every hour or so, but I didn't budge from 4! The train leaving time came and still waitlist 4. I was going nowhere tonight! I was going to stay in Haridwar but couldn't find a room at a good price so did the bus, tuk-tuk, walk back to the guest house in Rishikesh. I then booked the train for the next day which was a waitlist of 2, which worked out fine :)