Source of the Ganges - Rishikesh

Cochin - Delhi - RISHIKESH - Varanasi - Nepal/Kathmandu

The source of the Ganges, the holy river of the Hindus, mountains as far as the eye can see, fresh air, a clear and clean river, tranquility, spiritual people practicing yoga and learning the teachings of Ayurveda.

Well, that's how we imagined it, after all the great promises about Rishikesh.

We couldn't miss the imposing foothills of the Himalayas and we were not disappointed by the clear, clean water of the Ganges, but India remains India.

'Chaos rules the system'.

We enjoyed the fresh air directly on the second day of our hike to the beautiful Neer Ghar waterfalls. The cool thing was that there are terraces on the mountain where the water collects. There you could sit on chairs and cool off or go for a swim. For some Indians, this is the highlight of bathing in the spring water on the mountain and therefore the acoustics are similar to a swimming pool in Germany. We hiked a little higher and enjoyed the view and, believe it or not, the tranquility.

On the third day, together with Mando (Dutch) and Akshay (Indian), from our hostel, we went on a river rafting tour. That was the first time for all four of us and we all agreed that it won't be the last time. It was so much fun. We were even allowed to bathe in the Ganges from time to time or swim through the rapids without a boat, but only through the small ones. The water was extremely cold, but with the life jackets, we had a relaxed buoyancy and didn't have to do anything, we were simply carried and driven by the water.

We can only recommend it to everyone, if you ever have the opportunity, you should take it. Emely apparently got a sunstroke during the river rafting, so she was not feeling well and we spent the fourth day in the hostel.

On the other two days, we visited a temple in the mountains and explored the area around our hostel. We just have to get used to the fact that in every city, no matter how big it is, there are masses of people and with them always the honking vehicles.

We especially felt that on the last day. Since the Easter weekend is also a holiday weekend in India, people from all over the country have come to the popular holiday region in the Himalayas. The result: absolute traffic chaos! Drivers trying to pass each other in three lanes on narrow mountain roads. We still don't understand how that works.

But what there really was a lot of: yoga courses, yoga classes, yoga here, yoga there, yoga everywhere and with them many people from different countries who want to learn it for a lot of money within a month. And it was almost the same with Ayurveda.

In itself a very beautiful place, but not as quiet as promised.