It's been a packed day!

I checked out after I woke up and went for breakfast of about 10 Paneer Paranthas in a restaurant overlooking the Ganges with a spectacular view. of the town.

I prambled around for a bit, dodging cows, sadhus and streams of old ladies in saris just like yesterday. Mercifully, however, the weather was much, much cooler today even with a sprinkling of rain.

I decided to make a hike to a nearby waterfall Neer Gargh.This involved a dusty walk along the main mountain highway heading north to the holy city of Kedarnath. Luckily, the Indian Traffic Police were out in force and driving was tamer than usual!

Cue, a scantily clad Belarussian. As I was about to embark on an uphill enslaught I was offered a ride on the back of Belarussian Software engineer Anastasia's rented moped. I couldn't exactly say no!

It turned out we drastically overshot the waterfall in our bid to find it. We were aiming for the top of the mountain, but unfortunately when we got there all there was were absolutely gorgeous views of mist enshrouded Himalayan mountains.

On turning back, this time it was obvious where the falls were judging by the streams of Indian tourists. The falls were gorgeous, but better was just being in a tranquil green environment away from the chaos of Indian towns.

It was a teeny bit awkward because Anastasia was my only way back to Rishikesh and she wanted to spend ages swimming in the pools of the waterfall, whilst I'm taking a sleeper train to Varanasi tonight. So part of me was like 'yeah sure you can swim in another pool it's fine' and another was thinking 'I hope we don't stay here hours and I have to rush later!'

Of course, I'm writing this so I do have a bit of a window! The train leaves in 3 1/2 hours but given it'll take about an hour to get to the station I'll leave in not too long.

Hitching on a moped through the switchback roads of the Uttarakhand Himalayas I have to say is one of the most exhilirating and terrifying things I've ever done! Anastasia lives in Ambolim, Goa, and has ridden scooters/mopeds around Asia for years but still...! If only there was a camera to record all my facial expressions!

Anyway, time to get ready for the epic 20 or so hour train ride across India's most populous province (Uttar Pradesh - home to 200million people).

Alavida!