Following our change of schedule and excursion to south India we now return to our original plan. Having sacrificed visits to Agra and Varanasi for Kerala we now have to get from Kochi to Dehradun – the only way is to do the bulk of the journey by air and then take a train. We fly from Kochi to Delhi airport and then head across town in a ‘pre-paid’ taxi (no seatbelt, doors that only just shut, no lights, a driver with a speed addiction and a point to prove to all the other Delhi drivers etc) to get to Nizamudin Station in Delhi.
We have booked a night train from Delhi to Dehradun (a town about five hours north east of Delhi) and a gateway to the Himalayas. Waiting at the station is an experience in itself – all of life is here, but it has a real buzz and feels fun despite being almost midnight. Jemima – caught up in the buzzy atmosphere decides she must try a ‘speak your weight’ machine’, which tells you your fortune and personality based on how many Domino’s Pizzas you’ve eaten. It was surprisingly accurate…
With that piece of fun complete, we decide to find the platform and look for the reservations sheet. Looking for the first class waiting room – that Phil is convinced is here somewhere – we find a sign, which is pointing towards the scene of recent demolition activity. We make our way to our platform. The first guy to approach us is selling padlocks and chains, in an instant we realise that this is to lock your luggage to the luggage rack so you can sleep without being robbed – our bags are definitely staying with us!
30mins before the train arrives the sheets of reservations get posted on a board. Takes ages to find our names but eventually, and with the help of another, more experienced passenger, we find we have a 2 berth cabin. Coupe D in the carriage behind the engines – sounds POSH. The train pulls into the station from the direction opposite that our experienced helper tells us and we leg-it to our carriage and find our cabin. We board just before midnight.
It’s not exactly the Orient Express, but actually, our little cabin is really quite cool – though made cool from the fact that it is an experience rather than anything else. Out of the five hour journey the net total hours slept is about three! Ages spent looking at the dimly lit scenery through the window is not time wasted as we ‘speed’ through the night. Arriving into Dehradun we are met by Vivek and his lovely mum, how great to be met by friends at 5:30am! Vivek drives us to his family’s house 10 minutes from the station where we get a truly warm welcome on a chilly morning.
In the afternoon we head for Mussoorie with Vivek and Neha – the town itself is just above 6000ft in the first part of the Himalayan foothills. The view is breathtaking.
Next morning three of us are feeling slightly unwell. Jemima is fine, Phil is at the opposite end of the spectrum and looking for something to blame (what did we have for dinner, did Phil drink any water/eat any ice, can you get altitude sickness at 6000ft????).
We press on with the plan, which is to drive to a spot where we can climb to a temple that sits on the tallest peak around without going much further into the Himalayas, the temple sits at 9995ft so there is some uphill walking to be done!
Driving the twisty roads becomes too much for the already unwell Phil who ends up sitting on the edge of a precipitous drop, 8000ft from the valley floor, being sick on the scenery; very dignified.
We finally reach our intended spot and climb (slowly) to 9995ft and are bowled over by the view. The air is cold and thin up here but we can see the snow-capped peaks of the nearest real mountains, we can see China and the no-mans-land that remains disputed from the India-China conflict of the early 1960s. For perspective we are taking it slow at 9995ft feeling the air a bit thin, Everest climbs to 29,035ft (though I’m not the one with the tape measure)
Given the collective health of the climbing team we enquire about a shorter route back to Dehradun and are impressed to find out that whilst we took a couple of hours to do the 85Kms up here there is a shorter route down! We seize the chance to take the shortcut. It takes forever to get down as the road is narrow and made of switchbacks and hairpins for the whole of out 75Km drive to descend 9000ft. life lesson – when you ask about shorter the next question should also be about quicker! The upside for Vivek and Phil at least was seeing a Mountain Leopard on the way down. These are rare animals. Don’t know which way the girls were looking.
Next day we head for Rishikesh. This is one of the most spiritually important places in India being the first flat area the Ganges hits on its way from its source in the Himalayas. We drive to Rishikesh crossing many dried seasonal riverbeds. Arriving we find a busy town and head into some quiet streets close to the Ganges. We have an appointment with a Hindu Saint called Swami Gee who Vivek has known for many years. We ring the doorbell and wait – fearing we have missed our appointment. After a short wait we see Swami Gee at the top of his stairs. Wrapped in Saffron robes, and in wooden slippers – descending the stairs he apologies for the delay answering the door; he was glued to the TV watching the cricket!
We enter Swami Gee’s house/Ashram and sit for a few minutes before being told that we should go for a boat trip on ‘Mother Ganga’ with Swami Gee.
We have no idea what to expect and watch amazed while preparations are made. The result is that four of us plus this Hindu Saint go for a boat ride in a five-man inflatable dingy with Swami Gee doing all the work.
There is truly no way to describe the experience of being paddled around a sacred river by a 70 year old saint with friends and loved ones sitting in the bottom of a small blow-up boat. Unique…and a little surreal.
For the rest of the afternoon we explore Rishikesh, criss-crossing the river on the many foot bridges, looking at the shops and Vivek having his shoes stolen while we attend a prayer service on the banks of the river Ganges.
Luckily, Vivek’s family were saints themselves and looked after both of us in true India fashion. Phil being given plenty of green and cinnamon tea and allowed to sleep, while Jemima was absorbed into family life with trips to the temple for Yoga with Vivek’s mum and a wonderful amount of fabulous Indian home cooking.
No comments:
Post a Comment