My First Journey Post

Posted November 3, 2015

November 3rd 2015

I finally made it to India this morning, Rishikesh this afternoon. I was sad to say good-bye to my family, got tearful at moments during the flights. Luckily I met a girl named Claudia who was on her way to Thailand so she was good company and a good distraction since I was a bit nervous about travelling on my own to a completely different country. We said good-bye in Shanghai and I boarded my next flight to New Delhi. We finally landed and I proceeded to get off the plane and found everyone not to be so polite. Just pushing and shoving, you have to fight to get off the plane and be aggressive ha ha. I proceeded through customs and grabbed my bag. It was 3amish at this point and my next flight to Dehradun was at 11am, I was exhausted and thought, should I sleep on an airport bench or just get a room. I walked by the Plaza Premium lounge and asked for a room, they had 1 left with a shower and a bed. It was very costly, 4500 rupees, $90 for 6 hours!! Ahh, whatever, at least I got a sandwich and a warm cup of tea out. I proceeded to my closet sized room, was surprised at how modern it was. I tried to endlessly connect with the internet with no luck , gave up, and decided I needed to sleep. I realized my body wasn’t going to sleep and I had to pop a jet lag pill, I was out pretty soon. I woke up 3 hours later, in need of more sleep but I needed to shower and get going again to the domestic area of the airport to check in.

I’m getting hungry at this point but I’m not sure if I should eat or wait, maybe they’ll serve food on the plane. I definitely didn’t want to chance it and eat something that may upset my stomach and then I’d have issues on the plane. I decided to wait. I boarded my flight to Dehradun. I was happy to get a window seat in the emergency row next to the window, a seat I have not been fortunate to get on this trip since all the window seats were taken. Since I was on the emergency row, the stewardess reminds me that I cannot sleep during take off or landing, and the flight is only 55 minutes long! AHHH!! I need to sleep, I’m so desperate! Food comes, I’m excited, oh and a sandwich, I wonder what type. They say a “Veg” sandwich. Ok, anything sounds good at this moment. I open up the sandwich but it looks like it hasn’t been wrapped properly. Oh well, I take a bite, and think omg, this is disgusting, what is this? It was a mix of those frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, peas) with a mayonnaise type of sauce. I take a look at it, something doesn’t look right, and I pull out a lovely piece of hair out of it. That’s it, I’m done not eating this.

Happy to get off that flight, grab my backpack, and head to the prepaid taxi counter. My options were 1400 rupees for an air conditioned taxi ride or 1200 for no a/c. I took the A/C, I figured that’s $28, compared to $24 to at least be comfortable for an hour. The cab driver was pleasant enough. I decided not to talk to him since I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea, plus I’m wearing my fake wedding band to avoid any trouble. He drives like an absolute maniac which I figured that’s what would happen, after all, it is India. Not only are there cows on the road, but there’s some type of wild pig, dogs, goats, humans. Everyone drives like a mad man. It’s only a 22km distance from the airport to Rishikesh but it took about an hour to get there. You’re driving 40km/hr most of the time trying to avoid hitting people/things. Once we got into the national park there was a 60 rupee charge to get in. That’s about $1.20. The taxi driver wasn’t sure where the Parmarth Niketan ashram was so he asked a few randoms on the streets. I realize damn it, I forgot my door stopper at the Plaza Premium airport hotel, behind the door. Ahh, I’m so pissed off at myself, that’s such an important safety tool. We finally got there and he drops me off at the wrong place, not his fault, people
just gave him wrong directions. No big deal, I walked down a street, asked some military types and found my way to the front reception area of the ashram. I have everything I need to check in, the front staff seemed pleasant enough, they are dealing with a lot of people who are in and out. I had previously requested a room with a river view, but they said they couldn’t accommodate me. At least I speak Hindi I’m thinking, it might not be perfect, but it is definitely useful in this country to be able to understand and respond to simple questions in Hindi. The women tells me to hand over my payment/ “donation” amount. I look at her and ask, are you going to tell me the total of the room, how much it is per night? She says ooh ok, 600 rupees per night. I pull out my price sheet that I got from the ashram over email and show her for 600 rupees per night I’m suppose to get a mountain view or river view room. Then she tells me I’m in a private room by myself. I asked why, she said because I am a female travelling by myself, they don’t pair up my type up with anyone. Well, there goes the chance of making instant friends I think. Their payment system is down so they tell me to come back in 2 hours to pay.

Some guy leads me to a place where I grab the room key and he points to a building and says your room is there. Umm, ok, no need to show me where? So I walk down the dark and filthy hallway (sheets thrown around in the hallway and garbage). I find my room, walk inside. I mean, I didn’t really know what to expect, keep my expectations low usually. It’s an ok room, two single beds. A very awkward washroom. The shower is an open area next to the toilet. Sheets look pretty dirty, good thing I brought my silk sheet set. First thing I decide to do is go to the Canteen and grab a bite to eat. Super cheap, a thali plate is 60 rupees, that’s $1.20 for a full meal, 2 roti’s, rice, dhaal, 2 veg curries, and some yogurt raita. The food was not bad at all. I ate, did a quick tour of the ashram just to look around and decided I needed a nap. I came back to the room, slept for 2 hours and then woke up with a bit of a sudden need to use the washroom. I thought, oh no, so soon! Must be the oil the food, but it wasn’t too oily. And guess what? NO TOILET PAPER!! Well good thing the shower is pretty much touching the toilet. I got changed, went to the side reception desk to get toilet paper. The guys said, oh, there was no toilet paper there for you? No, no, no toilet paper, no towels. My friend Lee was right, the two most important things you need when you travel are your passport and a roll of toilet paper. Everything else you can do without, and he was right, lmao. I realized I needed to pay the ashram so I went back. I asked the guy if I could switch my room since it’s right next to the road and all you hear is the honking noise of motorcycles, people’s conversations on the street, dogs barking, etc. I asked him twice in very simple English and he couldn’t understand me. Then I asked in Hindi and he suddenly understood. He told me they are solid booked and there’s nothing since I’m staying for so many days. He asked how much he was going to charge me, I think it was 4200 rupees but I told him 3500. He took payment of 3500 rupees which is about $70 for 7 days, $10/day. After, I decide to head out to the Ganga river and listen to the Aarti pooja for a little bit. Hundreds of people of various nationalities were gathered listening to the pooja. After a little while, I decided to come back to my room and catch up with my thoughts on here. From my room I can hear another aarti/satsung that is happening on the river front. It’s about 7:30pm now. I should probably get some reading done on my Lonely Planet India book and figure out tomorrow how to get a prepaid cell phone and some internet as well as join the morning yoga/meditation classes.