Rishikesh, IN

Upon our arrival in Rishikesh, Dan was approached by a man in a white lungi and whose face was painted maroon. He tried to place a mark on Dan’s forehead and when Dan refused, the guy blew out a few words in hindi (which we didn’t understand, but took it as not good) as we made our escape to the suspension bridge. The bridge that connects the west bank to the east bank was completely packed with people – and true to Indian form, we ran into various scooters and motorbikes who honked their way through the crowd – on the ‘pedestrian only’ bridge. Between squeezing through human bodies, dodging scooters and keeping away from the mischevious monkeys along the rails readily waiting for their next snatch victim, I felt like a character in a video game. Finding our accomodation, ‘Jaipur Inn’ was easy enough as it was visible from the bridge and we had no problems securing a room for four nights.

Many localscome to Rishikesh as part of their spiritual journey, others (mainly foreigners) come for serious yoga training and meditation offered by the dozens of ashrams. As sure as the Ganges current, you can’t help but surrender a bit to the peacefulness of the mountains, the wash of the river and mesmerizing cacophony of bells from the temples. Over the next few days, we spent most of it taking in the beauty of the Ganges, the Himalayan mountain landscape and the start of the monsoon season. We found a great spot, called the ‘Little Buddha Cafe’, which we had spent most of our days reading, journalling, eating, drinking and mostly reflecting on our time spent in India. Its entry from the main road requires you to climb a steep set of metal stairs, duck into a small walkway and up some more stairs (this time, made of stone), before finally opening up to a patio area made up of bamboo. The comfortably cushioned ratan chairs and the uniquely shaped tree trunk tables faced outward towards the Ganga River, where we could watch white-water rafters float by as well as the people who had come for a holy dip. Monsoon season has already started in India and it was great to watch the wall of rain come over the mountains and towards us, under the safety of the bamboo roof. For all these reasons, the ‘Little Buddha Cafe’ was our ideal spot to chill.

We had tried other spots in town that had similar setups, like the Ganga View Cafe, Paradise Cafe, or Devraj Coffee Cafe on the west bank (and had a pretty stellar view of one of the temples on the east bank), but they didn’t provide the right kind of inspiring ambiance.

During one of our mornings, we had crossed the river to the west bank to visit the infamous Honey Hut, which we first loved in Shimla, but while the food certainly didn’t let us down, the view of the busy street didn’t make it a relaxing spot to stay for too long.

Of course, we didn’t visit the yoga capital of the world without at least trying a class or two. We found a beautiful and clean ashram with a large yoga studio where we (along with another girl from California & a guy from the UK) enjoyed personal instruction. The studio itself had white marble floors, immaculate white walls and ceilings, and the front of the class was covered in floor to ceiling windows where you can gaze past the teacher out towards the water and the opposite river bank. Our classes were held at 5pm, which was the best time, because the sun was perfectly situated and you couldn’t help but take in the sunset while straining to focus on your ujayi breathing and warrior poses. Our teacher was very patient with us, although it was apparent that he was beyond yoga teacher skills we normally see in Calgary and was clearly into yoga guru status. I had never seen any instructor back home nearly as flexible and strong as this guy.

Our departure from this town led us back to Haridwar quite easily, and despite warning signs to give elephants right of way, we unfortunately did not have the good fortune to run into one while on the road.

We were on the waitlist to take the train back to Delhi, but wouldn’t know for sure until about 2pm that day (the train was scheduled to leave for 3:15). Rather than risk the potential delay, we instead cancelled our tickets and booked a 12pm bus to Delhi, which was definitely not has roomy or smooth a ride as the train would have been, but it got us in to the Kashmiri Gate station at a reasonable time later that evening. A quick metro ride back to HUDA City station and we were back in familiar territory in Gurgaon.