UNPLANNED MONSOON WEEKEND TRIP TO RISHIKESH

Heading out of home to find out the unknown is mostly exciting to me. In search of such an exciting exploration, recently I visited Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world. Another reason to choose Rishikesh was that it is located in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, and serves as a Gateway to the Garwal Himalayas.

It was an impromptu trip as I was constantly tied up with work but at the same time craving to have a glance of the mountains and since it was monsoon the hills were not a safe option to visit then. So, I choose to visit Rishikesh.

View of Ganga

Serene surroundings near the river Ganga

Know Rishikesh

It is located 21 km north of the holy city Haridwar and 45 km southeast of the state capital Dehradun. Interestingly, wherever I roamed in Rishikesh I found it too crowded especially in normal visiting hours. And got to know the fact that it is known to be the seventh most populated city in the state of Uttarakhand.

Ganga Beach

The town has an important sentiment for Hindus as a holy pilgrimage. The moment you enter Rishikesh you can easily spot Hindu saints dressed in saffron clothes. It is known that in ancient times various sages and saints have been to the town to attain higher knowledge and inner peace through meditation.

Saint sitting at the Ganga ghaat

Another interesting fact is that it will be very hard to find non-veg or liquor in the city. Because, Rishikesh and Haridwar are known to be first in India to have the title of twin national heritage cities. And since it of religious significance the town has restricted non-vegetarian food and alcohol.

Journey begins - Delhi to Rishikesh

Delhi to Rishikesh by road

I took off to Rishikesh from Delhi over a weekend in late September. This was my first ever visit to the town. I always found it fascinating because of the turquoise water of the Ganges especially the pictures I saw during lockdown in India.
Murals across the city, beautiful Ganga ghats, majestic suspension bridges and the beautiful vibe of the mountains surrounding the city. It was a short trip over the weekend and I started for Rishikesh, Friday late night from Delhi.
Rishikesh is 262 kms and it takes 5-6 hours on an average from Delhi. My plan was to reach there early morning and witness the sleeping beauty of the city before sunrise followed by the Ganga arti which is one of the main attractions of the city.
But there were so many surprises hidden for me during the way which I will share in the following part of the story.

Ganga beach

Night spent in the middle of nowhere
My bus was on time from Delhi, I boarded around 10:30 pm and it was a brand-new sleeper bus. And yes, before I proceed further, I must tell you that this was my first trip using public transport since the pandemic broke and I was traveling with extra caution.
It was a sleeper bus and I had the upper berth. Finally, the bus started to move and I was getting butterflies in my stomach because I was traveling after almost 10 months. And it was quite a long break from traveling for me. I was full of excitement, gazing out of window at night, as I hardly fall asleep while traveling. The bus was literally cruising on the road when it suddenly applied breaks and I rolled towards the iles side.

My ride to Rishikesh

The trouble here was that my Decathlon pants and the leather like textured seat of the berth were gliding on each other perfectly. Somehow, I mastered to remain in my place even when the bus was taking turns or retarding. And the journey continued and I slept for a while.

It was around 1 am, I woke up and found the bus to have stopped on a restaurant. The driver announced that the bus will take a stop-over of 30 minutes and will resume around 1:30 am. It stopped near Muzaffarnagar on the Delhi- Muzaffarnagar highway. And I was a bit sleepy so I decided to stay in the bus and relax without worrying about falling from the berth. When I woke up again it was 1:45 am and many travelers of the bus were back to their seats. However, the driver and his partner were still not back, I could see them sitting in the restaurant from my berth. Soon it was 2:30 am and they did not come back, and now there was some hustle bustle in the bus, everyone wondered why has the driver not resumed the journey.
Everyone went to the driver and tried to understand the reason of delay. To which we got to know that since it was a brand-new bus on the road, the driver did not have clearance from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to enter Uttarakhand.
The bus was booked through Redbus application. I did some research and got to know that the same issue has come up with many buses service providers post covid outbreak. So, if you are booking a ride from a private bus service, please ensure that it has necessary clearances and would not traumatize you by abandoning on the highway in the middle of the night. Moreover, the bus driver was least bothered about how we would reach our destination.
When travelers pressurized him, the driver moved himself to arrange some alternate transport. Also, the worst part is that the driver knew that he does not have the required clearances, still he accepted the trip. Around 3:30 am the driver took the bus keys and his partner along with him to arrange for another vehicle. And we all were also trying to figure out some means of transportation to Rishikesh.
There was some space around the restaurant so we started to roam around and ate a bit. I almost spent the whole night in and outside that restaurant. Guess what!!! I found Gujarat restaurant on the boarder of Uttarakhand, that was the name of the restaurant. I almost tried whatever there was on the menu. Most of the things were not good (:p) However, I am grateful that the bus stopped at a place where there was at least something. Luckily, one of the passengers in the bus could arrange for an alternate mini bus to Rishikesh and liaison for the travel expense.
With passing time, the sunrise was near, I could see the landscape changing. It was a beautiful sunrise, the orange tint in the sky and sun rising through the sugarcane field. Morning prayers reached my ears as there was a mosque nearby and the sight of moon setting above it. Birds enjoying the breeze and testing their wings after a long night. I must say that place looked so different during the morning hours.
And with the breaking dawn our bus arrived, everyone was so relieved and happy with the thought to finally start the journey again. And I thought if everything would have been as per the schedule, I would not have been through this unplanned experience. Though I definitely missed the Ganga arti. I am grateful to this experience and the lot of learnings from it.

Ganga ghat near Ram juhula

Ganga ghaat

Finally, Rishikesh

Neem beach

I finally reached Rishikesh around 8 am that morning. The hostel caretaker was kind enough to provide me an early check in. I was all full of dust after enjoying an auto ride to the hostel and then walked for another 700 meters to reach the hostel. And that moment I though how much I had to walk, and I had no idea that it was just a start there was lot more to it (which I will tell you in the later part of the story).
The moment I reached hostel I took a nice luke warm shower and got rid of the fatigue to quite an extent. There was a small window in my room through which bright morning sun was peeping in. I sat in a small bamboo chair near the window to get some sun and gazed at the mountains, sound of a small water crossing nearby the property. I just love the morning intensity of the sun, especially in the mountains. It was so soothing, it felt as if it is getting absorbed in my every body cell and in no time, I passed out in the chair itself.
Around 10:30 am, I woke up, got ready and left hostel to explore the city. First hunted for some food joint to have breakfast. To my notice there were many small shops (like modern dhabas) on the Badrinath road. To my surprise I didn’t get egg in any shop. And as I mentioned in the initial part of the story, non-veg food and alcohol are prohibited in the city. I didn’t know it when I asked for it and later realized why people made those weird faces when I asked for egg. I would not have asked it, if I would know earlier.
After breakfast I headed to a nearby place (approx. 1.8 km) from the place where I ate. I was to walk to the beach as the place was totally raw, through a green patch and there was no road. It was almost mid-day and the sun was getting harsh. I was excited to visit it as it was not a famous place among tourists. I was so happy to find the beach all to myself (laughs) there was just no one. The level of water in Ganga was high. So, there were no boats or rafts in water.
I sat on the beach for a while to relax, wind was soothing near water. I looked around and realized that people have performed some rituals on the beach. So, I made sure not to step on anything even by mistake.
The waves were crashing at the shore. I walked at the beach for a while and slowly it stated to become humid. In a while I ran out of water and the heat outside got just unbearable. I decided to head back to hostel, it was just not possible to be in the sun for long. The weather was just so hot and humid. I trekked back to my hostel and decided to head out in the evening.

Rishikesh through my eyes
In evening, I head out to Lakshman Jhula, it is an iconic place to visit especially during evening hours. It is a famous tourist spot, so it has to be crowded. Before now, I had only seen the bridge on social media.

Near Parmarth Ashram

I was approaching the bridge and the first glimpse of it was absolutely astonishing. The bridge is known to connect the two villages of Tapovan in Tehri Garhwal district, on the west bank of the river, to Jonk in Pauri Garhwal district, on the east bank. It is known to be 450 feet in length and studded with lights which made it look astonishing. I loved the reflection of the light on the river which gave a different glow to the water.

By the Ganga Ghat near Ram Jhula

I started to walk on the bridge and it was shaking a bit, Ganges was flowing on full swing under the bridge and I loved the breeze on my face. I took a few pictures and left the bridge as it is not advised to crowd it. To me the bridge looked more mesmerizing from a distance. The light of the bridge was falling on the water, the view of the bridge from near-by Ganga ghat was spectacular. I spent hours there just sitting, gazing at the river and the bridge. Evening hours were so much better and peaceful, it is one of my favorite times in Rishikesh.

Next morning, I planned to trek to a nearby waterfall which was 2.8 km from my hostel. I decided to start early morning to avoid afternoon sun.

On the way to waterfall

However, due to some covid screening protocol it took me close to 2 hours to cross the police check post. I started to walk towards the waterfall trek, almost walked for 1.5 km and the sun was no easy on me. It became so difficult to walk in the afternoon sun that I started to feel weak. I was sweating profusely. I almost ran out of water and was finding it hard to move forward. I took shelter under a tree and later decided to come back. I managed to take some spectacular shots while descending.

View of river Ganga from the trail

After resting at the hostel for a while, I left for Beatles Ashram and Ram Jhula. Clearly by now, I understood that it is not that easy to walk around in this weather. Evening at Ganga ghat along with arti was the best I could expect from my second day in the city.

At laxman jhula

The vibe of the place was serene and quite positive. Sun had gone down and I could see lamps at all Ganga ghats which filled me with lot of positivity.

Beatles Ashram

Beatles Ashram

Right after I enjoyed the arti vibe at Ganga ghat, I was thinking that if the weather would have been better the trip would have been more fun. And I headed to a nearby café to have my last cup of coffee in Rishikesh while enjoying the gorgeous views of sun set at Ganges. And in sometime it started to drizzle that evening which in no time turned into heavy rain. And people, I was so worried because I had a bus to catch at 10:30 pm from Rishikesh ISBT to Delhi. It kept on pouring heavily for more than 2 hours and around 8:30 pm, I was in the interior streets around Ram jhula from where I would not get anything to reach bus stand. I had to walk in rain and I was bit under the weather because of my exposure to high heat and humidity during my travel.
I looked around for a shop from where I could get a raincoat or umbrella, I was seriously so unplanned during this trip, I didn’t keep it with me. Even though I knew that I am going there in monsoon season. Somehow, I got lucky by grace of God who sent some very good people on my way who were of great help, I got the umbrella.
It was almost going to be 9 pm and it was still pouring. I decided to walk towards the bus stop otherwise the worst could be missing my bus in that weather. And something to my surprise happened as I started to walk, the rain lowered down a bit and it got slightly breeze. I feel very uncomfortable during thunder and a big relief was that thundering stopped when I was walking, there was a bit of lightning but I was able to handle it. The roads were least crowded compared to what I saw in last few days in Rishikesh. I was loving it to walk in rain in such a beautiful place. I just loved it, and I found myself to be the happiest in spite of all the mess I had gone through.

I approached a beautiful suspension bridge known as Janaki Setu which is to cross the Ganges. I started to walk on the bridge, it was drizzling and breezy. The bridge was almost empty and I felt so very good to walk there. Ganges was looking so beautiful. It was one of my favourite moments from the trip. With my shoes almost drenched in water I was kicking and jumping and heading towards my destination.

I finally got an auto after walking for almost 1.8km which dropped me to the bus stop. The bus was delayed by 30 mins, it was raining. I took shelter in a small tea stall, had a very spicy maggie before hopping on in the bus while enjoying thundering and lightning (laughs). And this is how my journey to Rishikesh ended. And yes, with a lot of learning, memories and experiences there was one more thing I got back with. My dirty white shoes with tea stains, and I have no idea how it happened.

Thank you for reading, hope you feel like you travelled with me.

Stay tuned for the next trip :)