Haridwar and Rishikesh- The Ganga Aarti and Serene Beauty

I just bag packed and left from Delhi via Noida to Rishikesh at 11:30 AM. It was Friday, the first time I was driving all over from Delhi to Noida that is not more than 30 km and then suddenly Bang! I hit my swift to a divider. I managed to reach Noida and my friends joined and I handed over the driver seat to him.

Now the Trip Starts from here Delhi-Noida-Haridwar-Rishikesh

On the way we take some snacks-popcorn, chips and cold drink to munch. Since it was Friday the perfect weekend so there was too much traffic on the route. We reached Haridwar at 5:30 P.M and decided to reach Harki pauri as it was the time for Evening Aarti and we do not want to miss that. We reached Harki pauri and the place was teeming but the view was amazing. The flow of river Ganga, the evening sunset, the beautiful glittering diyas floating and the chanting of mantra to appease the god that embraces “Jai maa gange jai jai gange” in a recurring voice is a sight to behold. The tiny diyas bedecked by flowers appears as if thousands of lamps are set to float in the river. We stay there till the Aarti end.

Since it was late in the evening we decided to stay in Haridwar only. We searched for hotel and finally decided to stay in Hotel Crystal Ganga Heights that was hardly 2km from the Harki Pauri. The Hotel was cosy and the rooms were comfortable. We had our dinner in the hotel and the food was wonderful. In the midnight we celebrated my birthday and that too was great.

We had our breakfast in hotel morning buffet and it had so many options to Eat. The taste was really good and the ambience of the restaurant was refreshing. We checkout at 10.A.M and left for Rishikesh.

The trip from Haridwar to Rishikesh was not what we expected to be. It was Saturday and we already made a mistake to leave Haridwar late in the morning. The weather was hot and the heavy traffic. It took us 6 hrs to reach to Rishikesh. Nevertheless the serene beauty, the trees on both the sides, wonderful roads with river flowing on the banks and wood and old junk train boogies on the road side makes the view scenic.

Finally we reached. So basically whatever we planned was already spoiled due to traffic. We put our bags in the room and decided to take evening walk on the roads of Rishikesh.

The city was full of tourists and the flea markets make the city live. We had some shopping and continue for Laxman Jhula. The Jhula was stretched to 450 feet and the height was 70feet from the river. When we reached there the Jhula was swinging due to windy air and extra crowd. I almost skipped a heartbeat as it was scary. We just left the place and sat near the bank of river Ganga.

We sat on the stone and the cold water touching the feet felt so bracing. We spent the evening on the bank of river Ganga, feeling the pure air, cold soothing water, the peaceful sound of boats and the beautiful river because of the reflection of sunset. It felt alive and free. Then we came back to hotel and had dinner. We have decided to leave Rishikesh early morning so that we will reach Delhi on time.