Trip of a Lifetime Our 10 month journey around the world.

April 9th - 20  - Rishikesh

We have traveled by plane to Rishikesh so that we can raft the Ganges river.  We have booked a nice hotel for the first few days (Green Hotel) and then will go on the rafting trip.  Our first few days in Rishikesh Holly went to a Yoga class we wandered the streets with the masses, and I mean masses of people.  We have found out that we are here at the same time as an Indian Festival that happens only once every 12 years where over 2 million people are expected to attend.  The town is the size of Qualicum so you can image the chaos and confusion.   We had to go pay for the rafting trip so we ventured over the bridge and up the hill in the rickshaw.  On the way a monkey tried to steal my food but I didn’t let him.  The local guess were impressed and laughed as the monkey hissed at me.  We have been eating vegetarian for to long and we are both craving a big juicy burger.  The food is good but just lacking in the meat department.  Chocolate Banana pancakes or fruit musily with curd for breakfast, veggie pizza for lunch and curry or fried rice for diner usually rounds out our meals.  We were looking forward to get out of the city and hoards of people and get on our way.  We weren’t sure what to expect but after a 3 hour drive 85 km up the rive we were met by our guilds and crew.  There was two English girls that would be coming with us and they seemed very nice.  So off down the river we went after a sort safety meeting and a lot of talk of flipping the raft.  The first few rapids were not to big but managed to get us very wet.  We stopped at a beach for the evening and set up our tent. The crew quickly went to work making dinner and we were amazed what came out of the camp kitchen..  We got a 3 course meal containing soup, bread/popcorn, spaghetti, cookies as an appetizer, tea, coffee, hot chocolate, curries, stewed apples, and on and on.  Seemed the food never ended and everything was delicious. We would even say the best food we had in India.  We all sat around the fire that night and talked about the next rafting days and got to know the hole crew a little bit better.  We loved how the crew played and joked keeping the slower sections interesting with games and water fight (AKA flipping the boat, and pushing each other in).  The final day would be the big rapids some as strong as class 3+ and 4.  Our guilds boat almost flipped on what they call the wall rapid.  We made it thought granted backwards with a look of terror on our faces. In the end we didn’t flip on any of the big rapids as we all paddled together and the guild (Bheem) kept us safe and under control.  Along the way we visited a small waterfall and viewed the nature as we passed.  It was so nice to get away from all the crowds and honking horns, the heat and pesky vendors.  The river Ganges was very cold but when it is 44deg you will swim in anything.  When we arrived back we where taken back to town and checked back into the Green hotel.  We decided that it was costing us to much and was to far to walk to the swimming hole so we moved up river to a hotel that should be condemned, but what can you expect for $8 a night in India.  We would spend the last few days swimming to cool off and people watching from our balcony.  Holly gets the attention of a queen sitting on the balcony with all of the Indian people staring and waving a the white girl with the blond hair.  The last night there our Rafting crew decided to get together for diner so we went to the Freedom café for a nice diner.  Food cost by the way are very cheap $4 will get you a drink, main meal and desert.  We are looking forward to Africa and our Safari adventure just a day away.