Insanity Part One...

*disclaimer* this was written a few days ago but is just being posted due to lack of internet this weekend. Day 11 Happy 4th of July! Where the heck are we!?!? Next time we will look carefully at where we are staying! This place, while pretty, is over 24km from Rishikesh in the mountains, no internet, no cell service, no yoga and a dangerous, sometimes blocked winding road. No wonder this place was available and partially why it was so expensive because NOBODY comes to this place!!! Seriously I think there are no other guests here. After our 7hr drive in the dead of night…which true to form was still as crowded as ever, still like playing chicken, filled with crazy driving skills and the grace of God that we don’t die... we made it to Rishikesh and the hotel was another 20km north and then 4km more…it was great. When we got here, probably because there is nobody else here, they let us check in which was nice instead of making us wait for 2pm or pay for another day...we arrived around 5am. Once we got into our room we requested another bed, which is sketch, and then all passed out for about four hours. Awaking we discovered just how little this hotel has to offer and then the doorbell rang and then a waiter came in to take our breakfast order…they kind of just walk in and say madame/sir? It’s great. And they charge for breakfast lol In better news, the new apt is really nice. It’s a family of two doctors, their son and ailing mother-in-law. They have a big, beautiful house that they’re letting us live in with them. Kelly is on the 2nd floor and Sadie and I occupy a room on the 3rd floor across from a woman who will be the woman cooking for us. We got there after spending an hour trying to find the place, and they had dinner ready for us but we had to eat and run to head out on our journey to Ridhikesh. They didn’t understand why we would drive in the night to RIshikesh since it’s not super safe to do so but our driver was waiting so we said thank you and got on the road. Only downside to our new place is that it is going to be a LONG commute to the office which will suck since we got spoiled with a very short one before. Day 11 Continued…After our outing in Rishikesh Our hotel’s driver took us into Rishikesh this morning and dropped us off at Laxman Julha- a giant pedestrian bridge (that bikes, motorcycles and cows go across too), we just took pictures of it and then had him drive us to an ATM since Sadie and I were out of Rupees from paying Lucky (our driver) to drive us here. After that we said goodbye to our driver and walked down to the Ganges where people were swimming/bathing. The river is solid green and all of the water you see going into it is almost black due to trash and waste…apparently devote Hindus carry a vile of Ganges water with them at all times because they think it is the last thing they are suppose to drink before they die…and well I’m going with if whatever you think is killing you really isn’t and you drink that water, the water will finish the job! After strolling along the banks of the Ganges, we headed for Ram Jula. On the rickshaw ride over to Ram Jula, we saw the most disturbing/saddest thing ever. This man was sitting under his little hut thing next to the street with all of maybe five teeth. He leaned over and liquid was pouring through the gaps where teeth should be as he was lifting food to his mouth. Something about the scene got seared into all of our brains with a sick accuracy that we wish we could forget. While walking around we did some shopping ☺ I got a really cool necklace, ring and two great wood carved boxes as well. First things, besides food and water that I have bought in India. Wait, I take that back I bought a pair of Puma sneakers yesterday at lunch because I forgot to pack any shoes other than flip flops to India…oops! They’re pretty exciting- think white and neon green!:) Thank God I had my shoes though because as usual, it is filthy here and we were walking miles around the city (literally) so flip flops would have been miserable. While out shopping, we got caught in the rain, we had one small umbrella with us, and couldn’t find anymore, but Kelly was able to get a poncho from a kid selling them- it ripped as soon as he put it on so we ended up tying it over his backpack to keep the water out- as soon as we’re done with this the rain stops lol Finally, we crossed the Ram Jula bridge (a “pedestrian” bridge that looks identical to Laxman Julha). Walking around we stopped for lunch at a pretty decent looking restaurant. I ordered pasta w/cheese…the picture looked so good and it was until I saw an “army camel” aka a giant ant in it and so I pulled out that noodle and ate a lil more then saw a gnat and was finally done with eating extra protein. Their tomato cheese naan was awesome though! After that we were finally on our way to the Beatles Ashram!!! On our way there, we ran into a Russian and asked directions, he told us the ashram was closed but we might get lucky and have one of the yogis might let us in for Rs. 50 each. So we ventured on and there it was…The Beatles Ashram!!! SO COOL!!! This is where most of The White Album was written…AWESOME album!!! But anyway, we saw a Yogi and sure enough Rs.50/each he let us in and they gave us a little back ground, showed us around a little and turned us loose to explore! This place was HUGE and almost a little eerie because it has just turned into ruins since it is now government owned and not really maintained. This place was absolutely gorgeous, I can’t imagine how much more amazing it must have been when the Beatles were staying there! We romped around for about an hour and a half exploring and taking in the awesome scenery- amazing views of the mountains, city and river. This place was pretty sweet- Dad will be jealous! We decided to be like everyone else and carve our names into one of the hut things as well…pretty cool. Apparently it has only been abandoned since 1997 but all of the windows are broken and it’s all in ruins…ruins of which we grabbed a few pieces. As the sun was setting we ventured back to Ram Jula and found our driver to take us back home. As the sun goes down here the chanting gets louder as people come out to sit by the banks of the Ganges and listen to mantras. The streets are crowded with EVERYTHING, people, cows, carts, motorcycles, mopeds, bikes, dogs and puppies! We saw our first street puppies here today, which was really sad because they are SO cute and they neeeeed meee!!! Lol But really between the poor pitiful puppies and beggars it can be quite an experience. This one little kid earlier in the day followed us for a while asking for money or ice cream. He had essentially a burlap sack tied around his waist and a vest. Finally when Sadie caved and asked him if he wanted ice cream he lit up and turned to run to the ice cream kid, pointing out the one he wanted…it was a vanilla and chocolate ice cream bar- kid’s got good taste! So for about $0.50, Sadie made this kid’s day and at least we know he got to eat something today…and well if you can only eat one thing in a day and it’s ice cream then the day is not lost in my opinion!:) ** Tomorrow morning we are on the list for yoga at this really nice yoga, meditation, spa place…nicest place I’ve seen so far here…at 6:30am for only about $4. Time for a shower, time to wash out the blackness from under my nails and the caked on sweat and dirt and yellow dot that was put on my forehead by a crazy man right when we got into Rishikesh this morning lol It feels AMAZING to be clean…or at least cleaner. We had dinner at the restaurant downstairs- pretty tasty! Their curry chicken was pretty bomb…my tomato soup not so much though. ** i need to explain the "caved" comment as to not sound like a totally heartless person. if you give money to one kid, you get swarmed by about 20 more which becomes a bad situation and sometimes when you give money to a kid he or she doesn't get that money, it goes to the pimp who has the kid begging so often as hard as it is we don't give money to beggars.