C5: A weekend getaway- Haridwar, Rishikesh..!!

The mention of Haridwar brings to mind images filled with piousness and picturesque pujas and the Ganga aarti by the fast-flowing river at Har ki Pouri, right? And not all of us are fond of having a trip to a place of spirituality and puja and temple hopping (yes, some of us do enjoy this as well). But this time, a small trip to Haridwar with family helped me look at this holy place from a different perspective altogether.

[Just because I like this picture so much]

We planned a short Haridwar-Rishikesh-Haridwar trip on an extended weekend (19.04.2019- 21.04.2019). Like many of us, even I wasn’t too keen on going to Haridwar, but I left it to the town to surprise me.

Day 1: Delhi --> Haridwar

We left from Delhi at around 5.15 am in the morning, in our own car and were expecting to reach the venue by 9 or 10am. However, it being an extended weekend for everyone, the roads were unpredictably packed and with a short 40 minutes one single break, we reached our destination at 12.30 pm. We took our first break at the newly renewed Cheetal Grand restaurant for breakfast. This place has been decently maintained with beautiful flowers and gardens at the entrance which are surely a reason for everyone to get clicked.

[The backside view of Cheetal Grand]

The place was overcrowded, and it took us much longer to wait for the breakfast to arrive than to actually eat it. The food was decent, but I personally like Moolchand more than this place in terms of service, food quality as well as the taste.

We continued from there towards Haridwar in around 40 minutes. We have some relatives living in Haridwar and there is also an ashram known as ‘Vyas ashram’ (made by another relative) on the Sapt Rishi road and my family always resides in that ashram, whenever visits Haridwar and so did we.

The Ashram, to my surprise again, was very well maintained, hugely made and looked none less than a decent hotel. An ashram of that level was not expected in a city like Haridwar by me, but the city amazed me for the first time as I visited the ashram. The ashram has its own rules and everyone who visits this ashram ought to follow the rules.

Some of the rules include:

a.    Meal timings are fixed. The cooks ring a bell every time the food is prepared the everyone residing inside must reach the ‘bhojnalya’ within 30 minutes to have the meal.

b.    Each meal generally includes rice, chapati, daal, sabji and raita along with some desert and no one is allowed to take it themselves. The ashram people serve the food to everyone, standing in the queue.

c.    Foot-wears are not allowed inside the bhojnalya and the used plates must be kept outside the bhojnalya at a designated place where they are washed.

d.    No one is allowed to enter the ashram after 9 pm, unless pre-informed. Punctuality is a matter of important concern for everyone in the ashram.

e.    There is no rent for any room in the ashram, but the cleanliness of the room must be maintained by the people who are staying. You can donate, according to your wish, for the welfare of the people who are running the ashram.

We had our first meal in the ashram- rajma, chawal, roti, aloo ki sabji and raita- which was super light and tasty. After that, we moved to take our first ganga snan at a ghaat near the ashram (Har ki Poudi was a little far away from the ashram and since we were tired of the long journey, we decided to go the nearest ghaat for the dubki).

[The river behind us is clean and beautiful]

That ghaat, on Sapt Rishi road is recently made and is maintained to high standards. It was beautiful, super clean and had a view of an island from Mauritius. It actually reminded me of the islands of Mauritius. So calm, so serene, I felt so peaceful. It was the second time that I was surprised by the city. The river was fast flowing, and it was extremely difficult to actually take a dip in it and hence we helped each other in doing so, by holding on each other’s hands. It was fun, peaceful and pure bliss.

We came back to the ashram. From there, we moved on to visit one of our relative’s workplace (my grand mother-in-law’s brother and his family).

[Just posing] 

He has a factory of cosmetics in Haridwar. He showed us the whole place discussing how the cosmetics are being made. Being a chemistry teacher myself, I enjoyed the conversations and discussions with him. We moved to their house then. A society, I had never imagined could actually exist in Haridwar. Huge houses, with beautifully and well-maintained roads, each house having multiple luxurious cars. Oh gosh, I could feel the richness of the people all around. Haha!

We stayed with them for the whole evening and had a great time with everyone. Enjoyed the dinner and came back to our ashram. We were extremely tired by that time but super excited. For? For the rafting next day and of course because my brother and would-be-bhabhi were also coming to join us!!!

Day 2: Haridwar --> Rishikesh --> Haridwar

Early morning at around 6 am, my mom, bhai, bhabhi, her bhai and a friend reached the ashram. The plan was to reach the Rafting site at the earliest (8am as that is the first slot). Our gang of 6 people moved towards Rishikesh and my mother stayed in the ashram with my in-laws. We reached Rishikesh in less than an hour and all of us were super excited to for rafting (except me as I was a little paranoid about it). I was being told that it’s going to be so much fun, but my mind was not ready to accept it. I was just super scared.

Since we reached much before time, we decided to have breakfast as rafting would need us to have a lot of energy :P.

We had basic stuffed parathas and sandwiches with tea at a local restaurant of Rishikesh named as ‘Negi restaurant’. The food was just okay to make you feel full. Since all of us were more inclined towards rafting, the taste of the food was not much of interest at that point of time.

[My rafting gang]

We parked our car there and then moved in Innova, with the team of people with whom we booked our raft called ‘sea hawk’. It was almost an hour drive towards the starting point of the rafting. There are 3 types of rafting which can be done at Rishikesh:

1.    11 km for Rs 1000 per head

2.    26 km for Rs 1500 per head

3.    36 km for Rs 2500 per head

[Source- Google]

As we started, I was horrified. I didn’t know what was happening. I was just scared. I was told by many people that there have been many instances where many people have flown with the fast-flowing river, fell down in the river and what not. I didn’t know what to do. But as usual, Akshay knew it. He had done rafting 3 times earlier as well and was as excited as others who were doing it for the first time.

[A picture before wearing the life jackets]

[Only Shivam needs the focus]

We sat on the raft and it started moving. Our instructor was good and patient. He kept his patience, with us not being able to follow his instructions in the beginning. Of course, we went there for fun and wanted to enjoy in our ways. A point came where he asked us to jump into the river (we all were wearing life jackets, so it was totally safe). I was scared to hear that whereas everyone else jumped into the river. I just could not. But Akshay kept pushing me to jump and finally I jumped. Ohh my gosh… the water was freezing cold. I could not feel anything but the ice-cold water. For the first 10 seconds, it was scary but after that, it was fun. So much fun. We stayed in water for a while and then pulled each other back into the raft. The fear was gone by that time. We were just having great time with each other, with the clean water of Ganga and with the beauty all around. The tides in between, the jokes, the laughter, the serene water, the jumps, the pictures (oh yes, since we could not carry the phones along, the instructor clicked our pictures and made videos on his Go pro- of course it was paid, we paid- Rs 200 per head to him), it was overall so much fun.

[The pictures shows how much fun we all had in water- water babies we are]

And then came the cliff jump. Hushshshsh.. by that time, I was not scared, I did not know what to feel. I saw people jumping from the cliff into the river and then easily swimming towards the boat and didn’t know what to do. But I had to jump. I had no choice. Thanks to my husband. He gave me no choice.

 But yes, it was another life time experience which I am going to cherish throughout my life. It wasn’t scary because all the fear was out by that time, but it was wonderful. In no words the feelings of the jump can ever be described. We all did it (except Samiksha- who is afraid of heights and that is fine, we all). I did it. Yes!

Shivam, Akshay and Nalin were having the best times of their lives and they did it again. I don’t know why and how. Akshay did it for the third time as well.

We stayed at one point for some time and ate Maggi (there was a Maggie and chai point). Moved from there and reached the final destination.

Oh, my gawd- Akshay was so right. He truly believes in a saying- ‘create your own experience’. I created mine. Wonderful, fabulous, incredible experience.

It took us more than three hours to complete rafting and once done, we were super tired. And obviously super hungry too.

We did not want to sit at another local restaurant and be disappointed by the food so I decided to look for a good place on Zomato where the food will actually be good. After a little bit of research, we finally decided to go to a restaurant named “Bistro nirvana”. It was a good place and the food was tasty. We ordered so much and ate so much. But it was so cheap. The bill came out to be nothing (much less than what we could have paid in Delhi for the huge amount of food which we ordered and ate). We were happy, satisfied and of course tired.

We drove back to the ashram in Haridwar. The next plan was to visit Har ki Pouri for Ganga Aarti. You cannot miss that when you are in Haridwar. I was extremely tired but was okay in visiting there as Akshay wanted to. Since Shivam and gang were driving the whole night, they were much more exhausted than us, we decided that they will rest in the ashram itself, while I with my husband, my in laws and my mother, will go for Ganga Aarti.

[Har Ki Pouri at the time of Ganga aarti]

Har ki Pouri was crowded, over-crowded. People were sitting there for hours just to witness the holy Aarti. I am not a great believer of such things and hence could not relate to that concept, but it was fine. We reached at the right time when the Aarti was about to start.

I stayed there, watched people enjoying the bhajans. Clicked a few pictures of the whole scene (as I didn’t know what else to do) and then once it was done, we all came back. From there, we visited one temple (as it is mandatory to go to a temple in Haridwar 😊 )and then came back to our ashram. Temples in Haridwar and beautifully decorated and people visit there for the beauty more than the spirituality.

[View of a temple]

We had the dinner at the ashram itself and went to sleep.

The next day was planned to go back home.

Day 3: Haridwar --> Delhi

The next day started early when Akshay with my in laws went to Har Ki Pouri again for the holy dip. I did not. I had no reason to do so and that too early in the morning at 5 am. The dips were done and enough of water. I stayed back at the ashram.

At 7.30 am, the ashram people had organised a havan for specially me and Akshay (as it was our first visit there), which I liked.

[While the havan was on]

Havan and then breakfast with a few last pictures :P, we all headed back to Delhi at around 10.30 am.

[Creating memories]

The journey was not long, but the routes were different and weird. Thanks to google maps, we could survive it.

Because of traffic on the roads and again only one short break, we could manage to reach home by 5.30pm.

It was a fun trip overall. A little exhausting because there was no time to relax but I enjoyed it. We all enjoyed it.

The major plus point was that I saw another side of Haridwar. Which was good. Not that you can plan to visit Haridwar multiple times, but there is no harm in planning a short trip to such a place with a little lighter itinerary.

Also, for those who wish to- there are two main temples in Haridwar- Mansa Devi and Chanda Devi temple. You may visit them too.

C3: Christmas day and Ferrari World!

To know about the previous days, you may read:

1. C1-Introduction- Introductory day

2.  C2- Desert safari and water park

Day 4: It is Christmas today!

A day which we had intentionally kept free (apart from one Dhow cruise dinner) because we wanted to explore the city ourselves. Walking in the local streets, talking to local people, helps you learn more about the diversity of the place. Hence this decision. Also, we wanted a break from the everyday early wakeup-eat-get ready- travel-repeat process. We wanted to relax and refresh ourselves by just lazing around the way we wished to.

So, after having a hearty breakfast and staying in bed for a long time (wow), we decided to visit the famous Meena bazaar, which is well-known for the variety of stuff it has for the travelers to shop for themselves and for their relatives. Since we wanted to start on a sweet note, we started with the London dairy shake (yummmmyyyy!!!!)

Meena bazaar, to our surprise, disappointed us a little. It was more like street shopping with duplicate and not-so-good-quality stuff. From clothes to watches to bags to shoes, everything was of poor quality. Hence, we did not purchase anything. We just roamed around. Saw the entire place. Spoke to a lot of people. And ate. People in Dubai are quite honest and helpful. Everybody speaks the same language which shows the respect towards the culture. They are pretty disciplined too. We were impressed to see the commonness amongst the locals of the place.

In the evening, we went to a Dhow cruise.

It was not a cruise but just a boat ride with dinner on the way. Another dancing show was performed on the boat for the people around. Again, nothing too great about it except the view of the city, the beautiful weather and the company of my partner. The food was also just okay. Most of it was even finished by the time my turn came 😋 But that’s fine. We enjoyed the weather.

The day didn’t end there. Being a Christmas night, we along with my cousin and her husband decided to enjoy some midnight music and hence we went to Garage café. A place chosen by them (and I thank them for this). It was a lovely place with the magical live music. The guy who was singing the songs was just out of the world. His voice was magical. The music was breathtaking. We stayed there for a few hours till the time it was about to get closed.

I even got a gift as a Christmas present by the café people (I don’t know why I was chosen)😋 It was fun!

Day 5: Christmas is over, but the excitement is not. That’s the beauty Dubai. You cannot be bored here as there are multiple things to do and variety of options to explore. We are back to our high energy levels to explore the city again.

The day was planned for the Ferrari world and Abu Dhabi city tour.

The day started with the mandatory picture (which we used to send to our families everyday) and then we moved to a pre-booked cab.

The cab given to us was on shared basis, but it wasn’t much of a hassle as we were with another family from India. The cab was comfortable, and the driver was sensible and good mannered.

Ferrari world is one of its kind. Its huge and beautifully made. It has all the super scary rides which will give you the most dangerous but adventurous moments for lifetime.

Akshay was super excited for it, for the obvious reasons- cars, and more cars and some more luxurious cars!!!

We started with a virtual ride of a Ferrari 😋 and moved on the scariest rides of the world.

The rides were so scary, fast and adventurous that you have no time to think about anything while you are on it.

The first actual ride was the formula ross. It is the world’s fastest roller coaster ride.

Every time while putting my seat belt, I used to check and double check with the guards if the ride was safe and how much is the probability of me to fall off or die in it!! And every time the guards from each ride used to give me the same answer- it’s 100% safe. That gave me assurance. A little bit. May be!

But that’s the incredible thing about those rides. The rides were made with utmost care given to the safety and security of the riders. The material used, the care given- is of the best quality. Even though the rides are scary, you won’t feel unsafe even for a second. And hence you will have fun for sure.

After that, we went for all the other rides and had a great time in all of them.

Once we were done with the rides, we stayed there for a while to enjoy the beauty of the luxurious cars around us. Not me, but my husband. He has some sort of crazy love for cars and cartoons :P (about cartoons in the next blog)

He also did the virtual ride in Ferrari where he was driving the actual car, but the movement was virtual (this was a paid ride for around 150AED for 20 minutes).

Crazy, exciting and lifetime experience it was!

Also, for many of us who don’t know, the architecture of the Ferrari world is made in such a way that the shape of the building is derived and designed in the shape of the logo of the Ferrari.

Have a look:

And Ferrari world from the top:

Isn’t this mind boggling?

After that we had our lunch at the Yas mall (again, another beauty), adjacent to Ferrari world (since we had enough time in hand). We like trying new cuisines, new places every time and this time I tried which wich vegetarian sandwich for the first time (it is just like subway in India) which gives you an option to customize it the way you wish to (I got the black bean sandwich), the only difference is that they offer multiple options of cheese instead of sauces. Akshay tried Hardee’s chicken burger. Both- a must try!

From there, we moved for the city tour.

Abu Dhabi city tour required a lot of time in travelling as Ferrari world was quite far and hence by the time, we reached the Dubai museum, it was closed. Bad luck for us! So, we moved to Dubai mosque.

In no words ever, the exquisitely made building can ever be described in words. 

The only word I have for the building is ‘wow’.

[Source: Internet]

Since it is so beautiful, it is more of a tourist place these days than just a mosque to pray. It is unimaginably huge, takes you more than 20 minutes and 6 elevators to reach the main building.

The complete mosque is super clean and beautifully made with hand work all around.

The main building- whoa!

It consists of four chandeliers, all made of the world’s most expensive and huge pure, rare cut diamonds and pearls, the carpet is made up of handmade work for which numerous people had worked hard for days, months and years.

[Source: Internet]

We were just amazed to see this beauty.

After that, we went to the fruit market from where we wanted to buy some dates. It is said that Dubai has the best dates in the world. There is a variety of dates available in the markets of Dubai- from plain and basic dates to sugar-free dates to chocolate dates to what not. You name it and they have it. We bought regular dates, which are popular for high protein content and helps regulate the blood pressure.

While roaming around the fruit market, we came across variety of fruits which are different from India. It was again a different experience.

As usual, we were pretty tired by the time the day ended. We went to our hotel room, had a cup of Maggie, danced a little to release the grogginess and slept with the zeal for the next day.

Skiing and IMG world of adventure- in the next post soon!