Rishikesh Continued..My Birthday

Posted November 10, 2015

Maya and I spent the next day exploring more of Rishikesh. She had told me she was thinking of going with some Israeli girls she met to Kasir Devi a small colder town. They were set to leave on Monday, the day of my bday. I was a bit sad but realized this is how travelling will go. You’ll meet people, have fun, and say good-bye at some point. Maya and I spent the day shopping for warmer clothes for her to bring on her trip since she was heading into the mountains. I was awaiting to hear if my 4 day trip into the Himalayas had filled up with more people. I really thought it would be awesome to be in the Himalayan mountain range on my birthday. I checked with the adventure tourism shop but there wasn’t enough people for the trek so I decided to relax on my bday. Maya had a special bottle of rum she brought with her when she landed in India so we sat on the balcony while starring at the scenery and had an early birthday drink.

In the morning I woke up to say good bye to her and she gave me a wonderful birthday present. A set of earrings that I’m still wearing to this day. She told me to get dressed and head to the German bakery we ate breakfast at one morning and to have a feast and make sure to talk to other travellers. I said good bye to her and was happy to have made a good friend who taught me a lot and opened my eyes to Vipassana meditation. A form of silent meditation for 10 days, something I am really interested in exploring now. It was nice meeting a lovely person when things started getting sad and she lifted my spirits. I made sure I got dressed, put on a little make up, after all it was my bday and headed to the German bakery. I sat there by myself and then asked a random group of women if I could join them. They said yes of course. I announced it was my birthday and they said well something special has to be done. So we would go to the waterfall and have cake. Wow, so nice to meet random people and they’ve organized my birthday. Helena and Liat had purchased some pieces of cake, enjoyed good conversation, and we headed to the waterfall. Oh boy, what did we encounter on the way? A monkey? A cheeky little monkey. He already knew what was in brown paper bag. I told Liat to give me the brown paper bag and I would put it in her knapsack. It didn’t matter, the monkey knew. He came up to us and then jumped on her grabbing her shirt and pulling on it. I took the bag out of the knapsack and walked away. Then I saw a group of monkeys and this little one started coming towards me. I threw the bag to Liat but it was already game over. The monkey intercepted and tore the bag open and began eating the cake. Then a few of his friends came to join him, we had lost the battle. We walked up the road and looked back, there was a crowd of monkeys now. We decided it was meant to be and headed towards the waterfall. When we finally got there Helena and Liat decided they were going in for a swim. They finally got me inside the waterfall. What a liberating experience to be dancing around in a waterfall on your birthday. I mean ya I was a bit nervous in case of a passer byer but YOLO right? Ha ha ha. We got our stuff and proceeded to another waterfall where we met another traveller. He heard our story about the monkey and took out some dates and peanuts to share with us. What a nice surprise! We later went for dinner and feasted on more cake. What a wonderful birthday! The next day I woke up and I knew it was time to leave Rishikesh. I said good bye to Helana and Liat, by chance I ran into them at the German Bakery again. I booked a ticket at a travel agency for $260 rupees ($2.75) to Chandigarh where old university roommate lives. I took a jeep taxi to Haridwar train station. I sat on the floor while numerous locals starred at me for a couple hours. I had to go to the washroom and this was my first railway station washroom experience in India. I paid the washroom attendant the 5 rupee fee and used just a
hole in the ground. I was a bit shocked cause I was thinking about my pants getting wet as I squatted but said this needs to be done so I did it. I headed out to find the platform my train was on. Nothing is clearly labeled. I asked a
police officer and 7 other people where the platform for the train was. These people were all sending me in circles. I got so frustrated and upset because I only had a few minutes before my train would leave and I can’t find help. One man sent me to go through a train, jump 5 feet down onto railway tracks, and climb onto another train. He said hurry, this train is about to leave so it will be difficult to jump. I looked at the tracks and said, no, this isn’t happening. I’m not Indian Jones or Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider. With my 45lb bag on me in the heat, I began running around asking everyone. I thought, hey if I miss this, not the end of the world, I’ll get a hotel here and try again tomorrow. I finally managed to find the ticket master who told me where the train was and I got on with only
20 seconds to spare. Wow, I was relieved. Definitely not one of the nicest trains in the world but at least I was on my way to see my friend Ankita. I got to the Chandigarh station about 4 hours later starving. I refused to eat anything from the merchants that would step onto the train incase I got sick. Can’t trust oils or hygiene conditions and don’t want to risk it. Ankita met me at the train station, wow, what a relief. I am now in Chandigarh!