India 0.5

OK, so I'm in Haridwar and I have lots of photos but alas the internet is far too slow to upload so I'll have to save them for another day. But I thought I may as well copy and paste a brief history of the area to give you (the infamous reader) a mental image of what this place is like.

Wikipedia says:

"

Haridwar pronunciation (help·info) (also known as Hardwar) is a holy city in the Haridwar District in the state of Uttaranchal in northern India. Literally meaning Gateway to God, Haridwar is considered one of the seven holiest places according to Hindus, as the devas are said to have left their footprints there.

The spot where the immortal nectar fell when it was carried in a Kumba after the famed churning of the oceans at the time of creation of the universe is known as Brahma Kund. Hindus all over the world flock to this place to have a holy dip to attain salvation from their sins of birth. The dusk arathi performed at Hari- Ki- Pairi (known for a footprint of Vishnu on a stone in a wall) is a spectacular sight full of emotions of sound and colour never to be missed by any visitors. This is the second most holiest pilgrimage site after Varanasi for Hindus all over the globe. Here pilgrims float diyas on the Ganges, to commemorate their deceased ancestors. The city also stands as a gateway to three other important pilgrimage destinations: Rishikesh, Badrinath, and Kedarnath. In Haridwar there is a big statue of Shiva at the fork of the river."

Wow how exciting eh.,. so Nick and I have been touring around a bit today (although in now seems dark outside since we entered this internet cafe...curious..) and this is really a beautiful city. to associate it with anything I've seen before I'd have to say the animated disney film Alladin. the roof tops are all connected and there are monkeys all over the place, also we're right at the foot of the Himalayas so the view is pretty amazing. Tomorrow I think we're going to head up to Rishikesh (the yoga capital of the world) in the mountains. Should be a pretty good time... now I'm going to go outside and negotiate a fee (hopefully 20 rupees) with an auto rickshaw and enjoy the open air of the indian roads.

-Ryan