Remarkable Rishikesh

After a very enlightening day and evening in Haridwar, I was excited to see what the day would bring as we set out to explore Rishikesh. I had heard that, though only 20 km apart, Haridwar and Rishikesh would provide two different experiences of the Ganga. Our guide, Ashish, was ready for us bright and early, and we began what would prove to be a wonderful day exploring Rishikesh.

Our first stop was a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the temple, but snapped these few outside.

Temple to Shiva

Small shrine outside the temple

Small shrine outside the temple

Intricate carvings on the outer walls of the temple.

There was a huge tree outside which was actually made up of 3 separate trees – Banyan, Peepal, and Neem which grow together and rely upon one another to survive.

3 trees in one

Banyan, Peepal, Neem

Banyan, Peepal, Neem

Next, we drove about 45 minutes through the Himalayas outside of the city to a temple on the banks of the River Ganga. As we made our way we saw a number of interesting sights. There were many Ghats and Ashrams along the river bank, and our guide told us how the level of the river during monsoon season can get up to 20′ above its normal level. We could see evidence of this where some of the temples and ashrams were set back from the water’s edge to account for the annual rise of the river.

Here’s a temple on the shores of the Ganges

During monsoon season the river rises to the bottom of the stairs.

Farming is not easy in this mountainous area, but people need to eat! We saw several “steppe” farms built into the side of the mountains where people grew food mostly for their own consumption. In general the farmers grew rice, potatoes, green onions, and other vegetables.

Soon we arrived at our destination, a temple on the banks of the Ganges River.  Here we found a small cave, known as a place for meditation.  The priest that this cave is dedicated to lived here for 75 years of his life, and spent most of it in silent mediation.

After a few moments of silent meditation, we headed down to the shores of the river to take our own ceremonial dip.  You may have read about the nightly Aarti in Mikhaila’s post yesterday, but our ‘dip’ in the river was not as intense!  our guide, Ashish gave us some valuable insight.  If you do not want to immerse yourself fully in the river, then simply sprinkling the water over your head 3 times has the same effect…so that’s what we did!

3-sprinkles!

Feeling good!

Good for the hair, too!

Contemplating life!

After our “dip” we headed back to Rishikesh and wandered the town.  Rishikesh definitely has more of a “zen” feel to it than Haridwar did.  People were calmer, quieter, and seemed much more relaxed.  Rishikesh is known for its Yoga Ashrams, and there just happened to be an international yoga festival on while we were there.

When I say “zen”, I mean everyone was zen…

I think this was my favourite sign…everyone should do this kind of yoga!

Of course, we saw cows everywhere as well.  They were generally pretty zen, though at one point a cow kind of “charged” at Mikhaila as she was trying to feed a banana to another cow!

Cows on the bridges.

Cows on the front steps of houses

Cows in line for a latte?

There are only two foot bridges in Rishikesh to get across the river. Only motorcycles/scooters and pedestrians can cross over these two bridges…otherwise you need to drive further up or down stream to cross with a car/truck/tuktuk.

Bridge over the River Ganges

Do you see the scooter?

Name that bridge type…

As we strolled along the banks of the river, we came across two of Hindu’s holiest symbols…

We then climbed up a hill to a temple with striking views of the Ganga and Rishikesh.

Temple on the hill…

Bells are run as you enter.

Grand view of the Ganges River and Rishikesh

Our guide Ashish was absolutely fantastic, as he took us through all these sites!  Katina found him online here.  Ashish did an excellent job and we’d certainly recommend him if you are going to be in Haridwar/Rishikesh.

Our tour ended with the witnessing of another evening Aarti…this time in Rishikesh.  But that’s a story for another blog post…by Zoe!

Stay tuned!