Riding day # 19, Sept 16, 2019, Musoorie to Rishikesh:  80km, 483M up, 939M end.

An easy mostly downhill ride, but very warm and very high humidity.  Four days in a row where I my shirt is absolutely soaked with sweat.

Yes, the shirt is soaked with sweat

Rishikesh is the largest Indian city we cycle in and out of.  I actually enjoy the chaos of cycling in the tight streets, heavy traffic - cars, trucks, buses, carts, millions of small motorcycles, tuktuk’s, cows, dogs, monkeys and people going every which way.  The chorus of horns can be really deafening and very annoying at times) all on narrow streets where the surface goes from perfectly smooth tarmac to ugly potholes in seconds.  One needs to be absolutely focused.

Rishikesh is “Mecca” for Yoga and meditation.  There are probably 1,000+ Ashrams (think a retreat for Yoga and Meditation).  But this comes with two bad things:  i) No beer to be found anywhere near Rishikesh and ii) only vegetarian food is available.  I guess I will have to purify my body and mind whether I want to or not.

The hotel provided an interesting character as a combination greeter/shaman/tour guide/huckster/entertainer.  He was very good.  He took us to the nightly Aarti on the banks of the Ganges in the middle of Old Town.  The Aarti is a river worship ceremony.  A combination of worship and celebration of Mother Ganga and Shiva

The Ganges is personified as the goddess Ganga.  Ganga’s mother is Mena and her father is Himavat, the personification of the Himalaya mountains.

Shiva is the Supreme Being, Lord of Divine Energy, Meditation, Arts, Yoga, Time, Dance and Supreme destroyer of Evil.

Our guide

The ceremony was right on the river, one removed shoes before you approached, and washed your hands.  People would set adrift small “boats” of flowers with a lit candle. Lot’s of music and singing, an impressive coordinated fire show with audience participation.  A quite magical event.

The photos don’t do it justice:

In Rishikesh we also did a final farewell to Mike Hennessey.  We held a small ceremony on the steps of the river below our hotel and poured his remaining ashes in the Ganges.  Again a very emotional event.  I truly miss Mike not being with us on this adventure.

A couple pics:  4063, 81, 89