Rishikesh, baby!

(Karen, Kyle, Jeanne, Chris)

Well, we didn't exactly run into Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band, but we did have a lot of fun wandering around Rishikesh. This is where the Beatles went to get "enlightened" and came back with better music. Sarah and Peter did trek through rivelets of polution to find the legendary ashram where John, Paul, George, and Ringo went, but it was eerily abandoned and run down. They paid the guard 50 rupees to get in.

Let's start from the beginning. Our trip began with a 1-hour taxi ride to Dehra Dun where we stopped for dinner. I vowed I would never eat at a McDonalds in a foreign country, but caved in and ah, the filet'o'fish just tasted so good! Then, we headed to a sweet shop where my umbrella was stolen by one of the employees. Peter who knew how to speak hindi tried to ask them if they had seen it and they ignored us. Luckily Alex who works in development, told me an inspiring story about how he snatched his umbrella back from a lady once, and so I kept my eye out as I exited. Lo and behold, "That's my umbrella!!!", I exclaimed as I pointed behind the counter. "Oh, this is yours?" And they gave it back.

Next, we rode another 1.5 hours to a "Swiss Cottage" in Rishikesh where we were supposed to stay, but they had no record of our reservation. Mr. Singh, our taxi driver, totally helped us out and stayed until we had everything under control. The negotiations were sort of as follows: "Well, we don't have 4 rooms for you, but we can get you 8." huh? Alex got on the phone was told, "1500 a night". "400," he said. "500," they replied. "I think we got the better end of the deal," he said. And we got shipped to this luxury hotel.

(This is one of the only times I'll be able to wear shorts here.)

The next morning, our group of 14 headed off to the bustling markets of Rishikesh, where eventually we split off. The most astonishing thing about this little city was that it was not that astonishing at all. This city seemed to be a vestige of olden times when the Maharishi once reigned (but has since moved to Holland or somehwere), and when maybe the brit's had some architectural influence. Since the Beatles left, many dreadlocked hippies have come searching for the truth, and even they were missing from the scene this weekend. The shops and stores reminded me of the ones in the Mussoorie bazaar, and considering that I hate shopping, I was hoping this was not what Rishikesh was all about. Apparently, when the waters calm down, this will become a hot spot for white water rafting, hiking, and elephant safaris. That's cool!

(me at walking bridge)

(Ben and Emily at the market)

(Wanna take a dip?)

One very interesting thing was that many of the little carts on the side of the road used plastic sheets made of uncut plastic wrappers. I was fascinated by how Clif Bar plastic managed to travel from "American" factories to the vendors of Rishikesh. Why weren't the wrappers being used to wrap bars? Or were the labels defective? Or is the Clif company completely unaware that the plastic that they have manufactured is now languidly protecting fruit from the rain? I want to read "Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar & Co." to see if maybe this act of plastic "donation" is an act of integrity, or maybe the opposite, or maybe just some accident? Do you know what happens to the trash around here? It gets washed down the mountain. So that's why I want to know. (And why can't we get any Clif bars around here?)

(These are bottles to collect the holy water.)

(My favorite! Clif Mojo's!!!)

(The trash has ended up here.)

And so we spent the day wandering around the markets. My father asked me, "Do people stare at you?" Well, "No, because they are always too distracted by the white people I am with." Ha ha, that's pretty funny. The blonder you are, the more stares you will get, as Chandeen will attest. Check out these case studies:

(Chandeen and Kristy with fellow travelers in a symbiotic tourist photo relationship.)

(What's the buzz, Ben?)

(Kyle explaining that we are teachers from Hogwarts, I mean Woodstock.)

For dinner, we joined at at the Swiss Cottage where some late comers managed to stay. Total, we had 22 teachers in Rishikesh! Afterwards, Karen, Kyle, Chris, and I headed out to try to catch the evening ceremonies where they float candles down the river, but we missed it by 20 minutes. Oh well! Hanging out by the river that night was my favorite part of the trip. This is where I got to spend time with my buddies and just chill. The river was ghostly with the fog hovering. Chris conversed with an intelligent, old Indian man who spoke really good English and claimed to have schizophrenia. Kyle was swarmed by interested young fellows. (see above) And Karen had her little quiet moment by the river and then was befriended by a spunky eight-year old girl.

(The Ganga at night. One last candle floating.)

(Puja saying hello to Karen)

(Holy cow!!! Sorry, I couldn't help it.)

This morning, we enjoyed a quaint breakfast at the Swiss place and then were entertained by a snake charmer! It was really some kind of touristy gimick, but it was still cool.

(Charming the devenomed cobras)

(Karen is from the House of Slytherin and speaks parsel tongue.)

Again, I took way too many pictures, so CLICK HERE to see the "Rishikesh" set of photos. There is a really cool pic of a salamander in Sarah's hand!

UPDATE: My friend Snow pointed out that it was really funny to read my friends' blogs about the same experience. Here are the links: Chris' Rishikesh story, Ben's Rishikesh story, and Neeraj's Rishikesh story.