Rishikesh the city of Yoga

After our four hour train ride and one hour car ride Radley and I finally arrived at Rishikesh the yoga capital of the world. Upon arriving at our hotel we were shocked with the amount of heavy rain. Thus, we decided to spend our first night in.

However, our hotel was probably one of the worst hotels which I have ever stayed. The only thing that made it stay-able was the view of the Himalayas from our veranda.

That evening Radley and I decided to eat dinner at the restaurant in our hotel.

Indian Train Journey

After spending a long two days in Delhi. My friend Radley and I were off to Rishikesh. Our tour agent picked us up at our hotel and we were on our way to Delhi Train Station. Once, we arrived our car driver told us to hire a porter for a couple of hundred rubies to carry our luggage for us.

The interesting thing about the porters is that they stay with you until your trains arrive and they guide you to your seats. I think this is why our driver requested for us to get one...After boarding the train we were offered a meal and drinks because we were in the first class seating. The price for the ticket was only about 10 USD.

I was offered a free newspaper with a lot of gossip. I love my gossip. 

After a three hour train ride we arrived at Hardiwartrain station. At the station we were picked up by a hired driver to take us to Rishikesh.

2nd Day in Delhi

Our first day was both exciting and tiring so we decided to take it easy on our second day in Delhi. Thus, we decided to start the day out with a trip to the Lotus Temple.

The Lotus Temple is a Baha`i Temple, which means that it is not connected to any religion but instead allows anyone from anyone religion to come and worship here. The Temple is very nice inside and reminded me of a Catholic church. I also looking at the architecture of the building.

Soon after viewing the Lotus Temple we decided to go out and eat lunch. This time we decided to head out to Dilli Haat which sells handmade goods from around India.


Dilli Haat is a great place to escape the craziness of New Delhi and enjoy looking at crafts and enjoying the great food.

After looking around the market we decided to eat at a local stall.








At the stall we ate Momos which reminded me of Japanese Gyoza or Chinese dumplings but deep fried instead of being steamed or fried. We also had Nan and local Indian noodles.

After spending a couple of hours at Dilli Haat, we decided to head back to our hotel and call it an early night because we would have to wake up at 4 the next morning and catch a train to Rishikesh.

First couple of days in India

I arrived in India on August 2nd at 2:30 in the morning. I could imagine how difficult it could be for people who just got off the plane difficult to find their way around this country at this late of an hour. Luckily for me, My hotel in Delhi had setup a private driver to pick my friend and I up at the airport.

About an hour or so drive we arrived at our hotel. The hotel was located in a very residential part of New Delhi. Although, there was not much around the hotel and it seemed far from the station we really enjoyed our time at the Red Leaf Bed and Breakfast ( Review will be posted later) Moreover, the breakfast was quite good.

The next morning lacking a full nights sleep, we headed out to explore Delhi. Our first plan was to head to Connaught place. Connaught place is a very central area of Delhi with many luxury brand shops. Upon arriving I was expecting it to me similar to a shopping mall in America but boy was I wrong. It was very ..... 3rd world.

 We arrived at 9am expecting for find a coffee shop open so we could enjoy something cold to drink but everything was closed. My friend wanted to visit the city of Rishikesh, so we decided to look into buying tickets. While walking around we were approached by this young man who told  us that everything is closed. He offered to show us where we could get a map of the city.... being tired and stupid we decided to follow him..

He took to a travel agency a stone throw away from where we were. We entered the tourist shop to ask for a map. When we got there we were asked to go into a room and talk to a travel agent. We ended up going into the room and we discussed the trip to Rishikesh. At first the man offered a tour to Rishikesh for the price of 1300usd each.... We quickly declined and talked him down to 700 for the trip... (Still a big rip off)


After withdrawing money from our bank accounts we headed out to see more local sites around the city. The tour agency gave us a private driver for our two days we had in Delhi and he took us to major sites. The first place he took us was Lodi Gardens.

Lodi Gardens was beautiful and it had many old tombs of previous rulers of India. Once we entered one of the tombs we were approached by a man in a white suit who asked us if we knew anything about the gardens. Of course, we said no. My friend and I were extremely tired and we did not know where we were. He took us there and we thanked him but he later demanded that we pay him 20 usd for his services..... Although, we wanted to fight him over it we had no fight power left in us so we paid up.



After going to Lodi Gardens we headed out to lunch were we ate at this extremely good curry restaurant. The food was delicious. After lunch we went shopping and I bought myself a new Indian outfit at Fabinidia.

After shopping around we headed to Gandhi`s House. This is where Gandhi used to live and where he was shot by a guard. Now, this previous residence is a museum that shows all of his accomplishments. This place was great and I really enjoyed all of the information they gave you about Gandhi as well as all of the interactive artwork.

The last stop of our day was Red Fort. Red Fort was huge and a great place to look at but.... I thought it was kind of boring and did not offer much besides the big gardens.

After a long day of traveling we decided to end the day with a curry flavour pizza !!!

Then back to our hotel.....

What a day it was...

Here are some tips I learned on this day

1. Do not trust young people who approach you in Connaught place
2. Do not talk to strangers
3. If you are offered to go into a room..... do not go into the room!!!!