Maharishi Mahesh of Rishikesh

The original Ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (where the Beatles stayed in the late 60's and apparently wrote much of their White Album) was abandoned in 1997 and now is found surrounded consumed by forest.

For some added trivia, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is in his 90's now and lives in Vlodrop in the Netherlands! He is the founder and developer of Transcendental Meditation (TM).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maharishi_Mahesh_Yogi

Actually entry into the ashram is not permitted but nobody was around (to stop us) when we went to visit and thus we worked with the 'ignorance is bliss' rule. Though honestly... we were not that ignorant but were feeling, lets just say.... confident and adventurous.

What we found was jaw dropping stuff. An huge area of abandoned egg shaped domes where the ashramites meditated. The constructions had fabulous sound acoustics for making a vibrate- through-your-entire-system magnificent Om Sound.







The abandoned egg shaped domes were used for Transcendental Meditation at The Ashram
















Walking amongst the domes we couldn't help but think that the lyrics from the song 'I am the Walrus'......
"I am the eggman, they are the eggmen. I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob" were inspired by the ashram in Rishikesh (as well as some stuff they might have been smoking with Maharishi back in the 60's!!!). I mean at this stage in his career John Lennon thought he was a walrus and/or an eggman?

A view of the mountains around Rishikesh which is located at the base of the Himalayas.






















































Besides the Ashram though, Riskikesh is famous for being the yoga capital of the world, and... practice Yoga we did!
Mornings and afternoons working on our sun salutations and bridges as well as enjoy a Christmas day banquet (with overloaded tummies to match) with some new be-friended Australian girlfriends.

I was so blissed out with the yoga (at the Raj Palace with Surrinder Singh for anyone heading to Rishikesh) that i really didn't carry my camera all that much with me at the mouth (clean end) of the Ganges river, and as such don't really have that many photos to share on the blog. Luckily though the memories are well ingrained into my memory.

Vibrant Varanasi

So.... we arrived into Varanasi after a killer bus ride from Pokhara to Sunauli at the Nepal/India Border, then onto Gorakphur by local bus and then by night train, leaving us to arrive at 5.30 am into Varanasi Train Station. This early arrival allowed us to soak up the city (and our first real morning in India), whilst it was reasonably still. Actually Varanasi is never totally still with its temple bells chiming and ceremonies abound at all hours. But we had arrived before sunrise giving us a perfect opportunity to see the city awaken to all its glory.

Sunrise over the Ganges

Wow!!! there is just so much to say about Varanasi that i don't even know how to begin. It's claim to fame is the holiest city in India.

It is where there are nearly 100 ghats leading into the Holy River Ganges. The most famous of these being the burning ghats, of which there are 2, where up to 300 cremations take place per day 365 days a year.

Varanasi is a holy city in Hinduism, being one of the most sacred pilgrimage places for Hindus (more than 1,000,000 pilgrims visit each year) who believe that bathing in Ganga ( Ganges)remits sins. For Hindus, Varanasi is the holiest place to be cremated (with remains being tossed into the river afterwards) ensuring the release of a person's soul from the cycle of its re-incarnation.

It was obvious that we were in India now.... which amongst so much more, means holy cows walking around all over the place, having full reign (though they do that in Nepal too) in all the tiny alleyways of Varanasi.

So we began our day watching the sunrise with a little walk along the ghats up to the burning ghat where we witnessed cremations at varying stages of burning. We were given a private informative "tour" if you can call it that, about the traditions and particulars of the cremation ceremonies by a guide who easily spotted us amongst all the men. Women mourning their their families are not allowed to attend the burning ceremonies apparently because they "cry too much". We learnt all about the ceremonies, all about the sandalwood (100kg is required for each body) and its related costs. Sandalwood is used to cover up the smell of the burning corpse and is brought in by boats from down the river daily. The burning ghat is privately owned and its extremely expensive to be cremated there and even more so if you are a foreigner.

It is hard to describe in words the feeling of walking around the burning bodies whilst the cremations were taking place, amongst the male family members carrying out their own ceremonies. Trying to not look like a tourist and give our full respect (tis impossible to not look like a tourist though when you are obviously white and female) i had the same feeling wash over me as i had my last time in Varanasi when i was there in 2000.

This is a city which represents the place between life and death. Yes its true that bodies to be cremated here usually arrive already lifeless, having been brought here from all over India, but there is a heavy feeling that this is where the actual movement onto and into another world/realm takes place. In my opinion anyway.

But there is oh so much more to Varanasi than burning bodies and reincarnation, for which the city is most famous. At the ghats, along the river, the activity present in a normal day is endless.

Indian kids flying kites high in the sky competing against each other to get their kite the highest, people washing themselves and their clothes, others performing puja cleansing ceremonies in the water, sadhus meditating amongst the madness, families (and tourists) taking boat trips up and down the ganges, tourist snapping pictures and thinking about their next meal at the german bakery**, cows and goats searching for snacks, some even dressed up for the occasion*.

A trip to Varanasi, i beleive, is a must on everyone's itinerary coming to India. The city gives more insight into the Indian culture than any other city and is almost indescribable simply because there is just so much going on. Like every other Indian city you have your standard rickshaw drivers quoting extortionate prices to tourists and typical street markets, but Varanasi is also famous for it's silk factories and silk shops in which Do and i managed to buy ourselves a gorgeous scarf each. Or was it 2 each? :)

A Sadhu meditating at the Main Ghat. Sadhus are holy men who have renounced everything (family and possessions) and usually travel from city to city, living through donation only, carrying each a stick and tin can to collect their donations in. They are often bearded with dreadlocks piled high atop their heads. Also, it is said that, criminals on the run often pass themselves off as Sadhus to hide from the authorities.

* I wasn't joking when i said the goats were dressed up. We weren't sure if this is a cruel joke or an attempt to help keep these goats warm from the misty cold mornings, but none-the-less it is an extremely funny sight seeing goats walking along the ghats in woolly cardigans and jumpers.

Typical scence down by the river. People washing their clothes and leaving them out to dry.

Another sadhu meditating amongst it all

Clothes left to dry in the sun, amongst them the colourful saris that indian women wear.

The locals taking in the magic of the Ganga

A scene taken from downstream looking upstream. Typical scene with boats on the water, smoky ambience coming from you know where.

Gorgeous sunset on the Ganga

Boat trip












Young indian boy out on the river












Market vendors in the back streets of Varanasi
















** We ate at the German bakery at least once a day and thus, we highly recommend it! Mmmmmmmmmmmmm. Seems as if there is a greman bakery in every town in india, not many germans but yummy food none-the-less!

Trek trek trekking

Some details first....

Our trek was 5 days
We carried our own packs (we had no porter!)

Here i am on Day 1. Pack on my back (with sleeping bag attached) and camera bag on my front. Jeans are not usual trekking pants, i know, but it was so very freezing in the morning when we left. I was even trekking with thermal top under my t-shirt.

We went without a guide for the 5 days (it would be very hard to get lost)

We did the Ghorepani (altitude of 2874m), and Poon Hill (3210m) trek and also changed from the 'normal' route and added in a visit to Tatopani (1189m) where we thoroughly enjoyed the hot springs. :)

Here is a misspelled tourist information board which we found along our path before reaching Hile on Day 1. Most signs and menus have at least one spelling error and they can provide a few laughs. This is fairly standard all over asia actually.

The first day of our trek began very early with a taxi ride from Pokhara (915m) to Naya Pul and then we walked a 1/2 hour or so to the real starting point of the trek at Birethani. At Birethani, we had our trekking permits checked and signed into the register of the Park/trekking region.

We then walked for 5 hours, uphill, up the side of the valley, passing Hile and then onto Tikhe Dhunga (1577m). It was here where we had planned on originally stopping for the night and calling it a day. We heard that the steps onward from Tikhe Dhunga (which would have been the start of our day 2) were extemely steep and feeling like we still had energy left and enough sunlight, we decided to continue uphill onto Ulleri and stay there for our first night.

Well, it was unbelievably difficult!!! We were proud of ourselves for accomplishing it, happy that it behind us and wasn't going to be the start of day 2 just after breakfast and............ we were utterly exhausted! The dinner meal we had was completely delicious probablybecause we were so so HUNGRY. Ok..... maybe it was delicious but by this late stage i think cardboard would have tasted fabulous, we were that hungry.

So... more on "the steps".......

From Tikhe Dhunga the trail crosses a stream on a suspension bridge and then ascends a SUPER STEEP, LACTIC ACID INDUCING, KILLER stone staircase (which has about 3300 steps) up to the large village of Ulleri at 2080m.

Donkeys blocking our path just before we embarked on "the steps"

The killer steps took us approx 2 hours and by the end we took the first guesthouse we saw upon reaching Ulleri (as did everyone else who came up the steps after us!)

Day 2 from Ulleri to Ghorepani was actually quite mild (especially when compared to Day 1). We passed through lush rainforest-like paths and waterfalls in addition to small villages throughout the day. We found a room in Ghorepani with fabulous views and got an early night, excited for our sunrise climb the following morning to Poon Hill.

One of the waterfalls along our way (Day2)

And another. If you look closely you can see Do

Just one of the spectacular views we were blessed with on our 2nd day

And another.

This puppy walked with us for most of the day. He's a great poser don't you think?

And another

We woke up on Day 3 at 4.45am, and left at 5am, in orderto make it up the top of Poon Hill in time to see the sunrise. We actually made it up there in under 45 mins, in the dark with our torches and were the first atop the lookout tower that day. The views were breathtaking....

From Poon Hill you can see an unobstructed view of sunrise over the Himalayas.

We were very chiffed even of it was FREEZING up there. We were well rugged up but even so my fingers went numb and my nose went red.

Waitng for Sunrise

Very proud of ourselves and extemely satisfied with the view

After spending 45 mins or so at Poon Hill taking in the views, we descended down again to Ghorepani for breakfast before heading downhill, for the whole day!! Downhill may be less exhausting but these were killer step too which were fairly hard on the knees and ankles. But we made it happily and rested for the night in a small village (forgotten the name) for another day of downhill steps to Tatopani.

Village boy carrying a load of dried grass down some steps. All the porters and mountain people of Nepal carry loads like this.

Another village boy on his way to school. He was smiling before i took the photo. I still wonder why kids in mongola, nepal and india look so serious when you take their picture.

A group of Nepalese school kids who were happy to pose for a photo.

Day 4 was also downhill (huge crazy steps) and we were thankful that we did the trek the way we did because these steps the other way (uphill) would have been a nightmare!

A huge highlight of the trip was reaching Tatopani and soaking ourselves (til our fingers looked like prunes) in the hot springs. The food was also most delicious in Tatopani and it was a fabulous location to spend our last night of the trek.

The view from Tatopani. For reference, 1 euro= 93 Nepalese Rupees. So this was rather pricey fior washing, especially when we paid only 65 rupees per kilo in Pokhara.

Day 5 was almost flat as we made our way back to Beni from Tatopabi where we caught a local bus back to Pokhara and slept soundly at Hotel Angel once again.

This photo was taken out of the bus window ono our way back to Pokhara

Here is a photo of Monica, a delightful girl we befriended in Pokhara. She was very happy to pose for me and nearly jumped into our arms, giving us hugs as we said goodbye before catching our bus to the Nepalese/Indian border at Sunauli.

Salmon Sushi and Sunrise at Sarangkot

We decided to take up the offer of witnessing sunrise (yes we have had many early starts on our trip in order to see the many spectacular sunrises!) at Sarangkot which is high above the city of Pokhara. From here you can see the fabulous Annapurnas and Fishtail mountain peaks in their full glory as the rising sun (from afar) casts a faboulous array of golden and pink colours over them.

Fishtail mountain peak.

Facing away from the mountains in order to view the sun rising. You can see here that we are fairlly high up (1595m) and how gorgeous the sunrise was.

Here you can see Annapurna I, Fishtail mountain and Annapurna II from Sarangkot.

This photo was taken from just in front of our hotel. Hotel Angel. Yes we liked the name too.

If you look closely you can see the sign in yellow.

I have included this pic to show just how good our view of the mountains was. We actually felt like we wre walking in a postcard most of the time whilst we were in Pokhara.

We were ecstatic to find a fabulous Japanese restaurant (we ended up eating there twice) in Pokhara. Who would believe it? Hence the photo. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Our main reason for going to Chitwan National Park was to see the elephants, and see elephants we did. Baby elephants in the breeding centre (whom we fed elephant cookies to), adult elephants taking their daily baths as well as taking a ride on a huge elephant into the national park (actually a jungle!) to get up close to wildlife which would be impossible to see as we did, on foot.

Here is an elephant receiving a tip via his/her? trunk. Their skin is a rough as it looks and they feel a bit spongy too.







Here are the elyphants taking their daily bath. They were having loads of fun and draw a great crowd of spectators!

















(Hope the video works!)







These following photos were taken in the elephant breeding centre. The babies were ultra cute and as to be expected, very mischievous.

Here is a shot of the elephant (with his handler0 that we rode through the jungle. He was the biggest our of any of the elephants we saw and allowed us to get up close and personal with the wildlife in the national park.

Sunset in the jungle.....

We saw deer, monkeys and rhinos up close and personal.




Being on elephant back allowed us get maybe even a bit too close, with views like these. Actually i don't think i ahve ever seen the backside of a rhino before, not the most beautiful sight but interesting none-the-less.