Rafting the Ganges

After a cozy overnight train back to Delhi, I am here at work safe and sound! This past weekend my friends Sarah, Katie, Lisa and I went north to Rishikesh and Haridwar. The two towns are popular cities because the Hindu's consider them sort of a holy place. Rishikesh is where the Ganges comes out of the Himalayas. There were thousands of people there just to go to the temples and bath in the Ganges. But before I get to the adventures in Rishikesh, let me tell you about our interesting ride there....
So Lisa, an intern from Boston college, has friends from undergrad who live in Delhi and wanted to go up to Rishikesh with us. Since we'd already bought train tickets, Lisa and I were the only ones who wanted to take a ride. We figured that they knew the way and it would cut the trip in half! On our way out of Delhi we were going to stop and say hi to Alok (Lisa's friend) and Amar's friends, a young married couple who have a country house outside the city. This was at about 12am. I figured we'd have a quick chat, use the washroom, and be on our way. Yeah....no. Alok is apparently an Olympic rifle shooter so of course we had to shoot at some bottles before we left. Alok was impressed with my aim! Skyler and Pete would proud :)
By the time we shot a rifle, got a 2am dinner, and back on the road, it was past 3am. With Rishikesh still a good 5 hour, I was just along for the ride! Poona and her husband (I forget his name) led the way up by following this little river through the countryside. As the sun was coming up, I was falling asleep. Around 8am we got to Rishikesh & around 10am, I was napping in the Om Resort at the banks of the Ganges.
Alok and Amar set up a rafting trip down the Ganges! I wasn't expecting much because I always thought of the river being more like the Columbia, but they were the best rapids I've been on! I sat in front so that I could get a wilder ride! When we were almost down the river they pulled the boat over to let us get out and jump off a small ledge, around 25 feet, into the river. Only in a foreign country is this allowed to happen without some sort of "I promise not to sue you if I die" form.
I've decided that being a guest can also like being held captive. The guys decided what we were going to do and when. No matter what we had wanted to do with our vacation! They wanted to show us a good time but they wasted almost the entire day sleeping, eating, and visiting friends instead of taking us anywhere. It got on my nerves real quick! They had the greatest intentions and just wanted us to relax but it made me crazy. We spend all of sunday in the car trying to get to this other town that they wanted us to see. after over an hour of sitting in some girl's house listening to them talk in Hindi between themselves, Katie, Sarah, and I wanted to go back to Haridwar. They made us feel guilty about it....yeah don't care. I'm only in India for a short time so I told them exactly how I was feeling and where I was going. We got a taxi. I still don't feel bad about it.
Haridwar was PACKED with people bathing and praying along side the Ganges. It was breathtaking! They have such a love for their faith and it radiates out of them like light. We were surrounded by thousands of happy, devoted Hindus all night long. It was quite the sight. Seeing all of those people performing the rituals of their faith restored my good mood and made my Sunday not a complete waste of time. There were men walking around with bowls of fire, allowing people to chant while they passed their hands through the flame. Then they would get a red dot between their eyes. Teenagers were having water fights and riding the current through the narrow channels between bridges.
Now I'm back at work and planning next weekend's adventures!