The White Album

With work nearly done for the week, I've been google searching this weekend's destination: Rishikesh & Haridwar. Rishikesh is the self-proclaimed yoga capital of the world, a popular Hindu temple town, and also where the Beattles spent a bit of time writing the white album (though, I'm going out on a limb here, I'm sure they weren't just sitting in an ashram writing music. Listen to the White Album and try to guess the various substances being ingested. I'm putting money on weed (hashish) and maybe some opium.) Since I say no to drugs (what would our world be without the D.A.R.E. program?!) I'll be relaxing in a meditative position for most of the weekend. Rishikesh is also where the Ganges comes out of the Himalayas, so it's supposedly cleaner to bath in than Varanasi and less crowded. Hindu's believe that rivers are gods and it's a big thing to bath in the Ganges to cleanse yourself of....well I'm not too sure exactly but I'm guessing something similar to what us Christians call 'sins.' So maybe you won't come back as a cow in your next life. Though being a cow in India might be nice since you wont get eaten....
I've heard the Ganges is not clean though no matter how far up the Himalayas you trek. We're going to check it out and then decide whether to risk a rare skin disease just to dip in and cleanse our dirty souls. maybe I'll just go to confession when I get home and entertain a priest for a while :) Okay off to yoga and then the train station to catch my overnight 1st class ride!