A Holy Experience

By | 02:02 4 comments

I’ve just come back from what could possibly be one of the most mind blowing holidays’ ever !

For the first time, I gave up complete control and let ‘someone else organize’ a holiday and I just went along with it … no questions asked (okay that’s a bit of a lie – I did question quite a few things but never really got a response and was told to ‘shut up’ and ‘enjoy the vacation’)

I’m not the most religious person that you’d meet – but that’s not to say that I don’t believe in God.  I do believe there is an entity that watches over us all and is the creator / coordinator of life !  Yeah coordinator is my way of describing it ! hehe

So where did I end up on this vacation (which by the way is the first proper vacation I’ve taken since July 2008) … I found myself ‘camping’ on a silver sand beach right on the river Ganges … yup that’s right – the Holy River !  

And when I say camping – I really mean ‘camping’ … which is something I’ve never done before … the closest I’ve been camping has been desert overnighters whilst growing up in Dubai and even then those were quite luxurious.

We were camping out in Rishikesh, which is a city in the state of Uttarkhand.  The city is also known as the ‘gateway to the Himalayas’ and is about 25 kms away from another holy city ‘Haridwar’.  It’s also recently come to be known as the adventure capital of India.

I went out white water rafting on the Ganges; kayaking; rappelling; body surfing; stayed in a really funky tent; was petrified of using the make-shift loo’s at night; sat by a campfire every night and snuggled up in a blanket every night after zipping my tent shut !

camp top view Camp Entrance

The Camp Washing Up

winding river PA300258

The pictures above are various views of the actual campsite – it was spread across the beach - maybe a kilometer or so and proved to be a lot of fun =)  The tin can with the mirror was basically our ‘freshening up’ zone !

This was a camp organized by a company called AquaTerra and I must say – they were excellent.  I spent 5 nights out there and just gave myself up to nature and literally forgot about civilization i.e. switched my phone off (I have NEVER done this); no laptop (this was hard!); no electricity; and best of all – I just stopped ‘thinking’

If you have ever contemplated a camping / rafting trip in India – then I highly recommend the above company and definitely make a trip down to Rishikesh.  The natural beauty that you can find out there is just breath taking !

4 comments:

Simone Grant said...

It does look and sounds spectacular. I'm completely jealous.

And I actually love the idea of having someone plan a vacation for me (even though I'm a bit of a control freak). It actually sounds kind of freeing.

Dazediva said...

@ Simone .. it was truly a freeing experience, for once I didn't take control of the situation and it turned out pretty damn fab ! Don't worry next time you want a vacation - tell me - I'll plan for you :)

I haven't even gotten around to actually describing the holiday - it's still so surreal to me

TheFlyOnTheWall said...

Oh that would be a vacation in heaven. Good for you! I would love to take a trip like that soon too. Thanks for sharing the pics makes me wish I was there.

Dazediva said...

@TFOTW .. it really felt like I was in heaven :) if you want info on planning such a trip - feel free to ask me or just check out www.aquaterra.in - they also have a group on FB