Top Attractions

After a home cooked Indian breakfast, we got our first Uber across the city (everywhere is a lot further away than it looks on the map - the city is quite big).

We arrived at the Capital Complex, the HQ of the combined states of Punjab and Haryana. There was a free tour of the High Court and Assembly buildings of this UNESCO site.

We saw some interesting buildings, sculptures and tapestries plus the views from the highest building in the city. The tour was heavily guarded with 2 police to the 4 of us on the tour. Our passports were also copied. The highlight, of course, was the delicious rice pudding and ice cold mango lassie we devoured as we completed the tour.

Next off to the Rock Garden, the 2nd most visited attraction after the Taj Mahal ... apparently! The Rock Garden was an illegal structure built by a simple man from rocks and bits of reclaimed rubbish on the edge of a forest. When the government discovered it, they liked it, so it was allowed to stay. In fact they enabled the hobby to continue and employed additional labour to continue the work. By the end of our visit we had become rather fond of the attraction, especially as we learnt more about it.

Dinner was served up at a Chinese market. We visited a fancy hotel and went on to get a delicious ice cream.

We got everywhere in Uber taxis and the drivers were all excellent. When we returned to where we are staying, we spent time on the roof admiring the view of the city from 10 storeys up!

Chandigarh is Different

An early start was required to ensure we made it down from Rishikesh to catch our train in Haridwar. First a rickshaw took us to the bus station where we transferred to a big bus. The journey went so well, we arrived so much earlier than expected, so guess what? Yes, we drank chai and ate until we needed to catch the train!

We met a friendly English couple and we laughed and chatted for the 5 hour journey to Chandigarh. At one point a young man next to us almost convinced us all that we were on the wrong train. However, it transpired that the train we were on was going to split in two, so all was well! The English couple had arranged a pick up to their hotel from Chandigarh train station. We on the other hand had different plans.

From the station we needed to get 2 buses and take a nice long walk to where we were staying. It was dark but the first bus left from just outside the train ststion. On the bus we travelled along smooth tarmac roads, stopped at traffic lights and gave way at roundabouts. UNBELIEVABLE! We got talking to a very nice university student. He was travelling the same way as us and said we could follow him on the second bus, so we did. He chatted to the very smiley bus conductor and together they worked out exactly where we should get off. Eventually we got off and started walking towards our destination (quickly stopping in KFC for a snack too).

The road was dark and long but we caught ourselves a lift from a Sikh man in a jeep. He just pulled over, couldn't speak English but shook our hands. He then kindly drove us to where we needed to go by following our GPS map! WOW, what a day ...

Lazy day

We started our morning with a leisurely stroll. We were heading for a waterfall that we had seen on the map. We walked for a while along the road but eventually decided the traffic, stinky fumes and crazy drivers were too much. We turned back and gave up on the waterfall.

The day was spent organising and enjoy the tranquility of Rishikesh. We had been there for a few days and were learning the best restaurants, chai wallahs and places to sit.

We packed our bags and were ready to leave in the morning. All that was left to do was enjoy our last supper at a nice little restaurant.

Outside the restaurant there was a bit of a commotion. A fancy sports car had arrived and everyone took photos. They don't see many sports cars up in the mountains of India.

Chillin'

Eventually we appeared from our hotel after a good night's sleep. We stopped for breakfast/lunch at our favourite haunt in Rishikesh.

Next we sat on the steps of a really quiet area. There was only a few people there. The temple behind was playing relaxing Indian music and we watched the goings on around us. From where we sat we could see the queue of people crossing the bridge. Sunday seems to be a very busy day. Streams of rafts floated down the river. We were quite surprised how many there were!

When we had finished our peaceful meditation on the steps of the ghat, it was our turn to venture across the bridge. It took quite a while. Part of the problem is the motorbikes. The other issue is the cows! When the cows take a stroll across the bridge they generally mix in with the pedestrians just fine. However today was different. There was a grumpy cow with big horns crossing. First he butted someone up the bottom with his horns. Following this he stole a whole bag of popcorn from a little boy. One chew and the popcorn was gone, bag and all. Bad cow!

Today we climbed to the top of the fancy orange ashram. It was filled with small alters and tiny shops selling all things Hindu. The views from the top were wonderful and worth the climb. At the top we could look down on everyone and everything!

Our friendly chai man seems to have taken Sunday off, so we had to make do with ice cold lassis from the fridge. Just opposite we watched another mischievous cow steal an apple from a fruit stall. The seller wasn't happy and saw him off! We thought it was hilarious ...

The funky bar next to our hotel has live Indian music concerts, so the evening was spent listening to the music. Nice!

Whilst in Rishikesh ...

This morning we dug deep in our bags for the baggy pants and loose fitting tops. Today is yoga day.

We headed to the yoga school and met the instructor. No one else turned up so we had a 'private' lesson. The views from the yoga studio were amazing as it overlooked the river. We took our positions on the yoga mats and were then put through our paces.

An hour later it was all over. We had stretched ourselves thoroughly, chanted a few Om's and realised we are totally inflexible! More practice required.

Breakfast next. This was far more enjoyable.

Afterwards we went for a leisurely walk along the river. There were beaches, Ashrams and lots of gift shops. We came to the 2nd suspension bridge and continued to look for the Beatles ashram. This was where the Beatles stayed in the 60's but is now not used and has been swallowed up by the forest.

On our journey back we crossed the river on the 2nd bridge. We watched as a man was hoisted on top of the bridge. Scary! It was quite a long walk and we were tired when we got back.

We rested a while and then went to eat. It is colder here at night.

Brrrrr.

Off to Rishikesh

Breakfast - book more train tickets - bus!

The bus station was opposite the train station and really close to where we were staying, so not far to walk. It was about an hour journey to Rishikesh and the road condition was fairly good. We saw the Haridwar cable car and ghats from the window but that was about it. We both fell asleep! The bus driver must have driven carefully and relatively slowly.

Next we caught an auto rickshaw from the bus stop to Rishikesh. We searched for our booked hotel and eventually found it. We dropped off our bags before going exploring! A few streets meandered down to the first spectacular suspension bridge. There were monkeys playing on the bridge, whitewater rafts enjoying the river below and beautiful scenery everywhere. It was an incredible view!

Lots of Ashrams, yoga retreats and meditation centres lined the streets, dotted with restaurants and multicoloured baggy trouser shops. There are lots of tourists here enjoying what Rishikesh has to offer and it appears to have a lot from adventure sport to relaxation classes.

There is some very nice music and singing coming from a restaurant very close to our room. How very lovely!

Train

Breakfast was a nice cup of chai with some interesting puff pastry fingers to dip in your tea. Well that was what everyone else was doing, so we did it too.

Today we have a 10 hour train journey from Agra up to Haridwar. The trains are so much more comfortable than the buses, which are terrifying!

We tried really hard to arrange a sleeper train that travelled through the night but it was impossible. They were all booked up way in advance. No tourist quota either so we have to travel Tatkal (last minute ticket release).

After stocking up on snacks for the journey we negotiated an auto rickshaw to take us to Agra Cantt station. It was a little further than the station we arrived at and too far to walk. Plus, we had walked a little way down the road that would take us to the station and the pollution was terrible.

It didn't take long to get there so we were really early. That meant we could try to book a few advance train tickets. However there were 3 French tourists in front of us. We are not sure exactly what the ticket officer was doing but we stood there for so long (about an hour) whilst he booked their one ticket, we ran out of time as our train was due. We had to leave, no tickets booked.

Train was on time and off we went! We had sleeper berths so we rested horizontally and slept. The journey went quickly, there were lots of chatting teenagers on the train and the man opposite, who couldn't speak any English, kindly shared his bag of spicey nuts. We stopped a few times and ran off the train to buy lunch. We drank lots of tea, watched children putting on acrobatic displays and enjoyed the rhythmic motion of the rails.

At Haridwar, our final destination, the station was packed with people. We had to find a hotel next. Some were full, some smelt rather musty but in the end we found one. Next we ate a delicious Bengali Thali, helped a man change his money into smaller denominations and even had a chai making lesson.

We liked Haridwar, it has a very friendly 'vibe'!