Karin: Today was my first full day of work and so I ripped through the room, imposing my systems on poor Daniel who is probably cursing the fact that I have slipped into efficiency mode whilst on holiday. Still, it was necessary and I now have enough structure to enable me to accomplish what I have to get done over the next few weeks.

Dan: I got the feeling that it was best for me to leave Karin alone to do her organizing, so I headed out exploring with Martin and Claire.
There was an old abandoned ashram (i.e. a temple) down the road towards Ram Jhula, and Martin was convinced that this was where the Beatles had stayed when they visited Rishikesh in the 1960s.
I'm not so sure it is - it might be, but I think the Beatles stayed at the Transcendental Meditation ashram of Maherishi Mahesh Yogi (given that I'm a TM student myself, I know his name!) which is further down in Ram Jhula. As an aside, in case you care, the town of Ram Jhula is also known as Swarg Ashram after the famous ashram there. Swarg means "heaven", and the ashram is where pilgrims who were visiting the four Char Dhams in the Himalayas woudl come and sign in. That way, if they were lost or killed, their relatives (and authorities) would know that they passed by.
Given that there were no paths or roads to the Char Dhams in those days, the journey to visit them could take 2 years or so.
2 years!! On foot! With no possessions!!! These are very dedicated people we're talking about here!

After this, we wandered into Ram Jhula, and walked across the bridge there into the market on the other side. We stopped at an Ayeurvedic Pharmacy to see what they had for malaria (just in case) - I was a bit disappointed when he gave me some insect repellant with DEET in it, which is what we bought in Britain - I was expecting some kind of Himalayan recipe, but he said that DEET was the best stuff - I'm not going to argue with that!
We also tried some little cakes from a street merchant - they looked like pancakes in syrup, and I (having a whole mouthful of "sweet teeth" (although Yes, they're all full of fillings!)) was desperate to try some. They ended up being potato cakes, served with gravy and some lentils in a leaf. It was very very yummy, but we were a bit concerned about food poisoning, so didn't finish it all.
And it only cost Rs 10 - about 12p back in the UK!

I figured it would help to give you an idea of some of uniquely Indian things we've discovered in Laxman Jhula so far...

Cows
One of the first things I remembered hearing about India is that the cow is a sacred animal. But I'd forgotten all about that until I got here.
Cows are everywhere. They're allowed to wander wherever they like – including into shops. Because they're holy animals, they're not eaten – only their milk is used.

Cow in Laxman Jhula

In Laxman Jhula, there are at least 47 cows that I've counted (I think – they're hard to count!) and this is a small village!
We're told that all the cows are owned by various villagers, but that there's not enough food for them, so they're let loose to forage.
It's always funny when you hear a jeep tearing along a road in the village, honking madly at a cow to move, and the cow just sits down in the middle of the road!
Then the driver has to get out and persuade the cow to move…
It's also quite funny when you meet a cow on the bridge, blocking it...


Cow on the bridge

Monkeys
I never realized that there are monkeys in India (actually, there are leopards, tigers, and elephants too). There are two sorts in our area – little brown-faced ones, and much larger blank-faced ones.
At first they seem very cute.


A, ahem, "cute" monkey...

But they hang around at one end of the bridge, watching for people carrying nuts or fruit, and then they come running towards you – which, if you're carrying a big bag of bananas like I was, is quite frightening! Especially when it's a big male monkey and he's hissing at you.
My (brave!) answer is to… run! Run like the wind, pushing men, women, and small children between me and the monkey so I can get to the other side of the bridge.. it has seemed to work so far, although it's not the best way to make friends with the people on the bridge…!

Daniel on the bridge, being eyed up by a monkey

Horns
I'd never heard so many car, truck, and motorcycle horns until coming to India. They're blaring all the time. We found out recently that the law in India is that if you hit a person or another moving vehicle, and you weren't blowing your horn at the time of impact, then you're responsible for any damage.
So, like any sensible peoples, the Indian response is to… sound the horn all the time! Or at least, it sounds like "all the time". In fact, the horn is so important, that every truck, taxi, and rickshaw has to have a "horn please" sign on the back, and every corner on the winding narrow roads in the hills has some sort of "sound your horn" sign.

Pollution
It's been very hard to get used to the amount of vehicle pollution – it's quite hard on the lungs. But besides this, everything in the villages is just filthy, at least by the pristine, "cleanliness is next to godliness" standards of the West. The roads are covered in litter, dog shit and cow pats (mostly still fresh!), Indian men will repeatedly spit onto the ground in front of them, and there are plastic bottles everywhere.
In fact, plastic waste is a major issue in India, as they don't have the infrastructure to recycle it, and yet the growing numbers of western tourists demand bottled water, so it is for sale everywhere.
In most villages we've been through, the verges of the roads are built from mounds of dirt, cow pats, and flattened plastic bottles. It's quite a worrisome sight.

Friendliness
We can't get over how everyone is so friendly. Admittedly, a lot of people just want to sell you something, but you get the feeling that everyone is sincere, and would help you out if you needed it. There's a special sort of energy that is created when a community is like this, that we just don' get back home.

Initial impressions
I have to admit, Laxman Jhula is not what I'd imagined.
In my imagination, we would be staying in a village with a total population of about 30 people – and it would be peaceful, serene, and tranquil.
Laxman Jhula is anything but – and yet, it is a lot quieter than Rishikesh and Ram Jhula.
During the day there is the constant sound of horns and people shouting, selling their wares, and in the morning and evening the monks at all the temples start chanting and ringing bells – which would be pleasant if there was only one, but when ten are doing it, it creates a mish-mash of sounds that is pretty grating on the ears!
Don't get me wrong – in no way am I complaining. I'm just saying that back in England, when I read that the area around Rishikesh was very spiritual and was good for yoga and meditation, I had a Western view of what that mean – in England (or NZ, USA for that matter), when you think of going somewhere to do some meditation, or yoga, or just some contemplation, you imagine something that is the antithesis of where you currently are – and most likely, where you currently are is busy and noisy.
So I have to come to grips with the fact that a spiritual place, India style, is not what I'd pictured.
At least from what I've seen so far.