Namaskar!
We are in Rishikesh now, back in tourist land and in the first place I came to in India on my last visit, almost 4 years ago. It's funny how things change from travlling alone to travelling with Gali. We checked out the same guesthouse I was staying in on my last trip and it didn't fit our needs, it was to basic even for me, and of course for Gali. Last trip I was much more mitkaleving than this time. I think it's a god thing, we desreve some kind of relative luxury (I mean very relative) if we are travelling for so long.
So i'l tell you a little about these past 10 days. We left Jibhi on the morning of the 4th practically with tears in our eyes. We love that place so much it is really a home for us in India. We said goodbye to the locals and the good people we were with there, the dogs, the birds, the river and the forest and started our journey to Chandigarh, a big city, with all the hardships of big cities in India. It's hard to leave the peace and quiet of the village and get back into dealing with hardcore India again - the bad roads, the old creaking uncomfertable buses, the honking, the filth, garbage and lack of proper communication with the locals. Oh, and the food. We got so used to cooking for ourselves that going back to the heavily oiled, heavily spiced food was not easy on our sensitive stomachs (we're OK now).
So the bus going down to Chandigarh was actually the first time we left the Himalayas for a bit. Suddenly we found ourselves in Punjab, one of the richest states in India, mostly due to the growing of Rice and Surgarcane, and "Hero" Bicycles, the biggest bicycle company in the world. The people there are moslty Sikhs, so al the men wear turbans on their head. It was completely diferent scenery: endless fields of rice and sugarcane and all flat! On the roads, turbaned ppl of all ages riding fancy cars, trucks, bicycles, motorbikes and crappy cars too (God Bless Tata!). Entering the city we were in shock, a real mordern city with huge roundabouts, green clean grass, big brand name shops and fancy houses, of the kind you would see in Ramat Hasharon or Hezelia pituach. The Rich indians or very rich, and very much living the western lifestyle with all it's abundance. When a refrigirator was a luxury for the villagers in Jibhi, here the locals have the hardship of having to choose what fancy chinese restaurant they should eat in tonight. the gap is huge and sometimes hard to grasp. This city, Chandigarh was built in the 1950's by a french architect and is very organized. It was the vision of Nehru, India's first PM who wanted it to be an example for India's modernity and to prove that it is capable of growth. The truth of the matter is, that it's just a facade, they still can't handle growth if they don't dispose of their garbage properly and let their cows walk around the city streets. The beautiful buildings that were built in this city are all deteriorating because they don't have the skills to maintain them properly. this is why India is so poor and is having a hard time getting our of that loop. And this is also why the middle and upper class want less and less to do with the traditional Indian lifestyle, even though it has a lot to offer. But they look at the west, at us as the ideal desired lifestyle. While I find myself looking for the traditional and the authentic in India, i find India more and more trying to look like me. It's as if we are both sailing in eacother's direction to look for something our own culture cannot provide us. These are some of the thoughts I had while going thorugh this city. Besides that we went to a very interesting outdoor museum called the Rock Garden. It's a huge complex of gardens, pools, waterfalls and bridges built all out of rocks and recycled waste that the artist, Nek Chand, found in the forests during his work as a park ranger. there are hundreds of small statues made out of ceramic and plastic resembling people, animals, gods and all kind of weird stuff. it was the refreshing part of the city.
The same day we head to another big city - Dehra Dun, the capital of Uttaranchal. Also a big city soaked in the Modern lifestyle. So here we gave this life style a try and sat in an espresso bar that looked much like Starbucks in the US. They had good coffee and ice cream (very rare in India) and the atmosphere was that of an Aroma Somewhere in Tel aviv. There we met the indian meduim-upper class who work in hi-tech and walk around with their laptop and drinking cups of coffee to get through the day. They had posters on the wall of Jazz artists and white people and I was wondering to myself if this is actually a life they live or did they just see it in the movies and think it cool enough to adopt as some kind of style or trend. I don't know, India is such a diverse country it can be very confusing.
So after Dehra Dun we got on (another) bus to Mussourie, a small hill station the british built when they ruled India and used as a cool and breezy getaway from the hot plains in the summer. It was our first ascent into the Himalayas again after leaving Jibhi. It felt god, the air was clean again and it wasn't so hot and sticky. This was a very touristy town, but only Indian tourists who come for the cool weather and mainly for the shopping. I personaly got sick, not physically but from the commercialism and shopping culture we were in and was longing for some quiet time in nature, the faraway snowy peaks we saw from the balcony of our hotel were calling out to me. But we stayed there for 3 days because we needed a rest from travelling. These bus rides are very long and energy draining and you can't do them more the a couple of days in a row.
So after relaxing we got on another bus to a small town high in the mountains named Uttarkashi and then head on to Gangotri, a small village near the source of the ganga. On the ride I felt modern india washing away with the cool air of the high mountains and only high peaks and small vilages were in sight. This was the India I was missing and longing for at hard times. The cows in the fields and the women carrying stacks of hay on their backs, the long winding roads through the mountains, streams and endless patches of rice fields - Yes, basmati rice! The best damn rice in the world watered by the fresh waters from the himalyan glaciers. It was exciting. And the river Ganga flowing along the road was a reminder that we are approaching one of the holiest places to the hindus. So we reached Gangotri, at 3000 meters altitude and freezing cold. A tiny village with no inhabitans, just big temples, restaurants and shops for the many indian tourists who come from all over India just to do their Pooja on the river, bottle some holy water or climb up to the Gaumuk (mouth of a cow) glacier Where the holy river ganga starts it's journey at almost 4000 meters, before descending down to Rishikesh and then to the vast indian plains crossing them from Haridwar in the west to Calcutta in the east and pouring into the ocean. So we started the trek to the glacier together with the pilgrims. We stayed one night at the midway ashram in the freezing cold and suffered from some altitude sickness and stomach issues, so the next day we decided to give up the sight of the holy cow-mouth glacier and returned to Gangotri.
The next day we spent the whole day travelling in shared taxis, 12 hours all the way down to here, rishikesh at an altitude of only 300 meters, where the waters of the ganga are quiet, the river is wide and the pilgrims are plentyful. We met a lot of interesting people on the way, many Europeans, for a change. Not seeing Israelies for 10 days was very refreshing. Now I have hebrew on my keyboard... Rishikesh has changed since I was here 4 years ago. Unfortunately, not for the better. More shops, hotels, and huge building constructions along the river. But Rishikesh has it's special vibes. This is also a holy place and with all the filth, you can still feel it.
So we're going to do some Yoga here, because there is a Yoga supermarket here, all kinds for all types so it will be intersting to shop around and maybe find something of value. In a week I will be heading on to Naini Tal, about 9 hours from here to a course in the Sri Aurobindo ashram. Aurobindo is the one who Auroville, in south India is named after was a world renouned guru in the late 1800's. He devleloped the Integral Yoga and had a very interesting view on the evolution of human conciousness. So We wil be splitting up for the first time in our 4 months here in India. Another faze of our journey is beginning now.
Sorry for such a long letter. We miss and love you all.
Metta, peace and harmony, Hare Om,
Daniel & Gali
We are in Rishikesh now, back in tourist land and in the first place I came to in India on my last visit, almost 4 years ago. It's funny how things change from travlling alone to travelling with Gali. We checked out the same guesthouse I was staying in on my last trip and it didn't fit our needs, it was to basic even for me, and of course for Gali. Last trip I was much more mitkaleving than this time. I think it's a god thing, we desreve some kind of relative luxury (I mean very relative) if we are travelling for so long.
So i'l tell you a little about these past 10 days. We left Jibhi on the morning of the 4th practically with tears in our eyes. We love that place so much it is really a home for us in India. We said goodbye to the locals and the good people we were with there, the dogs, the birds, the river and the forest and started our journey to Chandigarh, a big city, with all the hardships of big cities in India. It's hard to leave the peace and quiet of the village and get back into dealing with hardcore India again - the bad roads, the old creaking uncomfertable buses, the honking, the filth, garbage and lack of proper communication with the locals. Oh, and the food. We got so used to cooking for ourselves that going back to the heavily oiled, heavily spiced food was not easy on our sensitive stomachs (we're OK now).
So the bus going down to Chandigarh was actually the first time we left the Himalayas for a bit. Suddenly we found ourselves in Punjab, one of the richest states in India, mostly due to the growing of Rice and Surgarcane, and "Hero" Bicycles, the biggest bicycle company in the world. The people there are moslty Sikhs, so al the men wear turbans on their head. It was completely diferent scenery: endless fields of rice and sugarcane and all flat! On the roads, turbaned ppl of all ages riding fancy cars, trucks, bicycles, motorbikes and crappy cars too (God Bless Tata!). Entering the city we were in shock, a real mordern city with huge roundabouts, green clean grass, big brand name shops and fancy houses, of the kind you would see in Ramat Hasharon or Hezelia pituach. The Rich indians or very rich, and very much living the western lifestyle with all it's abundance. When a refrigirator was a luxury for the villagers in Jibhi, here the locals have the hardship of having to choose what fancy chinese restaurant they should eat in tonight. the gap is huge and sometimes hard to grasp. This city, Chandigarh was built in the 1950's by a french architect and is very organized. It was the vision of Nehru, India's first PM who wanted it to be an example for India's modernity and to prove that it is capable of growth. The truth of the matter is, that it's just a facade, they still can't handle growth if they don't dispose of their garbage properly and let their cows walk around the city streets. The beautiful buildings that were built in this city are all deteriorating because they don't have the skills to maintain them properly. this is why India is so poor and is having a hard time getting our of that loop. And this is also why the middle and upper class want less and less to do with the traditional Indian lifestyle, even though it has a lot to offer. But they look at the west, at us as the ideal desired lifestyle. While I find myself looking for the traditional and the authentic in India, i find India more and more trying to look like me. It's as if we are both sailing in eacother's direction to look for something our own culture cannot provide us. These are some of the thoughts I had while going thorugh this city. Besides that we went to a very interesting outdoor museum called the Rock Garden. It's a huge complex of gardens, pools, waterfalls and bridges built all out of rocks and recycled waste that the artist, Nek Chand, found in the forests during his work as a park ranger. there are hundreds of small statues made out of ceramic and plastic resembling people, animals, gods and all kind of weird stuff. it was the refreshing part of the city.
The same day we head to another big city - Dehra Dun, the capital of Uttaranchal. Also a big city soaked in the Modern lifestyle. So here we gave this life style a try and sat in an espresso bar that looked much like Starbucks in the US. They had good coffee and ice cream (very rare in India) and the atmosphere was that of an Aroma Somewhere in Tel aviv. There we met the indian meduim-upper class who work in hi-tech and walk around with their laptop and drinking cups of coffee to get through the day. They had posters on the wall of Jazz artists and white people and I was wondering to myself if this is actually a life they live or did they just see it in the movies and think it cool enough to adopt as some kind of style or trend. I don't know, India is such a diverse country it can be very confusing.
So after Dehra Dun we got on (another) bus to Mussourie, a small hill station the british built when they ruled India and used as a cool and breezy getaway from the hot plains in the summer. It was our first ascent into the Himalayas again after leaving Jibhi. It felt god, the air was clean again and it wasn't so hot and sticky. This was a very touristy town, but only Indian tourists who come for the cool weather and mainly for the shopping. I personaly got sick, not physically but from the commercialism and shopping culture we were in and was longing for some quiet time in nature, the faraway snowy peaks we saw from the balcony of our hotel were calling out to me. But we stayed there for 3 days because we needed a rest from travelling. These bus rides are very long and energy draining and you can't do them more the a couple of days in a row.
So after relaxing we got on another bus to a small town high in the mountains named Uttarkashi and then head on to Gangotri, a small village near the source of the ganga. On the ride I felt modern india washing away with the cool air of the high mountains and only high peaks and small vilages were in sight. This was the India I was missing and longing for at hard times. The cows in the fields and the women carrying stacks of hay on their backs, the long winding roads through the mountains, streams and endless patches of rice fields - Yes, basmati rice! The best damn rice in the world watered by the fresh waters from the himalyan glaciers. It was exciting. And the river Ganga flowing along the road was a reminder that we are approaching one of the holiest places to the hindus. So we reached Gangotri, at 3000 meters altitude and freezing cold. A tiny village with no inhabitans, just big temples, restaurants and shops for the many indian tourists who come from all over India just to do their Pooja on the river, bottle some holy water or climb up to the Gaumuk (mouth of a cow) glacier Where the holy river ganga starts it's journey at almost 4000 meters, before descending down to Rishikesh and then to the vast indian plains crossing them from Haridwar in the west to Calcutta in the east and pouring into the ocean. So we started the trek to the glacier together with the pilgrims. We stayed one night at the midway ashram in the freezing cold and suffered from some altitude sickness and stomach issues, so the next day we decided to give up the sight of the holy cow-mouth glacier and returned to Gangotri.
The next day we spent the whole day travelling in shared taxis, 12 hours all the way down to here, rishikesh at an altitude of only 300 meters, where the waters of the ganga are quiet, the river is wide and the pilgrims are plentyful. We met a lot of interesting people on the way, many Europeans, for a change. Not seeing Israelies for 10 days was very refreshing. Now I have hebrew on my keyboard... Rishikesh has changed since I was here 4 years ago. Unfortunately, not for the better. More shops, hotels, and huge building constructions along the river. But Rishikesh has it's special vibes. This is also a holy place and with all the filth, you can still feel it.
So we're going to do some Yoga here, because there is a Yoga supermarket here, all kinds for all types so it will be intersting to shop around and maybe find something of value. In a week I will be heading on to Naini Tal, about 9 hours from here to a course in the Sri Aurobindo ashram. Aurobindo is the one who Auroville, in south India is named after was a world renouned guru in the late 1800's. He devleloped the Integral Yoga and had a very interesting view on the evolution of human conciousness. So We wil be splitting up for the first time in our 4 months here in India. Another faze of our journey is beginning now.
Sorry for such a long letter. We miss and love you all.
Metta, peace and harmony, Hare Om,
Daniel & Gali
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