Haridwar

This weekend we took a little trip to Haridwar. It's a bit further away than Rishikesh and a bit bigger. Also, WAY more crowded. Amazingly, this is only a fraction of the number of people who will be there for some of the high holy days.

We stayed in a hotel that faced the Ganges and had AC. 

There were also monkeys. And so there were signs warning tourists about the monkeys.

The view of the Ganges was interesting. 

The view of the street below was more interesting.

We spent Saturday afternoon walking through the streets. Actually, getting shoved, poked and prodded, walking the streets is a little more accurate description. It was a relief to climb some very steep stairs to visit a temple at the top of one of the hills. 

There's also a cable car but the line for that was really really long so we decided to hike it.

I'm glad we did. It was a good hike (although I used some muscles I clearly haven't used in a while).

And of course there were great views of the city.

In the evening, everyone crowds the riverbank to float these little boats with candles in them down the river.

It's an incredible site. But very hot and very crowded.

Then I may or may not have threatened Matthew with bodily harm if we didn't go get some food. I get very grumpy when I'm hungry.

Dinner was stuffed tomatoes. They were tangy and stuffed with cheese. Not bad.

 This morning we got up and walked around the city and took some more photos. 

In this picture, if you squint, you can kind of see the temple that we visited yesterday up at the top of the hill behind me.

Some people say that Haridwar is very similar to Rishikesh. I have to say that I liked Rishikesh much better than Haridwar although both were very touristy. Rishikesh was smaller, cleaner, and had more green space. 

The sheer number of people in Haridwar was overwhelming. 

The noise was constant. I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to the sound of some sort of drums/musical instruments. As nice as it was to be in a cool room, it's even nicer to be back in my relatively quiet hostel room.