Haridwar Rishikesh !!.. "A Blend of Spirituality and Fun"

The SACRED GANGA River, Swimming, Trekking, River Rafting, Honest & Humble People and so on so forth. Over and above there is great market in Haridwar for shopping addicts. Yes there is something more to it, which is delicious vegetarian food for foodies. I have more to add to it that Government has done a lot to attract more and more people here. The list is not over yet, it is also a hub of Temples.....

Lord Shiva Image Welcomes you to Spiritual City Haridwar. My friend and me entered Haridwar early morning, so we could enjoy the invaluable view of sunrise.

Haridwar is full of saints and priests, places like Hari ki Paudi and temples are flooded with saints from various places of country. We come accross a teenager dressed up in Lord Shiva's get up and I could not resist myself from clicking some pictures with him.

The next destination for us was Mansa Devi Temple, we learned that it is just five minutes walk from Har Ki Paudi. Believe me it was not five minutes, it was actually half an hour trek on steep stairs. Jeetu was completely tired whereas I did not panic much. Experience here was horrible. Priests are completely commercialised, they ask donations from everyone which I did not like. I believe that donation is something which is individual descrition and faith in Godess. But exactly opposite. Mansa Devi Temple is situated on the top of hill so entire Haridwar City can be seen from here.

On the way to Mansa Devi Temple we came to know that Mansa Devi Temple is also connected with Cable Car. It did not excit me because I knew that It is going to be very costly deal. We enquired from Local people about the charges and I was shocked, it was only Rs 47/- per passenger. Jeetu wanted to experience it so we dediced to go for it. While buying tickets I came to know that Cable Car is also connected to Chandi Devi Temple, so I bought two tickets for Chandi Devi Temple, we paid Rs 117/- each, since the distance was almost double of Mansa Devi Temple, the fare was higher here. But this was a surprise to me because I paid Rs 400/- per person at Timber Trail in Himachal Pradesh near Chandigarh.

The experience at Chandi Devi Temple was not different from Mansa Devi Temple, highly money driven activties.

It was now 12:00 PM in the noon, we needed rest now, so we decided to find out decent hotel. It was not so difficult at Haridwar to hunt for a Hotel. Easily we could get very cheaper Room of Rs 300/- and we went for a two hour sleep. Later on we ordered lunch and what we got was unfogettable. Normal but delicious food. Even his Tandoori Roti had unique taste.

Post lunch we headed towards Haridwar Market and finally landed at again Har Ki Paudi at 5:00 PM.

This is a spiritual place, people from different corners of world come here. Hindu's have tremendous faith in this place and Sacred Ganga River. We felt so relaxed here, almost we spent three to four hours here.

Everyday Sacred Ganga is worshiped here in the morning and evening both. It is big attration for people. People started gathering much before the worship.

A view of Sacred Ganga River Worship in the evening. Thousands of people gather everyday.

After wokship of Ganga, we jumped into market. People here are really very humble and honest. You need to bargain but prices are not exceptionally higher.

Next Day we headed towards Rishikesh. Rishikesh is 30-40 KM away from Haridwar and is connected by Road. We took local bus and reached Rishikesh in 45 minutes. Totally opposite to Haridwar, this place did not seemed too crowded at all. We got down at Local Bus Stand, Auto Rickshaw took us to Ram Jhoola, the main attraction for tourists in Rishikesh. This is the place where we could see Ganga River first time. In Haridwar the flow was diverted from Har Ki Paudi for cleaning purpose, which would be open by Diwali.

It is really difficult for me to explain in words the happiness which I got when I reached the place Ram Jhoola. Calm Ganga River is beautiful.

There is another good example of facilities available here. Boat charges only Rs 10/- per person to cross the

river.

River Rafting is the main attraction. It costs Rs 500/- to 800/- per person. We could not do River Rafting due to shortage of time, moreover you need to have a group of around 6 people then only you would be able to enjoy it completely.

And then we went for Swimming. Its really different experience and not easy to swim here. But I did enjoy it thoroughly.

The water was too cold even during daytime.
The River is too deep here, lot of risk is involved, but there is nothing called "Risk Fee" in this world.






After refreshing for hours in river we were very hungry. While going towards food spot, we met one foreigner, very simple and beautiful girl. I asked to click some pictures and she agreed, not a surprise.

A famous Restaurant called "Chotiwala Restaurant" at Ram Jhoola is known for its delicious preparations.

The A man dressed up as "Chotiwala" to Welcome people.
Completely money minded people here, he whispered while I was standing with him "Dakshina Dete Jaana".






Last place of our journey was Lakshman Jhoola, 10 KM away from Ram Jhoola. We took Auto Rickshaw (People call it "Vikram", dont know why). It is almost same as Ram Jhoola place. The only difference here is that all River Rafting, Trekking and Camping Agents are located here. For my information only, I convinced one agent for Rs 400/- per person.

I forgot to mention that at Lakshman Jhoola, you can take a ride of speed boats as well.







If I were to stay at Rishikesh for couple of days more, I would have turnded complete Rishi with long kesh, example is bearing Rudhraksh just by staying there for a day.

We headed towards Rishikesh Bus Stand to take Bus to Delhi. Every half an hour one bus goes to Delhi.

Overall this was excellent trip which I ever had with my friends. I would love to go there again especially for River Rafting and Swimming. Anyone who is interested is most welcome.