We left Amritsar on Wednesdy and headed south east and arrived in Chandigarh (capital of Punjab) at 7:00 pm. Unfortunately I got food poisioning again!!!!! I now know my body when I get food poisioning...I just totally purged from both ends..haha. Everything came out within an hour and I slept for 14 hours that night. I felt better the next morning and was well enough to go to the Rock Garden...some random rich man decided to spend lots of money to build these rock structures using old plates, toilet bowls, rocks and recyclable stonewares...I actually thought the place was quite senseless a waste of money. The hightlight of that place was actually riding on a camel for 30 rupees (75 cents). Chandigarh is a posh city with many name brand stores with expensive merchandise! The hotel room that we stayed in was the most expensive so far (1500 rupees) and my roommate and I did not even get clean sheets and blankets...luckily I brought my own camping pillow and my sleeping bag!
We left Chandigarh on Friday morning and drove over 12 hours to Rishikesh. We stopped at Missouri which was an old British hill station. It was similar to Dharamsala but without Tibetan settlements. It appears that on Friday was a very lucky day for people to get married as it took an extra 1.5 hours to get to our hotel. There was a wedding happening at our hotel and it went from 8pm to 6:30am!!!!! The band was playing all night and people were running down the hallway throughout the morning. I was awaken at 4:30 am and couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up at 7:00am and did some yoga on my balcony.
The upper Ganges lies between Rishikesh and it is the yoga capital of the world. There are many ashrams nearby where people can develop their spirituality by staying in these places. They would do meditation and yoga and help to take care of the ashrams. A few of us walked to the Gannge River and witnessed people cleansed their sins and offered flower bouquets to the river. The river is very sacred to the people of India and many people from all over India come to perform such rituals. This part of the river is quite clean as the Himalaya mountains are close by. The water further downstream in middle of India io would be a different story.
My body is not liking too much Indian food. The food is usually quite oily and meals usually sit in my stomach for hours. So for the last few meals I have been having just toast (white bread :-( with jam and curd (plain yogurt). Another reason for simple foods is that I do not want to get sick anymore!!!! The oranges and bananas are quite good here so I have been eating lots of fruits. I do miss home and all the veggies and normal home cooking!
The temperature here is warm but comfortable at ~ 23°C. One thing that is hard to get use to is the pollution!!! It is so dusty in India! My nostrils are usually black and my hair is wiry by the end of each day! We will be leaving Rishikesh tomorrow morning and drive 1 hour into Haridwar. We will spend one day there then leave for Jim Corbett National Park which is a tiger reserve.
Unfortunately, all the computers in India are infected with viruses so I can't upload pictures to my blog. I hope to give you update in a few days!
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