Dan: Need Sleep. Now!
We discovered we were given the party floor.
There is a bunch of about 14 Israelis staying at the hotel, all about 19 years old, who are here to party.
And party they did!
We must have had about 3 hours sleep between us.
Needless to say, we’re feeling a bit scratchy.
We got up at 10:00am, and went downstairs to speak to the (very friendly) manager and see if we could get a quieter room. When we mentioned we were thinking of staying a month, he took us up the stairs to the top of the hotel, and the most amazing roof terrace, which had panoramic views over the village, the river, and the hills. And there were rooms up here – big rooms, but only two of them – and one of them had become free!
The manager told us that the Israelis come every year to party, and they always want these top rooms as they’re perfect for partying – however he said that that’s not what he wants his hotel to be about, so he only ever gives the young ones the rooms on the bottom floor (where we were).
He asked if we wanted the room and without hesitation, we said yes. So we went and moved our stuff.
Karin outside our room
Two views inside our room - I wonder if Daniel actually exists, all these photos are of Karin!!
When we’d moved in, we came back out on the balcony, and saw that there was another couple there – who happened to be from Brighton (in the south of the UK – one of the places we were considering moving to when we got back) – their names were Martin and Claire, and they were our neighbours.
Both of them were just emerging from four days of the dreaded Delhi Belly, and were eating their first food in that time – honey and toast!
Martin and Claire were absolutely lovely, and both Karin and I perked up after our not-so-good first night, thinking that 30 days in this room with good company would be ideal!
Karin: The first night at hotel Divya was a complete ordeal as we realized, a little too late, that we had taken a room next to a bunch of noisy Israeli teenagers. Not even Daniel’s top-of-the-range kiwi earplugs could reduce the sounds of the hard partying that went on til 4 am. We both decided that we needed to make a move as soon as possible. We were persuaded otherwise when the hotel owner, in a bid to keep our custom, offered us the best room in the hotel – a much larger space right on the roof of the hotel with a huge terrace with spectacular views overlooking the Ganges.
We spent the rest of the day getting to know Laxman Jula and Ram Jhula, the village a little lower down the river from us. The main street, a short walk down from our hotel, is very chaotic. Many cows wander the streets being fed by locals. We found our way down to the banks of the Ganges or Ganga as it is known here. It really is the most wonderful river – wide and deep, bordered with white sandy beaches strewn with large boulders which are thrown down from the peaks by the river. The water is a kind of milky turquoise colour. The government has made it illegal to fish at any point of this river and, apparently in its upper pristine reaches, it is teeming with big fish.
We walked down to the 2nd suspension bridge in Ram Jhula where we saw many orange clad sadhu’s (spiritual devotees) bathing, praying and sleeping. The only real scar is the rubbish. Apparently, not so long ago India was completely pristine. These days they are drowning in plastic water bottles and plastic wrappers. Thankfully, as it is a holy site, the river, on the whole, is spared such indignities.
Dan: Whilst in Ram Jhula, we decided to get a Rickshaw down to Rishikesh, and visit Triveni Tours, and see about doing some trekking in the Himalayas.
Bhuta Ram was there, and invited us in for a chat and some chai (which I'm really beginning to enjoy!).
It's really interesting how business is done here - there's no hurry, and we'd spend long periods just sitting there, saying nothing!
We said to Bhuta that we wanted to do 2 or 3 days of trekking - he had some photographs of the must-see sites in the Himalayas around us, and recommended a 5 day itinerary, which we cut back to 3 days for budgetary reasons. One day of travelling is Rs 1700 (about £25) and we could start our tour on Monday.
We agreed to come in tomorrow (Sunday) and finalise arrangements, and to also view one of the Western-style apartments that you can rent here - they're about Rs10k a month, and right on the river.
Karin: The evenings here are exquisite – the sun sets in the wide-open mouth of the valley so we can watch it from our balcony. I did my yoga on our balcony in the moonlight which was lovely.