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The city of Haridwar is located where the Ganges River leaves the Himalayan range. It is a holy Hindu city visited by thousands of pilgrims who bathe in the fast-flowing waters of the Ganges. |
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Har-Ki-Pairi (Footstep of God) Ghat
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Mammoth statue of Shiva
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The main activity in Haridwar is at the Har-Ki-Pairi bathing ghat, where the god Vishnu dropped some heavenly nectar and left his footprint, which makes it very holy to Hindus. Bathers have to hold on to chains while in the Ganges to keep from being swept away by the strong currents. |
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Good-humored dip
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Holding on in the fast current
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Chains help bathers keep their footing
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Drying dhotis in the breeze
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Boat offerings being assembled and sold
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Offering sails by on the Ganges current
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Making an offering at dusk
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We watched the Ganga aarti (river worship ceremony) at dusk. There was music and chanting and collecting of donations. Priests led the ceremony on the river’s edge with blazing aarti lamps. The most amazing sight was the flotilla of offerings, banana leaf ‘boats’ filled with flowers and lit candles, flying by on the strong current, the candle light reflecting in the water, occasionally getting tumbled and snuffed out by patches of white water. |
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Evening Ganga aarti at the Har-Ki-Pairi Ghat
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We could not resist walking around the market streets of Haridwar. This is a bangle town, with shop after shop selling bright shiny bangles. |
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Cart full of bangles
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Dazzling plastic bangles
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Muslim man with unusual turban style
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Pilgrim from Rajasthan
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Vendor with beautiful fruit
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He wins the prize for the tallest tower of ceremonial red powder in Haridwar
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Ted enjoying a Thums-Up cola and a dhosa
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Happy sidewalk tailor
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We arrived in Haridwar around noon and went to our hotel, the Bhaj-Govindam. We had chosen it from the glowing description in our tour book: “...a wonderful location in a garden on the banks of the Ganges...comfortable bamboo huts with clean, tiled private bathrooms...absolute riverfront with its own private bathing ghat...” And the price was right, not quite $20 a night. When we got to the hotel, no one was in the reception area, so Anne went looking for hotel employees and found the peaceful garden fronting the river, the bamboo huts and Ram, the manager. Ram showed Anne one of the huts, somewhat spartan but serviceable. The interior and exterior walls and ceiling were covered in woven elephant grass mats with bamboo trim. After checking us in, Ram led us back to the huts and asked if we wanted hot water. We said we did so he took us to another nearby hut, not the one Anne had inspected. It didn’t look as clean or as nice, but still was within the acceptable range. |
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The Bhaj Govindam: view of huts from garden, Ted in front of our hut, and view of the private ghat
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We asked Ram if we could have a few missing items: hangers, soap and toilet paper. He brought us two hangers but sadly shook his head for the other two items. So we left our bags and went off to explore the town and do some shopping for the bathroom supplies and mosquito spray. When we got back around 10 p.m., we sprayed the room for mosquitos and noticed that the spray disturbed something in the ceiling. Thinking that whatever little critter it was would go back to sleep, we left the room for the spray fumes to dissipate. When we eventually got to bed (two mattresses at ground level with slightly greasy blankets) and turned out all but the bathroom light...the ceiling came alive. Rustling and pitter-pattering of little feet racing back and forth over our heads brought us both out of any pretense of sleep. Lying there with the lights on, we noticed all the holes in the grass mats, one right over Anne’s head, and the missing bamboo trim at strategic intersections with the wall. We could not ignore it any longer. |
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Inside views of our room after we checked in
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Clearly, a large family of rats was performing their nightly exercise routine in our ceiling. We packed up in record time and went to the reception area but at 1am, no one was there. We decided to just leave and come back the next day to pay the bill and complain. To our dismay, we found the doors to the street were padlocked! We went back to the huts. There were no other guests or staff...We were alone with the rats. Ted checked the other rooms and all but one were locked. The ‘model’ room I had been shown earlier in the day was open and the grass mats looked intact. Without a moment's hesitation, we claimed this new space, moved in and spent what was left of a restless night on top of the beds, fully clothed. These walls and ceilings remained quiet and still. |
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Early the next morning when we emerged from our room, we met a Dutch tourist who had just arrived. He indicated that he had stayed at this hotel two months ago. He said he had just checked in to the 'hot water' hut. We advised him to change to our hut because of the family of rats in the one he was in. His response “Oh, they still have the rats here?”
We found a rat-free hotel in town for our next two nights in Haridwar.
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There are, of course, many temples in Haridwar, new and old. The new ones can be pretty gaudy. |
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Bharat Mata Temple
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Sadhus walk by temple entrance
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Red ashram
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Old tales come alive
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Sculpture of Kamadhenu
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Ketu on his eagle
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Well-dressed Durga at Pawan Dham Temple
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Auto-rickshaw pulls up to the Lal Mata Temple
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We decided to take an afternoon off for a change of pace and subject matter and booked a tour of nearby Rajaji National Wildlife Park. We drove slowly through the park in an open Jeep. The terrain included dry washes, forest, hills and scrub lands. We saw many chitral spotted deer, sambar deer, nilgai antelope, boar, peacocks and other species of birds. We also saw six wild elephants, including a calf. No rats. |
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Scenes at the Rajaji National Park
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Nilgai antelope
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Sambar deer on alert
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Wild elephants with calf
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We took a one-hour ride in a vickram (shared auto-rickshaw) to Rishikesh, ‘the Yoga Capital of the World.’ Further upstream on the Ganges River, it is surrounded by the forested foothills of the Himalayas. Temples, ashrams and ghats abound, teeming with gurus, sadhus and new-age pilgrims. |
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A vickram
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Squished passengers in our vickram
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Anne attracted by glitter
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Downtown Rishikesh
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Cow begging from sadhu
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Trayambakeshwar Temple
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Sadhu in Rishikesh
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Evening prayer to Hanuman
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Bicyclists silhouetted on the Shivanand Jhula Bridge
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We watched another beautiful Ganga aarti at the Parmarth Nikitan ashram, performed by a Maharishi look-alike and his young saffron-clad acolytes sitting on the steps, clapping, swaying and chanting. The ceremony ended with the blazing aarti lamps being passed around to worshipers. |
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Rishikesh Ganga aarti led by the Swami
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