I am in Rishakesh---finally up north close to the mountains. (It's still hot here though, of course). It's currently pilgrimage (yatra) season here so the town is filled with pilgriming Indians making offerings in various temples and chanting at sunset. Cows wonder the street aimlessly (I guess the sacred can be lazy) and old women, seasoned with travel, push their way through the crowds toward the temples. Men spit on the road (it seems this is a favorite pastime), and shared jeeps, overflowing with 10 person families speed by honking incessantly. Sadhus (wandering holy men) beg for change along the steps and just about everyone is offering to sell us something from scarves to deep fried mystery Veggie somethings. The spirit and liveliness is beautiful...but India is a crowded place without any pilgrims...so it's also bit mad. 
Rishakesh was made famous to foreigners by the Beatles, who journeyed up here to seek...um..."spirituality" in one of the many ashrams. It is now a complete new age center and gateway to Himalaya hiking treks. I am here with my former English ashram pals Michelle and Melissa. We are here for the yoga, trekking, but are a bit wary of the dreadlocked travelers offering us "special" lassis and "all night" chant sessions. However not all things seem like Burning Man. Last night we were up quite late in a cafe playing cards with some random travelers we met and indulging on this amazing chocolate dessert. I figure we cannot drink or eat meat in this area...so bring on the chocolate full force!
The journey here was anything but easy. Any travel in India is pure chaos. Nothing can be planned or anticipated. I met M&M (of course I nickname them after a chocolate candy) at Agra to see the Taj Mahal. The Taj, the massive white marble structure built for love was just as amazing as we had heard. But no lingering was allowed on our schedule. We saw the Taj at Sunrise, the Red Fort at late morning and were able to sneak in a dip at our (amazing and sinfully decadent) hotel pool before the challenging journey further north. We had 2 LONG train rides, one bus, and one bumpy Rickshaw awaiting us.
Train travel in India is not for the faint of heart. First of all, all trains are always booked...so you either have to be put on a waiting list for a seat and pray you'll get in, pay bribes to train officials, or hop aboard the cheapest class and squeeze in with the masses on the floor. Or all of the above. Trains are notoriously late, so being able to redo your plans completely to catch a connecting train is part of the program. And lastly, trains arrive as they please and where they please. There is no way of knowing where your train is expected to arrive. The station screens are always wrong so you must ask enough locals and go to the platform number that has been uttered the most times. Even then, it's often wrong. To catch our train from from Agra to Delhi, M&M and I noticed that the train was coming in two platforms down from the one were were told to stand at. "Ack--there's our Punjab Express train!" Without thinking we jumped over the massive tracks with the locals, risking death (isn't jumping over tracks illegal in the states?) and our belongings as we threw our bags up over the tall track walls hoping to retrieve them as we scrambled over. Not that anyone would want to steal weeks of my dirty laundry...We then rushed into the train, pouring sweat and sat down about 2 minutes before the train took off again.
But this was nothing. Our next train has similar issues (we changed platforms running like mad about 5 times trying to find our elusive train up north) and then managed to take part in a brawl in a bus for our third part of the journey. One particular Indian family decided to save seats for pratically everyone on the bus by putting their luggage in the seats. Since buses get so crowded people actually PASS THEIR CHILDREN IN THROUGH THE WINDOW, saving seats isn't really feasible. M&M and i tried to diplomatically explain that the family needed to move their bags so we could get by and sit down before the roving masses were pushed in through the windows but they wouldn't budge. An impatient New Zealand we had befriended took charge and started a screaming match with the Indian woman. ("YOU are rude!" "No! YOU are rude.") Oh no--this was "Om Shanti" versus "Praise the Lord" all over again. We pretended not to know her. But didn't matter.....it was very much the westerners against the Indians....and we ended up taking the 2 hours bus ride standing up sandwiched between stacks of bags.
Dirty and exhausted, we treated ourselves to our favorite fruit juice mix upon arrival--Papaya, pineapple, banana, and mango...with a dash of milk. Our juice orders were starting ro resemble my long Starbucks order at home....
But honestly, the travel chaos...well it's all part of the journey, laughable now and worth any pain. (especially if we get treats afterward). This is India. It is crazy, unpredictable, and we love it!
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