Delhi to Haridwar and Rishikesh
Delhi is very hot in every summer season therefore I was planning to go somewhere nearby Delhi to spend this weekend.
I, with my colleague Hemant Raj, decided to go at Haridwar and Rishikesh. I used to travel Haridwar and Rishikesh every monthly or fortnightly. So we were familiar to this place, however this time we decided to go by bus.
On Saturday 9-Jul-16, we wrapped our office work and decided heading towards Haridwar.
We took Metro from our Office and reached Kashmiri gate ISBT at 9pm. We came out from metro then took dinner at Dhaba near ISBT and went inside bus stand launge.
After inquiries for bus to Haridwar, we found 3 options.
1. Normal bus with fare of Rs. 225.
2. UP roadways Janrath AC bus with fare of 355.
3. Volvo's with fare of between Rs. 700 to 1100.
When inquired about Janrath, conductor told us that all seats are occupied and we decided not to spend Rs. 700 for Volvo's bus so finally boarded in Normal UP roadways bus.
It was 10:30pm when bus departed from Kashmiri Gate ISBT but we were unfortunate because we were stuck in huge traffic jam till Modi Nagar.
When bus stopped at dhaba near Khatoli, a small town in Muzaffarnagar, for 30 minute we had some snacks and again we moved towards Haridwar. We were feeling sleepy, but driver was too fast & was honking ,so it was next to impossible to sleep
We reached Haridwar at 3:15am and went to Waiting room in Railway station for relaxing ourselves. We were disturbed by Railway Announcement at stations, after refreshing ourselves we decided to move Har ki Pouri.
We took Autoriksha from Railway Station to Har ki Pouri, they charged Rs.20 each due to night time. When reached there, We seated on the bank of Holly Ganga for some time to feel the nature.
When sunrise started, views and feelings were awesome, we enjoyed Ganga Arti in the morning than start bathing.
Water was very cold and flow was extremely fast, people's are hold steel chain in there hand while bathing inside Ganga to avoid flashed in the river but I was thinking something different.
I know swimming well in flowing water so thinking to swim inside Ganga without hold any chain in hand, so that I walked till last bridge and suddenly jumped inside.
Peoples were surprised and thinking that some one fallen inside Ganga, but they relaxed when saw that I was swimming, after came out from Ganga, many people's told me that not dare to do it but I know my limit so I told them that not worry about it
After taking Holly bath, we started climbing to Mansa Devi. Mansa Devi is situated at highest peak in the Haridwar, there is 3 ways to reach at Mansa Devi.
1. People's can use Ropeway from main market to Mansa Devi, total time will be taken, not more than 10 minute but if there is rush, you will wait according. Fare of the Ropeway is 61Rs.
2. There is small and narrow road till Mansa Devi from main market, but road can be used for bike only, and it has 4-5 km long so only people's with bike are using it.
3. This is the last way which has maximum used; there is stairs from main market to temple. Way is approximately 1.5 km long. This is moderate track and any one can complete within 1 to 1.5hr. View's from Mansa Devi to Haridwar is amazing and you can see the whole Haridwar city from top.
We took Stairs route and reached at Temple, keep our bags and shoes in the shop who selling Pooja stuff, then purchased some stuff for Pooja and went inside Temple. There is so crowded inside Temple but we were easily visited. After visit the Holy Tample, we took some photos outside the Tample and started to our Rishikesh Journey.
After came back to Har ki Pouri, We took Auto Riksha from Bypass who dropped at near Lakshman Jhula and charged 50Rs each.
We amazed that Haridwar was very hot but Rishikesh seems so Rainey, When we reached Laxman Jhula, there is downpour so we were covered inside someone house.
When rain was slow, we went Laxman Jhula and took some photos and enjoyed Beautiful natural scenery. We spend some time to roam around to see cloudy Rishikesh in this Mansoon, view was amazing, and we were scared because Rishikesh was very clouded and Ganga flowing extremely fast.
Now its afternoon and we were hungry because We had not eaten anythings since morning so decided to escape breakfast and take lunch on very next Dhaba. we mooving forward slowly by walking from Laxman jhula to Ram Jhula, then we saw a dhaba in middle of the way so went inside and ordered for Thali, food was not tasty so we did not able to eat and left half foods in thali. We filling hungry so took some fruits in way and started moving ahead.
When reached at Ram Jhula, we did not noticed any major difference between Ram Jhula and Laxman Jhula so took some more photos and board in Auto to Triveni Ghat.
When reached to Triveni Ghat, I supposed to take the bath in holly Ganga but we were scared because flow of water was very fast.
I went inside Ganga and feel that we can't able to take bath inside , there is chance to flush into water so give-up bathing idea and seated on stairs of bank of Ganga for half an hour.
We were feeling sleepy and plan was not to stay in night at Rishikesh so we decide to our return journey.
We started walking to Bus Station which was 2 Km ahead from Triveni Ghat. Its 2 Pm in afternoon, we reached Bus Station and started to search for bus to Delhi. There was one AC Janrath bus standing behind us but all tickets were full so we boarded in normal roadways bus from Rishikesh to Kashmiri Gate Delhi. Fare of the bus was 255Rs each, and bus was departed 3:30Pm, due to some unknown reason, bus was running slowly and took 8hours to reached Delhi.
We boarded in Last Metro from Kashmiri Gate and reached our home in night.
We spent 1k each from Delhi to Delhi for everything.
