Rishikesh - City of Yoga

Barring a brief return to Delhi, our final stop in India would be the small city of Rishikesh. It was only a half-hour tuk-tuk drive from our previous stop, Haridwar, and it's said that if you visit one you may as well visit the other. Plus, we'd met some fellow travellers who'd recommended Rishikesh to us for its relaxing, zen atmosphere, as a place to escape from the craziness of so many other Indian cities. Known as the yoga capital of the world, the Beatles famously stayed at an ashram there before returning to the UK to record the White Album.

Haridwar - City of Colours

It's pretty cool that after leaving Varanasi, which must have been the greyest, gloomiest, most shadowy city that we visited in India, our next destination was Haridwar, easily the most multicoloured, vibrant city on our journey. Like Varanasi, it's a holy city where people from all around flock to bathe in a river, though up here in the mountains of Uttarakhand, it's a much cleaner affair. In Varanasi, the Ganges looks like a fetid, moving swamp, whereas in Haridwar it's much cooler and more crystalline. Granted, this is India so I'd be surprised if it's that clean, but at least it looks the part. In any case, while it might not have the same wow-factor as Varanasi, it's a much more accessible, relaxing place for a tourist to explore, with fewer touts and a much more sanitary atmosphere.

Varanasi - City of the Dead: Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 of this post if you haven't already.

Varanasi - City of the Dead: Part 1

I've been keeping this blog for over two years, and for most of that time I've updated it at a steady pace, rarely documenting anything more than two or three weeks after the event. However, since Angela and I finally made it to the UK towards the end of last month, and since we've been visiting friends and family that I've not seen for two years, as well as doing lots of job-hunting, I've now lost all motivation to finish these remaining blog posts. Well, not all motivation, otherwise I wouldn't even be writing this. But let's just say I'm too preoccupied by other matters to churn out these things at the rate I once did. I'll finish, eventually. But I don't know if I have the energy to put out more than a few per posts month, and I may not always write them with much depth or clarity of thought.