If it is your first visit, you’ll surprise by the number of foreigners that, this small city hosts. Travelers from across the globe visits here to get the first hand experience of India’s religious and spiritual offerings. The best place to stay here is the ashrams situated at the river bank. In the dawn and dusk you can hear the clear voice of roaring river, ready to wash your contaminated mental hazards and to fill it with pure serenity.
Foreigners experience Rishikesh in their own way. They stay here for weeks, indulging themselves in activities like Yoga, learning different instruments, religious practices, and most of the time simply roaming with kid like curiosities. Just listen their conversation on any of the restaurant, they are mesmerized, updated, critic and sometime offensive too, but every time offers something new about their experience of India.
Sometimes Rishikesh seems like a biggest version of Delhi-haat. Almost every shops are seems to offering various kinds of souvenirs.
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| Religion is an integral part of daily rituals here |
The city restaurant offers entire range of Indian, Continental, Chinese, Mexican, Lebanese, Italian……and many more to suit every needs, but strictly vegetarian. Chotiwala restaurant is most famous and worth a try. You’ll notice a mannequin almost in front of every good restaurant with a platter in his hand. The platter is filled with the fresh food and precisely suggests the menu of that time. A quite attractive and innovative welcome to the guest!
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| Most Famous Chotiwala Restaurant |
Religious books publisher like Geeta Press, have big presence here. One can buy Bhagmat Gita, Ved, Ramayan and many other books, that perfectly accompany the mood and sentiments that builds here.
Start your day early with a walk towards Lakshman Jhula (a hanging bridge over river Ganga) and en-route visit Ram Jhula (another hanging bridge) and many temples and ghats.
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| Ram Jhula |
You can also trek to “Neelkanth Dev Temple” or hire a cab for the same. It cost you 100 bucks for a return trip. Rest of the day visit Ashrams of Rishikesh. They are plenty in number and offer every possible kind of religious and spiritual things. Finally the evening prayer at Ganga is an ideal way to enrich your-self with all the positive energy. It is a daily ritual and one of the most religious activities of the day. A large number of devotees chant the name of goddess in chorus, which create an aura of divinity.
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| At the time of evening prayer |
Haridwar is another place of worship and considered as an abode of god. Just a few kilometers from Rishikesh it is one of the most sacred place of Hindu pilgrimage. Clear green water appears as serene as the environment itself. A holy dip in the river followed by prayer will take you more close to that supreme power.
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| Ghats of Haridwar |
Visiting these two places completely rejuvenate the mind and one can feel the calmness and entire different meaning of life.
Rishikesh is the true heaven on earth. I just love this city.
Amit, I found a group of links on internet for BBC.Himalaya.with.Michael.Palin. its total 4.2 GB, having 6 part videos, 700mb each. I have downloaded first part. The detail about parts are given below. Please go through it and tell me if it is complete documentery. If not then provide me the link so that I can download.
The programme is divided up into six one-hour episodes.
Episode 1:
North by Northwest
Countries Visited: Pakistan
Plot: Features Khyber Pass, Peshawar, Gilgit, Chitral and K2.
Episode 2:
A Passage to India
Countries Visited: Pakistan and India
Plot: Features Lahore, Amritsar, Shimla, Dharamsala and Srinagar, with a special meeting with the Dalai Lama.
Episode 3:
Annapurna to Everest
Countries Visited: Nepal and China (Tibet Autonomous Region)
Plot: Features Kathmandu, Pokhara, Annapurna Mountain and the Everest base camp (northern, Chinese side). Includes Palin’s meeting with King Gyanendra of Nepal and a scare involving the Maoist rebels.
Episode 4:
The Roof of the World
Countries Visited: China (Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province)
Plot: Features Lhasa and Yushu.
Episode 5:
Leaping Tiger, Naked Nagas
Countries Visited: China (Yunnan Province) and India (Nagaland State)
Plot: Features Kunming, Lijiang, Lugu Lake and the Naga village of Longwa on the Indian- Burmese border. Includes a trek along Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Episode 6:
Bhutan to the Bay of Bengal
Countries Visited: India (Assam State), Bhutan and Bangladesh
Plot: Features Kaziranga National Park, Thimphu, Sylhet, Dhaka and Chittagong. Ends on the Bay of Bengal. This episode was one of the few instances where the media gave attention to the Grameen Bank and Muhammed Yunus’s efforts, in the micro-economic scale in Bangladesh before he was awarded the Nobel Prize for it.
Hi Vinay. This seems to be a correct link because it has got all the part. Besides there are other Palin’s documentary that you can also search for. But Himalaya is undoubtedly best.
For me it was a perfect travelogue !! Just the right mix what a wannabe traveler would seek from your account with what you felt and experienced.
Thanks a lot Prayag. Have you been to Rishikesh? Checkout a nearby place kunjapuri either from my post “Eureka” in Ghumakkar or my blog “avidnomad.blogspot.com”. Its dam good, calm and beautiful.
Pics are indeed good.
Thanks a lot.
Amit, you said that you had 32 GB videos.
Is your 32GB is only Himalaya.with.Michael.Palin or it has other video also. If so then please name them also.
On my side this whole documentery is weighting 700MB * 6 = 4.2GB.
The Complete 32 GB data consists of many other stuffs, like pole to pole, new Europe, Sahara, great train journey, Hemingway Adventure etc. You’ll get best travel stuff from entire world in this package. Although Himalaya is complete but search for others in torrents. Try thepiratebay.org, kickasstorrents.com or similar sites, you’ll get it for sure.
There are also some good cafes (Ganga Cafe) to enjoy some of the delicacies from across the world.
Torrent software are not the best things to discuss at this forum :-)
Thanks to remind me. I’ll take care of that.