On the way out of Dharamsala, the luggage rack brushed against a lady as I passed a crowded spot, and spun her around, but apart from that my driving was without incident. We got a puncture at dusk and it was fixed within half an hour but then it was dark. We wanted to sleep by the roadside, but in the mountains there is no roadside and besides I feared snakes and things, so we spent the first night in the husk of a building behind a gas station. Turned out the four guys manning the station slept there too. They presented us with a charpai while they slept on the floor. Starting at daybreak was great though as we had 12 hours riding time. Rob took pictures from the back of the bike which he hopes to exhibit in December. The next night we treated ourselves to a hotel.
Rishikesh isn't really Rishikesh at all. As far as travellers and tourists are concerned, Rihikesh is two villages accross the Ganga from Rishikesh, each with its own foot(bike)bridge. Lot of babas and Sadhus there and Shaivites with heads shaved except for a pony tail. Lots of Yoga schools too. One Temple was many floors high and all the Indian tourists would walk around its many permiters ringing the bells to wake the gods. The street below was full of chanting and music sellers, and guys selling swanney whistles. One guy blew a raspberry if you refused to accept a splodge of dye on your forehead. Found a guesthouse, and met an intense Israeli girl called Shiri and the three of us hung out for a couple of days. Met up with Bjorn and Judith. Its always lovely to see them, and I've seen Bjorn almost everywhere I've been now. Gangaji was clean enough, but hardly warm enough to swim in since it has just emerged from the Himalyas at that point. Still it was great sitting on the beach.
Rob had to go back to his stuff in Dharamsala, Bjorn and Judit left for Rishikesh with a promise to mail me their guesthouse address, leaving Shiri and me to play chemistry. When things didn't go bang, I went to the Ashram where the people who organised the vipassana I did were running an open retreat. Was made welcome particularly by Tom the manager, gave one manager a web site building lesson, and stayed a night longer than I planned but didn't get much meditation done. Was good. Spoke to Jaya about an observation made by Shiri and several women recently, (sometimes on the slightest of acquaintance) that I'm not in touch with my feelings. Came out of that meeting with this advice ringing true in my head:
Sound advice indeed! Brought Shiri to the Ashram. She stayed for the next few weeks, but I had to go!