On my list of things to see on our trip up north was the Ganges River. Sandeep always referred to the river as Ganga and it seems odd to me now to call it anything else. We had thought about going to Varanasi, probably the most famous bathing ghat, but that would have taken too much time and planning since it required and overnight train trip. Sandeep suggested we go to Haridwar, closer, cleaner and less crowded. From Delhi, even that was a 5 hour car ride at our average of 30 kilometers per hour. We left Delhi at 6 am to beat the early traffic or it would have taken even longer.

Our first stop was our hotel in Haridwar.

Hotel Disney Inn…well why not?

Because it was cold for us we always asked for space heaters and sometimes extra blankets. This hotel had a space heater that lit up the entire room with the glow. I finally put it into the bathroom and closed the door most way hoping some of the heat would escape the bathroom into the bedroom. Should have just asked for a second blanket. The shower was outside the tub so just wet the whole bathroom floor. Every hotel we stayed in was an experience but all tried very hard to accommodate our various requests, even when we didn’t had out a tip every two seconds. Interestingly, because Haridwar is a “holy city” our hotel restaurant was vegetarian. The restaurant where we had dinner was also vegetarian so I ordered a bowl of fruit and yogurt and it was papaya and banana and wonderful. Randal and I both truly have had our fill of biryani rice and Indian bread. Not that it isn’t good, but it is so darn filling! I truly started craving a big bowl of cabbage/carrot salad and a can of tuna. Randal had peanut butter and honey cravings.

The view from our window of the Jain Temple next door: not old but very lovely as the light changed.

We checked into our rooms, had lunch that would have fed a dozen, and piled back into the car for the short drive to Rishikesh. In February of 1968 the Beatles visited Rishikesh to meet with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who later ran off to Canada with all the money or something along those lines. We went to see the temple and the old British bridge across the Ganges.

“After flowing 200 kilometres (120 mi) through its narrow Himalayan valley, the Ganges debouches into the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar. There, a dam diverts some of its waters into the Ganges Canal, which irrigates the Doab region of Uttar Pradesh. The Ganges, whose course has been roughly southwestern until this point, now begins to flow southeast through the plains of northern India. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges “

The view from the temple

I went into the temple, walked to the roof, paid my ten rupee donation and got my red forehead dot, a red thread tied around my wrist but took a pass on drinking some of the Ganga holy water. I figured the red thread would be good luck for the Red Sox and so far one of their pitchers was beaned in the head by a ball during batting practice. So much for that.

Ganga and Shiva statues at the temple.

“Ganga arrogantly fell on Shiva’s head. But Shiva calmly trapped her in his hair and let her out in small streams. The touch of Shiva further sanctified Ganga. As Ganga travelled to the nether-worlds, she created a different stream to remain on Earth to help purify unfortunate souls there. She is the only river to follow from all the three worlds – Swarga (heaven), Prithvi (earth) and, Patala (neitherworld or hell). Thus is called "Tripathagā" ( one who travels the three worlds) in Sanskrit language.”

Sandeep told us his version of the legend that explains how Ganga came to earth. Like the other versions I have now read, his included the part where Ganga is trapped in Shiva’s hair first before coming to earth. Had the water come directly from Ganga, the force would have flooded everything away so Shiva prevented that by trapping Ganga and slowing her down.

Ganga not so wild but clean and moving fairly fast.

Walking across the Ganga.

No jeeps, but several motorbikes drove across as everyone squished to the sides to let them pass. There was cow poop too, so obviously the cows cross it which seems like quite a brave thing for a cow to do.

But here they were at the other side…or maybe they just live on this side, but the cow poop was fairly recent.

Soon after my photo the near monkey jumped up and started walking towards everyone so we all scattered. I had the impression that it was that monkey’s job to collect the money for the photos which is what you have to do if you take photos of humans like the snake charmer.

Something for everyone.

Ruth with red forehead dot and bovine friend.

I gave this fellow a pat on his head too.

Then it was back into the car to drive back to Haridwar to rest for the evening festival.