Haridwar

The train was only about half an hour late arriving in Haridwar. We got auto-rickshaws to the hotel which is right in the middle of town. We organised to leave our bags, had a cup of tea, and looked for somewhere to eat breakfast. Haridwar is in the foothills og the Himalayas and the Ganges flows through town. We went for a walk along the main street, which was a bit wder than some of the towns we have been in. There was room for 2 auto-rickshaws to pass on opposite sides of the road and pedestrians to walk on both sides, as well as the street vendors. The river was just a couple of blocks off this street through the old shopping bazaar like shops. When we got to the river we could see the ghats, as well as a concrete man-made island accessed by bridges that had steps on both sides. The steps had a pole and chain fence in the water so that people could stand, or dip in the fast flowing water and still be able to hold on to something so that they didn't get washed away. There were men, women, and some children completely dipping in the water, or at least standing in the water and bucketing water over themselves. Others were buying empty bottles and filling them, so that they could take home some water from the sacred river.

We woke on the next day to find that there was a fog, but this soon began to lift to become a nice clear sky, so we decided to take the cable car up the nearby hill to the Mandi Devi Temple. There were good views of the city and the river, and it showed that there was a dam just upriver from the city. At the dam there were two out lets for the river. There was a diversion which the city was built on, and the main river which was further away.

We organised to do a safari to Ranjaji National Park, which was across the other side of the Ganga. We organised to get a car to take us to the park where we hadn't yet booked a jeep, so we had to arrange entry to the park, and get a jeep with a guide to take us through for the 2 - 3 hour safari. During the drive we saw elephants in the distance, monkeys, peacocks, Chittal and Samba deer, and wild pigs.

After the safari we walked along the banks of the river to see thousands of people moving towards the bathing area. Everyone was being ushered to sit down on the steps and wit as the sun went down for the nightly blessing of the river. People were buying offerings to give to the river. There were many offerings of small boats made from palm leaves with flowers and burning candles.