PASSING BY RISHIKESH

I found a room in Bombay Guesthouse, one of the famous guesthouses around Laxman Jhula. It used to be some kind of Ashram. The rooms are around an open place and on the second floor you can sleep outside for little money. The manager is a piece of work. He really must be doing his best to be nice, but he sure presses a lot of buttons. It is a beautiful place with a lot of atmosphere and a good place to make new friends.

I went every day to a small beach at the shore of the Ganges between Laxman Jhula and Ram Jhula. The water is icy cold and everywhere you see warning signs written on rocks that it is forbidden to swim. Many Indians who do not know how to swim drown there every year. The police took me out of the water ones and one officer asked me not to go to far from the shore. If you can swim and the water is calm like in March-April, there is no problem. But the water can rise another 5 meter and be pretty wild. I can imagine there are times it is wise to stay out.

Everyday a group of westerners came to practise Acro Yoga, Acrobatics combined with Yoga. I joined them after having a look at what they were doing. It really makes you happy. I met a woman from Spain, Carmen, and we met there everyday to play around. Evelyn was teaching everyone for free. I was pleasantly surprised by the warmth and openness of everybody, something you forget living in the west for too long.

Food is cheap but not always unto standard. Thali Ashram in Ram Jhula is a great place; for Rs70 you get a great thali and another Rs 30 a Lassie. It’s a bit of a walk from Ram Jhula but if you have a Royal Enfield this is no problem.

Rishikesh is the place to be. I could not leave this place. Meditating alongside the Ganges, meeting beautiful people, Carmen, Rufus, Yiorgos, Sebastian Eckes, Christian Holz, they all became my friends in a couple of weeks. If you want to be with peace loving intelligent people this is the place to go.