Rishikesh

(Lauren)

Rishikesh is difficult to describe. I think it’s a town that needs to be experience directly or at least look at the pictures. The town is divided in half by the Ganges and the river here is brilliant emerald green and clean! I would have swum in it if it had been warmer. The town is surrounded by the towering Himalayan foothills. The sections of town are connected by two suspended pedestrian bridges so if you have a car on one side of town it takes several hours to get to the other side, but only minutes on foot! We checked into our room at the Jaipur Inn. We splurged for a ‘deluxe’ room with hot water, a balcony, and cable TV. Our balcony view was amazing right on the river and overlooking Lakshman Jhula (one of the suspended bridges).

I got sick on the train ride to Rishikesh (I’m just remembering that now). Getting sick on trains is not fun. First of all, it’s a squatter and believe me your legs begin to ache after a while no matter how much yoga you’ve been doing! I was still fatigued when we got to Rishikesh but the runs had stopped. Steve, however, was going down hill…

We still felt okay enough to take a hike and get out of town. We ventured to the waterfalls north of the town. They were beautiful, but Steve was not having that much fun with Delhi-belly beginning. I put him in bed for the night and that is where he stayed for the following day. We were hoping to get married on the first day of spring, but Steve was laid up. I ran down to the doctor and picked up the anti-biotic, electrolytes, and some mysterious red pill that the doc wanted him to take.

By the following day, Steve was back in action eating solids and walking around the town. We started our wedding preparations with the help of Anand (the yoga teacher and astrologer at our hotel that Karen recommended). He really arranged the whole thing we just showed up the following day. The hotel even took the lead on purchasing all the supplies for us and there were a lot of them!