July 16h – 18th
It has been a little while since I have sat down to write a blog post. I think that having been here for such a long time, I am less blown away by everything and have therefore been a little less inclined to write about it. But, for the sake of my self a few years from now, I am at least going to jot down where we were/what we did over the course of the past week and post a lot of pictures.
When we got back to Rishikesh, hoping it would be the serene riverside town we remembered. Unfortunately, while we were away getting altitude sickness, a 10 day festival had started so we were greeted by large crowds of Hindu pilgrims dressed in Saffron. We couldn't get a rickshaw to our ashram because all of the roads were closed for the festival so we walked the several kilometers to the Sri Sant Seva ashram, not finding any better options along the way. It felt nice to be able to walk with a pack and not feel like I was going to throw up or pass out.
We rested and relaxed for the rest of the day and made a point to get western food (pizza) so my stomach could handle it. The next two days were spent mostly eating and using the internet as we recovered from the difficult week we had had. Our go to destination was the Little Buddha cafe which had both food and wifi. We also decided to try yoga at a different place (sorry Mohan) where we could do something other than Haatha yoga. We found a place that did Ashtanga yoga which is similar to Vinyasa. We were the only two in the class which was held on the top floor of a hotel. Our teacher was really good at explaining the nuances of the poses and drew some flexibility out of me that I did not know was there. Maybe it was the lack of good airflow or the intensity of the class (probably both) but I have never sweat so much in my life.
The next morning (18th) we went back to the same place for another beating of Ashtanga yoga. The teacher was a new guy who had higher intensity but still allowed us to work on all the small details of our pose. This was the time that I sweat the second most in my lifetime.
The night before we had asked the manager of the ashram to book us an overnight bus to take us to Jaipur in Rajasthan. We were originally planning to go to Leh in Ladack but since the city is roughly at the same altitude as Gaumukh we had already decided to steer clear of it.
We checked out of sri sant seva ashram and began our walk down to lower Rishikesh. The festival was still going on so the roads were still closed and we walked all the way back down. On the way out, it started raining and did not stop for the rest of the afternoon. We were soaked by the time we made it past the street closures and were able to grab a bus to take us back to Haridwar where our bus would leave from.
When we got to Haridwar we took an autorickshaw to the location that was given to us by the manager and we found ourselves inside a small produce stand and home across from an empty field with really no hope that a bus would actually show up there. It was still raining and the family that ran the stand was very nice and let us stand in their room, out of the rain. Around 4:30 two buses did actually pull up and one of them said they were going to Jaipur. Upon handing them our prepaid ticket, however, they called our manager and decided it wasn't the right bus and we needed to go somewhere else.
Frustrated, and with only an hour left before the last bus, we grabbed a cycle rickshaw, and headed for the next spot. We were still getting soaked when we arrived at the next empty lot, only to speak to the man there and find out that we still weren't in the correct place. We had only about 10 minutes until the last bus was supposed to leave and me made the final leg to a bus stand that was only a little further away. We ended up getting on the bus right at 5:30 only to wait 2 and a half hours for it to leave.
The overnight buses are actually really nice. We were given a compartment that was big enough for two people and had padded floors for sleeping and built in pillows. With the windows open the temperatures were manageable and we both slept soundly on the way to Jaipur.
It has been a little while since I have sat down to write a blog post. I think that having been here for such a long time, I am less blown away by everything and have therefore been a little less inclined to write about it. But, for the sake of my self a few years from now, I am at least going to jot down where we were/what we did over the course of the past week and post a lot of pictures.
When we got back to Rishikesh, hoping it would be the serene riverside town we remembered. Unfortunately, while we were away getting altitude sickness, a 10 day festival had started so we were greeted by large crowds of Hindu pilgrims dressed in Saffron. We couldn't get a rickshaw to our ashram because all of the roads were closed for the festival so we walked the several kilometers to the Sri Sant Seva ashram, not finding any better options along the way. It felt nice to be able to walk with a pack and not feel like I was going to throw up or pass out.
We rested and relaxed for the rest of the day and made a point to get western food (pizza) so my stomach could handle it. The next two days were spent mostly eating and using the internet as we recovered from the difficult week we had had. Our go to destination was the Little Buddha cafe which had both food and wifi. We also decided to try yoga at a different place (sorry Mohan) where we could do something other than Haatha yoga. We found a place that did Ashtanga yoga which is similar to Vinyasa. We were the only two in the class which was held on the top floor of a hotel. Our teacher was really good at explaining the nuances of the poses and drew some flexibility out of me that I did not know was there. Maybe it was the lack of good airflow or the intensity of the class (probably both) but I have never sweat so much in my life.
The next morning (18th) we went back to the same place for another beating of Ashtanga yoga. The teacher was a new guy who had higher intensity but still allowed us to work on all the small details of our pose. This was the time that I sweat the second most in my lifetime.
The night before we had asked the manager of the ashram to book us an overnight bus to take us to Jaipur in Rajasthan. We were originally planning to go to Leh in Ladack but since the city is roughly at the same altitude as Gaumukh we had already decided to steer clear of it.
We checked out of sri sant seva ashram and began our walk down to lower Rishikesh. The festival was still going on so the roads were still closed and we walked all the way back down. On the way out, it started raining and did not stop for the rest of the afternoon. We were soaked by the time we made it past the street closures and were able to grab a bus to take us back to Haridwar where our bus would leave from.
When we got to Haridwar we took an autorickshaw to the location that was given to us by the manager and we found ourselves inside a small produce stand and home across from an empty field with really no hope that a bus would actually show up there. It was still raining and the family that ran the stand was very nice and let us stand in their room, out of the rain. Around 4:30 two buses did actually pull up and one of them said they were going to Jaipur. Upon handing them our prepaid ticket, however, they called our manager and decided it wasn't the right bus and we needed to go somewhere else.
Frustrated, and with only an hour left before the last bus, we grabbed a cycle rickshaw, and headed for the next spot. We were still getting soaked when we arrived at the next empty lot, only to speak to the man there and find out that we still weren't in the correct place. We had only about 10 minutes until the last bus was supposed to leave and me made the final leg to a bus stand that was only a little further away. We ended up getting on the bus right at 5:30 only to wait 2 and a half hours for it to leave.
The overnight buses are actually really nice. We were given a compartment that was big enough for two people and had padded floors for sleeping and built in pillows. With the windows open the temperatures were manageable and we both slept soundly on the way to Jaipur.
No comments:
Post a Comment