Rishikesh (days 4 & 5)

On Thursday, we flew from Jaipur to Delhi, Delhi to Deradun, and then took a harrowing hour taxi ride to Rishikesh in a Ambassador car, which is a car designed back in the 50's but still manufactured today...and in case you are wondering, no, it does not have seat belts. The city of Rishikesh is about a 5 hour drive north of Delhi in the foothills of the Himalayas and bills itself as the birthplace of yoga. Back in the 60's, the Beatles spent a few months here studying under the Maharashi and writing songs that would eventually make it onto the White Album. The mix of yoga culture, Beatles-history, and backpacking launch site make for lots of young college-aged yoga girls, burley/stoked adventure-seeking guys, and TONS of dirty dread-locked hippies from America and Europe

Fortunately, we are not staying in the city proper, but are about 10 km out of town at Rishikesh Valley, a tiny retreat on a tributary of the Ganges that is composed of about 8 huts made out of bamboo. Each hut has a bed, tiny table, bathroom (sink and toilet), and electricity. There are no showers, a few spiders, and lots of monkeys in the trees above. That said, the couple who own and run Rishikesh Valley (Anand and Subudhi) are the calmest, loveliest people who might have the coolest job ever. A few tidbits so far: all of the huts have to be rebuilt each year after monsoon season when they head 70km north to the forests to harvest bamboo and bamboo grass; the owners & 2 others cook ridiculously good all-veg meals for residents each mealtime (including calmer meals of rice and bean curd for Ian who is dealing with a touch of Delhi belly); there's yoga every morning (of course) that comes with an anatomy lesson of what each pose does/helps with; almost all of the plants around the grounds are herbs or have medicinal qualities and Anand gave us a tour of the sprawling garden as we drank chai masalas when we arrived.

We took a trip into town today to explore Rishikesh, buy bug spray (doh!), and hop online. We're planning to go white water rafting tomorrow on the Ganges, and then relax on Sunday. On Monday we head back to Delhi to hang w Kate & Aaron and brave the markets, food stalls, and chaos of the city. I already wish we could stay here longer but I think Ian and I are a bit too fidgety to chill out enough to sit still for more than one day...and I think we will be in desperate need of a shower and laundry.