Rishikesh is a nice town alongside the upper Ganga. I guess in the 60s, before the Beatles got here to become enlighted, it must have been very nice and very quite. Now it’s pretty busy with backpackers and you can eat brownies and pasta at every corner. Still for India it’s remarkable quite and laid back. The only really annoying thing is the monkeys stealing your bananas – out of your hand while eating.
The town basically breathes spirituality. You can get everything from yoga boot camps (you have to get up at 4am and yoga the whole day) to the protection gemstone corresponding to your star sign. One overenthusiastic American tried to convince me to join “Enlightenment Next”, but after “Yoga Next” and “Railway Crossing Next” I’m kinda done with “Next”.
Never the less I do like it here. I did a 15km hike to a temple on top of a mountain yesterday. Fantastic views. On arrival the chief priestess dragged me in the temple, painted my forehead red, made me ate strange rice and glued stuff on my head. I haven’t checked but I might be Hindu now. I thanked her by bowing Indian style but she put out her hand and said “Don’t want thank. Money!”. So deep believes always wake up my spirituality …
The backpacker crowd is also pretty cool, I ran into a pretty nice French girl who is traveling around India for her university and three Americans from Seattle. One of them was an Half-Indian who liked to thank god a lot that she was raised in the U.S. and can choose her husband herself. 😉