Soaking up the beauty:)

Day 9 (1/9)

View from hotel balcony...

work donkeys:)

Finally we were surrounded by beautiful nature at the base of the Himalayans so we decided to go for a hike of some sort. There was a temple that was recommended to hike to but when we asked about it at the front desk he said it was too far considering the time…we had slept in a bit and after having breakfast it was around 10 so he suggested we hike to the waterfall that was much closer. So we set off on foot to pass the footbridge and begin exploring more of Rishikesh…just as we passed the footbridge we spotted some little baby monkey's playing in a tree above a roof top so of course we had to stop to watch! 

Way better than any show on TV!

My grandma was worried about me bringing home an elephant…she may be surprised when I show up with a monkey:) Love you Grandma! Big hugs and kisses:) As we continued our walk all of the little shops continued along the other side…so many beautiful clothes and jewelry, decorations, and yummy smelling food! We began to get out of town and more into the foothills, it was so nice to just be outside, walking, enjoying and embracing the new world that surrounded me…away from all of the noise and chaos of New Delhi. I felt very much at home in this little mountain town (don't worry Mom…I am coming home! XOXO)

Mother Ganga

There are dogs everywhere

amazing hillside buildings!

Shiva lingam (male energy)

Once we got up a ways there was a split in the road…we could continue straight or head toward the right and up…hmmmm what to do. We decided to go up, walked for some time and came across a hotel…in the middle of nowhere…and discovered we had gone the wrong way! Oh well…its about the journey, not the destination right?!

women carrying wood to heat their homes and cook food

 So we headed back down and continued on the road we began on until we came to another bridge where we found a path that went up into the mountains. The beauty continued to increase the farther we hiked until we found the waterfall in which we were seeking. It was much smaller than I had imagined but still very nice and refreshing! I had to take my shoes off and get my feet in the water…the ice cold water! We hung out for quite some time just soaking up all the strong earth energy missed with water to help us to be able to flow with the change as it came along our journey. I attempted to do some yoga on the rocks in the river but they were quit slippery…

After a snack we headed back the way we came. As we walked back through town we suddenly found ourselves in a place that we did not recognize…we both felt like we needed to head towards the right so we cut through this very narrow alley. It was the coolest thing…as we were walking through we were passing by doorways to what appeared to be their place of residence. Clothes hanging out to dry everywhere and people here and there doing their daily business. It felt like we were finally seeing something "real"…really seeing how some live and having a chance to imaging what it would be like:) As we came out on the other side we headed toward what seemed like a main road and found some more monkeys! Really  we saw monkeys all day long but we still stopped to watch and enjoy:)

We hiked around for about 8 hours:)

I know my Uncle is with me...this is his favorite flower:)

I see them everywhere...love you Uncle XOXO

Shiva

Sure enough we had found our way back to the main road we started on and continued back toward the footbridge. We were so hungry so we got some oranges and banana's and went to have our snack on the ghat where we made a new friend…I had a video of us feeding a monkey but it wont load on here:(

We decided to take a boat across the Ganges at sunset which was so cool. It was still so surreal to me that I was actually on Mother Ganga! Our ticket was round trip for 10 Ruppee's (like 20 cents!) So as we were waiting for the return trip a bunch of Indians were feeding the fish. Earlier we had seen kids selling these bowls of what looked like little pieces of dough…apparently it was fish food! I went over to watch and an Indian girl offered me one to throw into the water. It was really neat~ when you would drop this food into the water you could see the fish swim so fast up to catch it! Sometimes you could event get them to jump:) We were having fun and it was neat to share in something with a local…we couldn't understand each others words but laughter is universal and we both shared in each other's happiness.

After our boat ride we wanted to get some food at a restaurant that was highly recommend in our travel book…but first we had to figure out our train tickets. We wanted to go to Varanasi next and had been told that by train was the best way so we stopped by a local travel agency to inquire. We were able to set up train reservations for night of the 11th from Haridwar and could pick up our tickets "anytime in the morning" so we headed to get some dinner and it was so delicious! Funny though it was on the other side of the Ganges so after we just took the boat ride back we had to walk across the footbridge in search of this place…but it was worth it plus I bought a new shirt on our way back for 100 Ruppee's! (like $2)!

We headed back to the hotel for some tea and to use the free WiFi…the staff at the Nirvana Hotel is so friendly I didn't get any work done on my blog because they kept talking to me! But through conversation I learned of a great yoga teacher training that would be starting in March…so if my plans of studying at Parmarth Niketan Ashram fall through I would have a great back up plan! Sweet! 

We wanted to get a fairly early start so I head up to the room to pack and get to bed:)