Rishikesh 2

We left Amritsar last week after three good days wandering the temple, the local bazaars and visiting the border with Pakistan about 20 kms away, where every night they have a big ceremony to close the border. The Indians and Pakistan army guys try to outdo each other in stamping around and on the Indian side there is a huge crowd which cheers and shout presumably patriotic slogans and chants. A bit over the top after a while but I guess shouting slogans is better than war.

We caught a night train to Rishikesh a few hundred kms away - the yoga capital of India! We thought we had learned how to book and catch trains but found we are still novices. At the station the train was late - which we only found out by talking to other passengers - no announcements. Then when it arrived we had to track down our compartment with no railway staff to help. We had to go up and down the train twice before we found it! A first class sleeper ticket turned out to be not the top choice - the top is a First Class Air Conditioned sleeper! There they apparently supply bedding. In our compartment we had a bed but had to supply our own blankets. It was pretty comfortable though and we slept on the journey and arrived in good shape.

Rishikesh is a very peaceful interesting town. A yoga centre so lots of westerners taking courses on Yoga, Meditatition etc. Susan is taking a yoga course and enjoying it greatly. The course had a break yesterday and today so we went on a white water rafting trip on the Ganges. They took us about 27 km upstream from Rishikesh and we paddled and drifted down the river into the town. We went over about sixteen sets of rapids - more white water than we were expecting and were on the river for about fours hours. A good day and good deal for us - there were only two other tourists on the raft but not a very high income living for the professionals - one British guy and two Indians. Too much competition so prices are pretty low. But a nice life style for the Brit - he is off to Austria in week or so to ski intruct for the winter season Then back here for trekking and rafting in the summer!

So we are here for a while, Susan taking yoga, me sunning myself and drinking coffee. We will stay here for another week until a game park near here - Corbett National Park opens on the 15th November. We can hopefully see some wild life there befire heading down to see the sights in Rajistan - the Taj Mahal, numerous Palaces etc.