After a night of spending more time in the bathroom than in bed it was obvious that Ben still wasn't feeling well. As we both didn't get on well with Haridwar we decided to throw caution to the wind and carry on with our plan to get the train to Rishikesh anyway. This plan did have a sense of risk to it, so to bring down the odds of Ben having erm... a "movement" on the journey he decided he wouldn't be having any solids or liquids till we arrived. We packed up our things and a bit over-eagerly headed off to the station. When you're not feeling well it's generally not a good idea to stand at the train station for an hour. It's also not a good idea to refuse to have any liquids so you don't have to rush to the loo. It definitely isn't a good idea to combine both these things with heat of an Indian day. Why we thought it would take an hour to get a tuk-tuk to the station 10 minutes away I'll never know. Ben was not happy... or hydrated.
We had decided to stay in Tapovan, a chilled out suburb of Rishikesh 7 km north of the train station. Having no time to waste, we jumped in the first tuk-tuk we could find, not bothering to haggle too much as long as they were speedy. What we didn't bank on was our home stay being in an area in-accessible to tuk-tuks. It was up a steep hill and not quite where it said it was on the map, so our driver dropped us in vaguely the right place and pointed in the general area we should go. We lumbered up this hill huffing and puffing, me because I'm really not that fit, Ben because he was genuinely ill and slowly turning into a very disgruntled prune through lack of liquids. Luckily, when we eventually found the place our lovely host let us check in despite being early and Ben jumped straight into bed. I then headed out to grab some grub for myself and some liquids and crackers for poor Ben.
Luckily the next day he was feeling somewhat better so we headed off on a hike, in hindsight this wasn't the smartest of ideas. We picked out a waterfall to visit 7 km away on the other side on the river, planning ahead we worked out the route using the map on our phones... somehow we didn't notice the bridge that leads from Tapovan straight across to Jonk. The next crossing was about 2 km away so that's where we headed. This bridge was manic! You could hardly go a few feet without dodging scooters or bumping into cows that also use the bridge, this all made more impressive by the fact you could hardly walk 3 abreast along it! We wondered from here towards Jonk, an area known for yoga and cafes situated directly across the river from where we were staying.
During our journey we quickly managed to gain a dog friend who decided to accompany us on our walk. He was a lovely grey colour, he was beautifully tempered, he was pretty much the biggest wuss I've ever encountered. It seemed like he was mainly using us for protection. When walked along a road framed by monkeys lining the fences either side he was inseparable from us, sticking close and hiding behind us. When we walked through an area with dogs roaming around, he basically hid and let us keep the other dogs away (although he did stop for one bark before we left)... however any time it looked clear of threats he would bugger off! He did stay with us for about an hour but decided enough was enough when it was time to climb a steep hill.
We reached the centre of Jonk to find a suspension bridge, more specifically a bridge that led straight to Tapovan. After reviewing the phone map and our map reading skills, we realised until you zoomed in the name of the area covered up where the bridge would be. Although it was frustrating as this had added 4 km to our walk at least the way we went was pretty. The bridge is Called Lakshman Jhula, built in 1935 and named for the Hindu deity Lakshmana who was said to cross the Ganges where the bridge sits. On our way back when we crossed it, it was packed. Although barred to scooters, being one of the areas top sights it was instead filled with tourists taking selfies and our course more cows. While passing here I was bindi-ed against my will, when out of no where this elderly woman appeared and touched my forehead.
After a short steep hill, it was a 4 km walk up windy mountain roads to reach the waterfall. There was beauitful views where we could see the river snaking through the towns, and just enough breeze to keep us going in the heat while we imagined the cool pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall for us to relax in. Eventually, perspiring slightly, we made it to our destination or at least the area of it. We searched for several minutes and found a small trail that led us to a smaller stream. It really wasn't as impressive as we'd imagined it to be. We clambered up a small rock fall, to a small pond with a 8 ft waterfall trickling water into it. I'd accidentally smeared my bindi across my forehead when wiping off some sweat, so I at least managed to wash my face in the pool.
Then it happened, seeing as he'd only been feeling better for less than a day we really should have expected it. Nature called and Ben had to quickly find a discreet place to make a small waterfall of his own. Life really likes to mess with us so pretty much immediately a couple arrived, they striped down to their swimwear (slightly unnecessary given the 1 ft depth of water) and got into the pool. We wasted no time in leaving, fleeing the scene of the crime. Not our finest hour. We wandered back to Jonk, had some dinner then heading back to our home for the night.
Then it was my turn to get ill. I spent a day in bed while Ben explored the surrounding area, he was mainly attempting to find me some bread which isn't an easy task in Rishikesh.
With some more in depth research we discovered Neergarh waterfall, this one promised to be much better than the last. So we got into our swimming gear and decided to walk there. It was 7 km away on our side of the river, most people hire a car to take them but we decided to walk. Luckily only started to get steep in the last 2 km. When we were near we noticed a sneaky shortcut that took you through the jungle rather than up the road which we had followed so far. It was definitely worth the scramble up! There was two smaller waterfalls along the route, one slightly unkempt for with rubbish strewn about but the other had a small pool in between two falls where we could sit and dunk our legs in. After a rest we then continued to the set of 3 falls that make up Neergarh Falls.
The first waterfall had a shallow wide pool with a bridge spanning it, it was however fairly busy with families so we by-passed this one and continued climbing up the path to the next. This waterfall was our favourite, the stones a bit sharp when you first went in but it had a large pool that you could comfortable lay in. The water rushed down a channel in a tall vertical rock-face into the main pool, before spreading down all the mini falls to more pools below. We stayed here for about half an hour till a large group came and it got a bit too crowded.
We headed up to the next waterfall, which again was quite busy. so we decided to give it a miss. We headed over the bridge and carried on up the path to see if there was any more falls up the path... there wasn't. All there was a a precarious and steep shale path that was hard enough to climb up and horrid to climb back down. We did find a small cafe up there, but as we couldn't find a single person who worked there we decided to give it a miss. We also met a family coming down the mountain who said if you go far enough you can reach a village the other side of the jungle... they did also ask where our snake sticks were so we decided to turn around.
While slipping (literally) back down the path we decided the best place to relax would be back at our favourite waterfall. There was a chai seller set up nearby so we ordered some tea and found a peaceful spot to have a sit further down in the smaller pools. We got our books out and lazed around in the dappled sunlight that filtered through the trees. I also had a brief stint of being a photographer while her, this girl noticed me getting Ben to take some photos of me and asked me to do the same for her (on her phone, of course). In the early afternoon we headed back, the walk seemed a lot longer on the way back despite more of it being downhill.
For the rest of the time in Rishikesh my legs hurt. Turns out stretching might be a good idea after what turned out to be a 17 km Hike. We were planning on doing some yoga, seeing as we were staying in the yoga capital of the world but that unfortunately went out the window. Instead we just chilled out, went to some local cafes, enjoyed the fact it hadn't rained for several days in a row and hung around with a cow or two.
When not stuffing our faces with cake in a cafe we went to the beach on the banks of the river Ganga. On arrival we immediately were accosted by children trying to sell us offerings for the Ganga Aarti. When we repeatedly refused they just decided to hang out with us for a while instead. One of them trying to read Bens' book and the others wanting me to show them all of the pictures on my phone. Being very popular this day a cow that decided to hang out with us too, apparently cows love digestive biscuits and get pretty needy when you stop the supply. We had to do a sneaky manoeuvre and lead the cow along the beach untill we hit some rocks he couldn't climb over to get rid of him, these rocks happened to have some fellow tourists on who may have ended up with his affections for a while. He did come back eventually but there was a few minutes i wasn't being headbutted for.
We left the Ganga Aarti till the last night - rookie mistake. Ganga Aarti can be performed singularly from any of the beaches but at Parmarth Ashram hundreds gather to join in a group ceremony. The ceremony starts every day at the beginning of sunset. It consists of song, prayer and a ritual lighting of lamps and the offerings. We annoyingly couldn't find the ashram as the phone died that we were following the directions from. As the sun was beginning to set we thought our best bet was to head to the steps on the other side of the river so we could at least watch from there. It was pretty seeing the small lights appear and be placed into the river, to (mostly) float away. We also saw the larger fires from the Ashram and could hear the ritual chanting. It was nice and peaceful but I imagine that it would have been a lot more moving to see it up close. Perhaps we should have been more organised.
We really liked Rishikesh but we're not very good at staying in one place for long, so after 8 days we decided to say goodbye. I had made a very busy itinerary for the next week, it was time to see some sights. Next stop Agra, but first another night bus... when will we learn.
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