Maharishi Mahesh Yogi Ashram

With the black clouds gathering in the mountains and distant rumbles of thunder I head to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi ashram, where the Beatles spent time in 1969. Now derelict and overgrown by the forest out of town it's quite hard to find. The gate is locked but an old man with a gammy leg appears and lets you in for 50 rupees. I have no idea if this is official or not! The ashram is huge, and spread over a great area. You have no idea on walking in how much there is to see. Up the entrance slope you pass many domes that you might sit quietly inside, with great views back over the valley. At the top is what I guess was the main reception and village square, complete with fountain and postbox. Further back you encounter dining rooms, workshops and a great hall, complete with stage. Did the Beatles gig here?

Further back still towards the hills are the accommodation blocks - two huge structures, both slightly different architectural styles, buried in massive trees with what must be 50 small rooms in each. The storm is getting worse, the atmosphere is looming, the wind is clacking shutters and swirling leaves, it starts to rain but just occasional giant drops. Inside the blocks is dark and eerie! Several times I jumped around expecting to see another tourist standing there! Graffiti is daubed all over the walls, mostly nonsense tagging but plenty of lyrics and quotes from the famous four.

On the roof of the accommodation blocks are more curious domes. The view down to the grounds around, the mountains and the setting sun over the Ganges is incredible. The wind gusts extremely hard and rapidly clattering sound like gunshots.

 

This is not a fruitless amble though a time machine though, I have a mission. That is to detach a tiny part of the ashram, to post back to England, for my Beatles loving family. What though? Searching around debris in the various buildings I found a nut and piece of sink from a kitchen. I tried to get a bolt from an old door but had nothing to prise it off with. Walking out of the spooky accommodation blocks and further up the hill I came across what seemed like a temple, with small concrete shrine in the middle. Very dark and quiet, the wind noise and storm outside fades into the background. The temple is covered in pebbles, on the walls and ceiling. I decide one of thee pebbles would be a perfect memento so set about getting one out of the wall using good old foot power!

Pebble in hand I head back as it's getting dark. On my way back I can hear music. There's a chap standing on top of one of the domes, belting out Beatles numbers! I sit and listen for a while then chat to him when he finishes. Turns out he's from Bristol, and loves the Beatles! (no shit!)

The next day I dunked the stone in the Ganges, for extra power and stored it, ready to post :)

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 :)