Rishikesh

After our hectic taxi ride here, Rishikesh was a cool, peaceful paradise. Situated further up the Ganges at the foothills of the Himalayas, Rishikesh is renowned for yoga, healing and ashrams. Definitely my favorite place in India so far, Rishikesh has much calmer, more outdoorsy vibe. We had a relatively mellow time here, with no master musicians to meet or classes to take. Instead most of us took the time to get some Aryurvedic messages, hot oil treatments and doctor consultations. I learned I'm a Vata and am not supposed to eat much ice cream or oily, spicy foods (there goes all of those curries I've been eating!). And I had hot oil poured on my third eye for 45 minutes, which was an unbelievably relaxing experience.

The Ganges is very clean at this point and we did quite a bit of swimming in it. The highlight of this segment was going up to this ancient spiritual cave where the Gayatri Mantra was first received, chanting and meditating in the cave, and then having a picnic and swimming in the river. The Ganges Valley is green and lovely up here, and the road has quite a few places where you are inches from a 300 foot drop.

Monkeys roam freely throughout the town, and particularly on the two "walking" bridges that connect the different sides of the river (walking bridges in India include bicycles, motorcycles, and the occasional cow). I was walking with another person on the tour, Elizabeth, on the bridge and she literally had a monkey jump on her back after she took a picture of it. Luckily it didn't bite her or anything...