The Fab Four

After the whirlwind of Agra we boarded a train and headed to Delhi to meet my parents who were flying in for the week from Beijing. They were due to arrive at 2am and then a driver was meant to pick us up and bring us to Rishikesh. My parents flight landed on time but no sign of the driver. So I called the hotel to find out where he was and where we should meet him. They told me that he was 45 minutes away. Bummer. Well forty five minutes turned into three hours and 27 minutes of roaming rate phone calls between me and the hotel. Needless to say we were not happy campers when we did eventually locate the driver resting with his eyes closed in his car, without a sign or even any indication that he was looking for us. Luckily I got the back seat with all the luggage and fell right asleep for the five hour drive to Rishikesh. I say lucky because Justin unfortunately had to sit up front and had a near heart attack as our driver pulled some NASCAR-eque moves: passing cars, speeding and swerving to avoid potholes, cows and other road obstacles. When we arrived in Rishikesh Justin was white as a ghost.

We all sleep for a few hours first thing and then went to explore the city and have some lunch. I didn't think so at first but over the next two weeks I came to find Rishikesh exceedingly beautiful. It is in the Ganga river valley, in the north east of India, surrounded by the smallest of the Himalayan foothills and very close to Nepal. (The Ganga is the same at the Ganges but is only referred to in the plural further south were the river diverges into several waterways.) We didn't do much else that first day, but we made up for it over the next week.

My mum is a machine I tell you. She insisted that we cram as many 5 am wake up times into the next five or six days as possible and so we went white water rafting one day, and hiking at sunrise the next. We got up a dawn another day to do a Jeep safari and bike ride along the canal. And everyday Mum would barely be able to walk when we got home but still she said, "Guys, I've signed us up for (blank) at 6 am tomorrow, and were going to walk there instead of taxi. Isn't that great?" The white water rafting turned out to be everyones favourite. I particularly enjoyed the lead up to the rafting when Justin kept saying , "I am not sure your mum is going to want to do that." Or "Jean wont want to do any class III rapids I don't think." Which was a very sweet gesture except that my mother was constantly like, "O lets go rafting," or "We don't really need a safety briefing, it's obvious... don't fall out." Which made me laugh because her enthusiasm was such a hilarious contradiction to Justin's panic masked as concern. There was even a hilarious encore performance on hiking day when after 11km of steep downhill we reached the main road for the final 3km, and Justin said
"I think maybe Jean might like to take a rickshaw back into Rishikesh." Nice try J.

I loved that hike, which we obviously did at sunrise since that is the Jean Amabile special, to a small temple at the top of one of the foothill peaks. From there we could see the sun rising over the snow capped Himalaya in the distance. It was a pretty powerful moment, just ask the girl who was meditating there when we arrived like a heard of elephants. The large noisy American kind. From there we descended along a steep mountain path, and all the time I was thinking, "boy if the foothills are this rough I can't imagine what the actual mountains would be like." Eventually we came to the Neer waterfall, which spilled into a beautiful reservoir where I took a refreshing dip before we had to pick up and continue on our hike. Poor Justin didn't bring any appropriate hiking shoes and he took a couple spills during our hike. In fact although i know he loves my parents I think he could have done without the Mattimore family gusto. We're not actually that fit or adventurous but we sure can fake it. With mum at the helm the week absolutely flew by.

And since we were big pimpin' on Pat and Jean's dime we got to stay in a suite with a TV and watch the Olympics every morning while having coffee and oatmeal in bed! Our suite was fine although way overpriced at 3,000Rs a night and the service at the Tapovan Resort was less than stellar. After our driver fiasco I had a week long feud going with the hotel staff over the price of the ride. And was livid at how much they were planning to over charge us to wait three hour at the Delhi airport. I mean honestly does it really make sense for four white people to try to find one Indian driver without a sign. I think not. Anyway, once my dad threatened to write to every US newspaper about it and I told them I would be contacting Lonely Planet they acquiesced and charged us the standard rate for taxi service. They really should have done more but that's fine we will definitely write to LP about our experience there. There must be dozens of hotels in Rishikesh worthy of a Bible mention instead of the Tapovan Resort.

Before we knew it my parents were off heading back to Beijing by way of Delhi, and Justin and I were headed to our new rooms at a different guest house. I can't remember the name but it is across from the 3rd Eye Restaurant near Laxman Jhula, if you're headed that way. For 250Rs each Justin and I had our own rooms for a week. That was a big splurge for us, since we have been sharing a room, and usually a bed, for the past two months. Anyway I'd recommend that place over Tapovan any day. Although you might ask them to run a duster over the room before you settle in.

During our second week in Rishikesh Justin and I had some alone time, which we probably needed. I took kayaking lessons a few days with Ayodahan, my new Indian boyfriend. He's 20 so he is about the right age for me. If you (the reader) are friends with Justin and me on Facebook you can check him out in Justin's album from our rafting trip. He is in one of the last pictures where we are sitting on the raft and Justy has his arm around him. So cute. We had a good time together. He taught me some Hindi in addition to the basics of kayaking, and I taught him some English. Mostly the importance of cheesy English expressions and puns. Like for example "go big or go home." Good one for rafting. Or
a delicate balance." (I.e. just getting your kayak to go straight sure is a... And also
"Don't make a mountain out of a molehill." Or,
" a fish in the boat is worth two in the river," I modified that one myself. And one of our puns - Surf and Turf. Anyway you get the idea. Ayodahan barely got any of this I was mostly just talking to myself to keep from freaking out about flipping upside down. I am not very good at the Eskimo rolls and waiting for him to paddle over to me for a t-rescue while trying to avoid slamming into a rock was not exactly relaxing. I figured the less practice on the rolls I was required to do the better. Thus don't flip over.

Those rolls are tricky primarily because your instinct tells you to get your head out of the water as fast as possible, what with the whole not being able to breath thing. But in fact when you do rolls you actually want your head to come up last, (how's that for irony) because your kayak will only actually roll if you start with the hips. If you try to pull yourself over head first you simply wont make it, and then you will drown. Or at least that is how it feels. Oh and don't forget you are still in whitewater. (Read shitting yourself.)

If you do have to bale, and I am obviously not speaking from personal experience here, (since I am a star kayak-er) you have to pull off your splash guard, which can be panic inducing in and of it self, (so I am told.) And you have to locate your paddle and kayak so they don't whack you in the head. Grab your paddle if possible. (The guys were constantly telling us the paddles were worth more than we were.) Then, and this is the mortifying bit, you have to grab a hold of Ayodahan's rescue kayak at the front, lie on your back, and straddle the kayak upside down while trying not to choke as you get pummeled with mouth fulls of the Ganga River. Once you have cleared the whitewater looking extremely graceful, believe me, you have to watch as poor Ayodahan hauls your 25 k, plus water, kayak out of the rushing river and swing it back and forth to get as much water out as possible. And to finish off this glamorous water ballet you have to get back into the kayak - you and your helmet, life jacket, splash guard, wetsuit and all. (probably for the third time -or something like that, again I am only speculating here.*) I was pro obvs.


In addition to kayaking on my own, Justin and I took a whole bunch of yoga classes with this super dynamic guy named Amit. Both Justin and I had a crush on him, but since I had already claimed all of the rafting guys Justin got dibs on Amit in our fantasy league. We got to do a whole bunch of yogic stuff that neither of us had ever done before including a whole class of kundulini yoga and laughing yoga. That's right I said laughing yoga. It's great by the way.

We also hiked out one day to the now desolate, former Ashram of the Beatles guru Mandrblahblahblah. (Read I don't/never could remember the dude's name but it started with an M if your googling.) Anyway in the 60's and 70's this guy was huge and the Beatles all went to his Ashram before writing Sgt. Pepper, makes sense now eh? Although I think Ringo only stuck it out for like a week. The place is totally deserted now because the guru pulled a Tiger Woods with a whole bunch of the women devotees and that didn't go down so well in the 90's. (Feminists, always ruining everything.)

It was kind of amazing /really creepy, especially as it started to get dark. It took us forever to find the place, hence the getting dark. Which may have been because we kept asking directions by saying, "Hey Ji (sir) Beatles Ashram? You know, where is?" Maybe if we had ever remembered the guru guys name it would have been easier. It also didn't help that the gate out front was locked and said No Entry all over it. We actually walked right past it and continued on for 500 meters before someone gave us a clue. (Read led us there.) Anyway, it was a pretty awesome Ashram, surround by nature and set into a hillside. It reminded me a really big fancy camp, complete with meditation bungalows, which were a little kooky igloo/solitary confinement-esqu, but they were built in the 70's so I forgave. In one of the dorm rooms we actually found some original cartoon drawings done by who knows who, but let's say the Beatles cause it's cooler, which featured a whole whack of song lyrics and titles from the Sgt Pepper album.

AnyIamtheWalrus, Rishikesh was amazing. Justin and I have been talking about how it was the first place were we were genuinely sad to leave, with no restlessness etc. I mean don't get me wrong I am excited for what's next but I would definitely go back to Rishikesh and hang out there for a while. The only bummer was that I didn't get to do a multi-day trek, because it was still a bit too early in the hiking season and I couldn't find anyone to take me alone or any other groups that I might tag a long with. Oh well something for next time. This week we are in Varanasi and then next week we are at the Ashram. I can't believe that the India leg of the trip is actually 2/3 over.

Highlights of Rishikesh
Mum and Dad
The guys at De N Ascend (spelling is incorrect, will edit later.)
Amit
The food - We ate salad can you believe it!
rafting, kayaking, yoga, hiking, biking, safari-ing and general badassness
THE OLYMPICS
Oh yea and I almost forgot Justin and I went to get our teeth cleaned and each got a new pair of prescription eyeglasses made. Yes all of the health care that is not covered in Canada, (for Canadians, I wouldn't know anything about health care. Health care what is health care?) is super cheap and amazing here.

Lowlights
leaving on Holi
leaving the day of the Canada-US Gold Medal Hockey game - very poorly planned. (And no I don't want to talk about it.)
leaving

oh yea and Tapovan Resort - beware!

*I only had to bale out of my kayak twice, and perform the above mentioned act of mortification once.