Spiritual Rishikesh

Set on the banks of the River Ganges, Rishikesh is one of India’s holy cities. Alcohol and non-vegetarian food are banned and as the ‘yoga capital of the world’ many people travel there for yoga, meditation and spiritual retreats. Rishikesh is also famous for its array of outdoor activities such as white water rafting, trekking and camping.

While in Rishikesh our Intrepid group spent one night in a hotel and we did partake in an outdoor activity as the second night we camped in the nearby mountains.

We had arrived in Rishikesh straight from an overnight sleeper train from Amritsar (details at the end of this post) and after breakfast at the hotel, Maddy our guide led us on a walking orientation tour of the city.

Rishikesh was warm and sunny and after a few cold days (before Amritsar) we all appreciated it.

And of course a tip was demanded as we walked past…

We walked through the market streets and down to the River Ganges where we sat on some steps for a while as Maddy explained more about Hinduism and Rishikesh.

Above is the Lakshman Temple, a Hindu temple which is dedicated to Lakshman who is the brother of Lord Ram. Lord Ram is a beloved Hindu figure who was known for his courage, loyalty and devotion and is considered a role model for the perfect human being.

Rishikesh seemed to have many more cows roaming the streets than of the other places I had recently visited in India on this trip. During the evening a small cow idly meandered down one of the narrow street markets as if out for a browse!

A few monkey’s were also dotted around in Rishikesh.

Close to our hotel was the 60’s Cafe which I would recommend maybe for lunch and where you are likely to hear some classic tunes from the 60’s and 70’s.

The 60’s Cafe was full of colourful murals and had a pleasant outdoor seating space as well as a cooler indoor area.

As mentioned, nowhere in Rishikesh serves any alcohol and the food is only vegetarian.

We had lunch twice in the 60’s cafe and the second time I had a superb vegan curry (above) which was tofu and vegetables simmered in coconut rice and spiced with masala. Great music and great food 👌

After lunch Maddy organised a large tuk tuk i.e. large enough for the 9 of us which took us to Janki Bridge, a 274 m pedestrian bridge spanning the River Ganges.

We walked across the bridge to the eastern side of the river with Maddy leading the way to the Beatles Ashram.

An ashram is centre for spiritual practice and teachings and Rishikesh has many of them. Generally you can stay in them, live simply and attend classes to enhance and develop your spiritual awareness. We walked past this modern and colourful ashram on the way to the Beatles Ashram.

Beatles Ashram

The ruins of the ‘Beatles Ashram’ can be found on the edge of Rishikesh. We were puzzled when Maddy led us to the entrance of the Rajaji Tiger Reserve until we realised the former ashram is located inside this 1075 square km nature area. Sadly we didn’t see any tigers.

The official name is ‘Chaurasi Kutiya’ and a kutiya is the name for ‘hut’. There are 84 of these beehive shaped stone huts on the former complex. 84 is significant as this is the number of species believed at the time to exist on Earth, i.e. 84,000,000.

First established in 1963 the ashram was abandoned in the late 1990’s and went to ruin being re-claimed by the jungle. This was until 2016 when it was opened as a tourist site.

We walked around and Maddy explained it is called the Beatles Ashram as the Fab Four stayed at the ashram for a meditation retreat in 1968. They were invited by Hindu spiritual guru Maharishi who invited them to learn meditation with the promise of enlightenment and happiness without the use of drugs. They were supposed to stay there for 3 months but all left early as relations with the guru began to sour.

Colourful murals and graffiti can be found within the grounds. The above mural is on a wall in a building which was used as a lecture hall.

A range of tropical plants can be found in the gardens of the ashram.

You can walk inside the former accommodation blocks and even up the steps and onto the roof if you wish to. I found these to be spine-chillingly eerie…

Perched on the top of the high banks overlooking the River Ganges, the ashram offered some good views.

From the ashram we walked through the busy streets of this part of Rishikesh, past an open air community kitchen offering food.

A series of ghats can be found alongside the Ganges. As mentioned in the Mandi post, these are a set of steps which lead down to the river and are used for bathing and also for Hindu cremations.

We all stopped for a break in the delightful and modern Honey Hut cafe where all things honey are served! As well as delicious drinks the wifi was fast so while the rest of the group left to go shopping I stayed in there for a second drink while uploading photos and working on these blog post drafts. Having had a coconut cappuccino I then enjoyed a honey mango lassi 😋

Rishikesh is considered the birthplace of yoga and while we were there an international yoga festival was taking place.

We walked to the platform which juts out over the Ganges to sit cross legged beneath the large statue of Lord Shiva and watch the ceremony. (Well… I didn’t sit for long and soon got up to wander around…)

From the yoga platform I could see cremations taking place in the distance on the other side of the river. Hindu cremations take place on the banks of the River Ganges and happen within 24 hours of the death of the person. It is believed that while the remains of the body are cremated their soul ascends to heaven.

Lord Shiva is one of the most important of Hindu gods and is a member of the holy trinity together with Brahma and Vishnu. Shiva is considered to be a complex god representing kindness and compassion, serving as the protector. In Hinduism, Shiva is said to destroy the universe at the end of every 2,160,000,000 years to allow for re-creation.

We watched the ceremony for about 40 minutes listening to the prayers, the readings and the chanting. People come from 75 different countries around the world to participate and it is popular with yoga teachers and those who wishing to learn from spiritual leaders.

At the end of the ceremony many people were lighting little dishes of flowers and putting them into the Ganges as gifts or offerings.

Just along from the yoga festival we had dinner that night in an over-rated overly touristy restaurant called ‘Chotiwala’ which had a living mascot outside. This mascot was frankly weird and creepy and I’m reluctant to give this picture blog space as I don’t like it, but decided to add it, as always, trying to give an honest view of my travels. While edible, the chickpea curry I had in there was probably the worst of the trip and I wouldn’t recommend this restaurant.

Vegan coffee shop

However a little shout out to this lovely coffee shop which was close to our hotel. I popped in there by myself a couple of times, they served vegan and gluten free goodies and also delicious coffee. This low key humble place was much more ‘my thing’.

Camping

Our final night in Rishikesh was spent camping in the remote nearby mountains about a 45 minute drive away. We left the bulk of our luggage in the hotel and set off by mini bus with just some overnight things.

Before reaching the camping area our driver stopped off in a dusty little hamlet with faded and dusty little shops to enable us to purchase some camping essentials… we walked into one such non-descript premise and were amazed to find inside a large range of spirits, beers and wines all clean and new and neatly displayed!

Reaching the campsite entailed a 20 minute trek through pristine mountains and trees without rubbish and trash lining it and with peace and quiet. Lovely.

We were delighted to arrive at the gorgeous campsite and were even more pleased to find it would be more ‘glamping’ than ‘camping’!

We were given a welcome drink in the dining tent before choosing our tents and making ourselves at home. We were the only group staying so had plenty of space.

My tent had 3 x single beds complete with blankets, an electric light bulb and power to charge my devices if needed. At the end of the campsite the western style toilets were amazingly clean and toilet paper was available… in fact they were superior to the average UK campsite toilets. And sinks with hand wash were also present.

Before long, lunch was ready and we were able to serve ourselves from a line of large pots containing amazing curries.

As we sat outside eating lunch a shepherd walked along the adjacent dried up stream together with his goats! During the monsoon season, this little stream turns into a raging torrent and camping is not possible at that time. Those booking this trip in the summer miss out on camping and spend two nights in the hotel in Rishikesh.

After lunch we spent the afternoon relaxing around the campsite in the sun, reading books and casually chatting with each other. Richard then had the bright idea of cracking open the beers!

We had more fabulous food at night which began with a mug of soup around the campfire and then a range of even more delicious curries.

What a wonderful way to end our visit to Rishikesh! After nearly 2 weeks of noise and bustle we all appreciated the peace and quiet of the campsite where we could soak in the nature listening to the singing of the birds.

None of us wanted to leave this delightful and tranquil little hideaway but we had to continue our journey and the drive back to Rishikesh ready for our late afternoon train back to Delhi.

As we drove back from our camping experience much of the road was adjacent to the river which looked an incredible shade of turquoise and where we could see people white water rafting.

Getting to Rishikesh

We travelled overnight from Amritsar to Rishikesh by sleeper train which was quite an experience.

The train was old and consisted of compartments with a set of 3 bunk beds on each side, so 6 berths in total. In the above picture, the middle bunk is down allowing for seating.

When everyone is ready, the middle bunk hooks up to form the 3 high set of bunk beds.

Everyone received a set of clean sheets provided in paper bags. Pillows and blankets were also provided. I had brought my cotton sleeping bag liner for the trip and used this between the sheets and as an extra layer on top of the somewhat dubious pillow.

The train ride took 10 hours, departing Amritsar at 21:40 and arriving in a place called Haridwar at 07:40 the following morning. When I first boarded the train and found my seat, I felt quite uncomfortable. Thankfully I was with Rebecca and Krystal from my group and also Maddy our guide. The other 5 of the group were in the same carriage but had a separate compartment.

One of the reasons for travelling lightly with a small case was so it would fit easily under the bottom bunk. We put our luggage together and attached it all using my wire security cable and padlock.

Sitting opposite was a group of 4 locals, one watching cricket on his phone but without headphones (always very annoying to have to listen to other peoples phones) and then a crying baby boarded… I thought I was in for the train ride from hell.

Thankfully the crying baby soon settled and the cricket watcher turned his phone off. I unpacked my sheets, got my bed ready and settled down on my bottom bunk trying to zone out. I tucked my small ‘pac safe’ bag with my valuables down inside my sleeping bag liner with me.

The bed was reasonably comfortable and I managed to get perhaps 3 – 4 hours of light sleep while at the time thinking “I never want to do this again”. But looking back it wasn’t actually too bad and Rebecca and I had a laugh about it when we were both awake at 02:30 in the middle of the night.

Once the train arrived at Haridwar, a mini bus was waiting to take us for an hour’s journey to our hotel at Rishikesh where we had breakfast.

Departing Rishikesh

Following our two nights in Rishikesh it was back to Haridwar station. This time the mini bus journey was slow with heavy traffic but thankfully we made it on time for our 6 pm departure back to Delhi.

The pre-booked and pre-allocated seats were fairly comfortable and this time I had a spare seat next to me. We were soon served a tray containing a sandwich and hot crispy thing and some packets of snacks.

Then a couple of hours later we received a full tray of hot vegetarian curries. I hadn’t eaten too many of the snacks from the previous tray, or the sandwich, so I enjoyed this food which was actually quite tasty.

The train arrived in Delhi at 11 pm and from there, two taxis took us to our hotel. We all said our goodbyes, well most of us, as the trip was ending and people were going their separate ways early the following morning.

Rebecca, Ethan and I were the only 3 left by the Saturday evening so we met up at 7 pm (after my ‘Hidden Gems of New Delhi tour) and had one last meal together back in Hooter, near the Delhi hotel.

Summary

This is the final post of my memorable, colourful, chaotic and diverse trip to India. I had a fabulous time with a complete mixed bag of contrasts, twists and turns and surprises every day. I was fortunate to have had an amazing group of people to travel with, all were easy going, had good senses of humour and all were up for adventure too. Everyone except me had previously visited India, some many times so I came away with a whole new set of future India travel ideas to add to my ever growing list!

My understanding and appreciation of religions and beliefs such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism has expanded too. Have I become more mystical or spiritual as a result? Er… no. Although I do believe in the merits of forms of meditation for calming the mind for emotional wellbeing and I really think I should start doing some yoga exercises to keep myself supple as I get older…

The main highlights of the trip was the Golden Temple at Amritsar and the total contrast with the camping at the end. Although the trip is called ‘Mountains & Mystics of India’ there was little opportunity to set foot in the mountains or countryside which is probably why I enjoyed so much the camping at the end. I think my next India visit may be a hiking trip in the south? And of course the food was (mostly) amazing throughout the trip too 🙂

The main lowlight of my experience of India as a whole was the rubbish strewn everywhere. I can’t get my head around the amount of trash in the streets and in beautiful places of stunning natural scenery.