Only an hour or two delay on the train to Hardwar first thing in the morning. Found a cheapish hotel with a friendly bunch of lads working there, who soon bacame friends and had a laugh with.

Had a wander around, but soon got bored. All there was to do there was shopping/walking through bazaars, the river Ganges and a couple of temples. The friendships made with the lads at the hotel was due to the lack of english speaking tourists. They gave me good practice on my hindi, correcting me and allowing me enough time to answer their questions.

That evening I also got good practice on my gujarati, spending a couple hours on the phone with mum and dad, telling them my journey so far. (I hadn't had a good natter with them since I got to India). Now mum's expecting monthly phonecalls and for me to sign up in an ashram for yoga teachings...

Washed my sins away in the river Ganges, and dunked several times in the cold water (as instructed), then trekked up a mountain to visit a temple. Too hot to do much else after that, so arranged to go for a stroll with one of the lads later that night, so we could go find each other girlfriends! Predictably without any success, we joined the others for food at the hotel restaurant.

Decided to move on to Rishikesh, an hour up the road by bus, to see what was happening there...