Leave your rugs at home
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2005
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Trip End
Feb 14, 2006
Rishikesh, India
Saturday, November 5, 2005
This is by far the nicest place we have been. The turqouise green Ganges runs right through the middle of the town, which whilst still inhabited by the usual hoardes of beggars seems to attract a nicer breed formally known as Sadhu's - holy beggars to you and me. The only real downside of this place is that there are almost as many travellers walking around in rugs as there were in Dharmasala - why they feel the need I do not know but I cannot think of anything more annoying than watching them stroll around in them all day - in the blistering heat I might add!
Since our last message we have seen the Dalai Lama, filmed baboons having sex (look out for the video on your email), had a Shiatsu massage which caused Mel to have an acute bout of diarrhoea and I accidentaly locked her in our room - luckily she managed to prise herself off the toilet long enough to ring reception from my mobile so they could come and let her out!
All of that was in Dharamsala from where we went to Manali. On our first night we went for a meal only to be accosted by two english tourists who then proceeded to talk about themselves nonstop for about 5 hours!! Us being the polite people we are then agreed to meeting them the next day to explore this town together. But you might guess what happened next...we turned up at the right time and place and surprise surprise they stood us up!! So we quickly moved on to the next village, Vaschicht to be precise, which was nice - but there was not a lot to do other than enjoy the lovely view of the snow capped Himalayas from our balcony and watch TV (Lost and the football, to be precise) so after a few days of doing just that we went to Chandigarh just in time for Diwali. Not being familiar with the festival we didn't really know what to expect but it turned out that pretty much the whole city closed down about 8 O'clock so that everyone could go home and let off fireworks. Good fun for them but fo us it meant that we couldn't find anywhere to eat! Chandigarh also marked the spot where Stevie managed to end his week of constipation in triumphant style - ah the joys of India!
From Chandighar we came straight to Rishikesh on a deluxe bus (we decided it was time to treat ourselves). This double fare gave us the luxury of reclining seats which didnt recline and getting Stevies wallet stolen!!! Not sure it was worth it really! In Rishikesh we didn't waste any time before getting a full body massage, which would have been lovely except that as it turned out it was indeed a full body massage. Well we did ask for it I suppose! Other than that we have just been kicking back watching the cows cross the bridge over the Ganges and then turn round and go back again. The cows also love the beaches here, in fact there are usually more cows than people on the beaches at any one time.
Other than that Stevie keeps falling over - he almost fell off a roof top restaurant and managed to walk backwards off a shop veranda - and Mel is getting very good at dodging cowpats!(whereas Stevie just stands in them!)
Well, think thats it for now.
mel and stevie
xxxxxx
p.s. we will be posting our pics on this site ASAP.
Comments
Misguided Thoughts
The only real downside of this place is that there are almost as many travellers walking around in rugs as there were in Dharmasala - why they feel the need I do not know but I cannot think of anything more annoying than watching them stroll around in them all day - in the blistering heat I might add!
** Why do you care what others are doing? You should be more concerned with your own journey.