Rockin' Rishekesh!! (subtitle: Rishekesh, The Realer India!)

Situated on the banks of the holy Ganga Ma (Ganges River) in the last foothills of the Himalaya lies Riskikesh, one of the holier cites in India. It is a picturesque city full of interesting and beautiful temples, saddhus, beggars, touts, and tourist traps a plenty. A nice weekend away from Woodstock for a few of us snowballed into a 24 person expedition. All in all it worked out pretty well considering the numbers. We arrived at our hotel about 10:30 pm to find they did not honor our reservation, no hotel rooms for us. Alex was able to workout a deal with a resort near there for 5 rooms at 500 rups/night ($12.50). Split 3 ways thats not too bad. You have to remember I get paid an Indian teachers salary (read not much), so I have to start learning to live on an Indian budget. So $12.50 is a decent amount of money. Anyway, once we got to the resort we ralized we got a pretty good deal. Manicured lawns, beautiful landscaping, and a pool. Yes, A POOL!!! A huge luxury in this part of the world, needless to say I couldn't resist. Here is our palace the evening we arrived.Walking through Rishikesh that first day opened my eyes to what India is like outside of out protected mountain town. Rishikesh seemed much more of an authentic Indian experience than Mussoorie. First, Riskikesh is a pretty touristy place. It is a very spiritual place, it is the gateway to this section of the Himalayas, well known for many yoga ashrams, and just a neat place to hangout. So my pale face stood out like a beacon of dollar signs to the touts, beggars and shopkeepers. It really isn't that bad once you get used to it, the worst is walking past a small child giving you the sad eyes of hunger. Which 99% of the time is a ploy to put money in his drunk, wife abusing fathers pockets. Here is a good shot of the upstream bridge across the Ganga. This get away was a well need break from work, Woodstock and Mussoorie. Don't get me wrong, I love it here but every once in a while you need a break. Not only that I am in India to see India, Rishikesh was a great start to those explorations. Many more to come.

Here is a cool shot of a snake charmer. I was really scared/impressed by the way he handled these extremely poisonous snakes. That is until he allowed my friend to wrap both of the snakes around her neck. So I figured the snakes were defanged and devenomized. This suspicion was never confirmed but they had to be, right?


The insturment he was playing was really cool. It sounded like a bagpipe to me.