I arrived in Rishikesh on yet another less than comfortable sleeper bus and was dropped on the furthest outskirt one can imagine. Naturally this meant yet another tuk tuk ride and 200 more rupees spent. Getting to the hostel, I met Alvaro and Axel, with whom I explored a little part of the city and climbed a rather impressive temple. On our way there, we bought some momos (a traditional Tibetan dumpling), but they were almost stolen by some ingenious cows and monkeys.

The next day was filled with surprises: The night before, I had met Lluvia, who told me about a music performance that we could attend, with music played by locals. Arriving at the music ashram, we sat down to experience some impressive performances, not least by a small child who couldn’t help but get involved in some of the drumming. The performance included an Israeli guest who played along, adding a guitar edge to the ensemble. I’m still not sure whether I preferred the addition, but all in all, it was a really good show.

But…this was not the big surprise of the day. I woke up and wanted to visit the Neer Garh waterfall, famous in the local area for its beauty and natural pools. I trekked up the road from Rishikesh, dodging the oncoming traffic and stray dogs…until….one of the stray dogs started to follow me. And it did not stop following me. I swear, I walked for about an hour and it kept up the whole way AND that was only as far as the start of the official waterfall park. The official park was all uphill and for the 40 minutes I was walking, it kept up the pace. Eventually I stopped to take a break, when two local boys on a motorbike stopped and asked if I wanted a lift to the top. Of course – I had no idea how much further there was. Hopping on, I said goodbye to the pup, not expecting to see it again. Boy, was I wrong! It sprinted up behind me, certainly panting by the time we reached the top.

But unfortunately, we couldn’t locate the waterfall. The boys offered to take me back down to the bottom, but in all honesty, I didn’t really feel safe on their bike, so politely declined and walked back down. (It was much easier walking back down) OH and the dog was still following me. I still don’t know why: I hadn’t given it anything When I reached the bottom, I popped into a small cafe and had a quick drink before hitting the road back. I had thought that the dog would stay there with the other pups hanging around, but it got up and came with me.

And this is where the real surprise occurred: Jorge and Ore, a Venezuelan and an Israeli stopped by me on their motorbikes and asked if I wanted a ride. This time I accepted the offer of a ride: I was tired, Ore had a helmet (and proudly declared he had a license) and the bikes looked much safer. When we got back to the city, we stopped by the bike rental place, one thing led to another and I ended up renting and driving a scooter for the first time in my life. We drove around Rishikesh, ate some more momos and planned to meet the next day to travel to Haridwar.

Early the next day, I awoke to a message from Jorge: he was ill and wouldn’t be able to come with us, but this didn’t stop Ore and me. We took our bikes and drove for 30 minutes to Haridwar. God it was fun. Not Haridwar – we didn’t really know what to expect and ended up getting pushed around in a temple, being asked to give money to the statues every 30 seconds, but the ride there was brilliant. Actually, even more brilliant was the ride back: we took a much quieter route, with amazing straights, beautiful views and much fresher air. There was only one hitch: a massive river to traverse. Fortunately, there were some tractors that took us over (for a small fee) and then we were on our way.

Though I was initially apprehensive about riding the bike, Jorge and Ore helped me massively. There were some scary times, but after about five minutes, I felt rather confident and would most certainly love to try this again (though maybe not in India).

But this was not all: I practised some more yoga. For two days, Lluvia and I had lesson from Krishna, a yoga teacher staying in our hostel. It was extremely useful to have this almost one-to-one lesson and in my few lessons here in India, I feel my flexibility improving massively. We had another lesson the next day, on the rooftop no less and had a great time. Krishna, thank you so much!

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My next destination is the famous city of Agra. I booked a sleeper bus (with a proper bed) in order to make the journey, but more about that in my next post!

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