Rishikesh is packed with so many foreigners seeking spiritual enlightenment, healing, treatments and teachings.

Got myself to a beginners yoga session first thing in the morning, but too cold have a bath in the Ganges at that time, then again the water in the hotel comes from the same place! Some complex and unbalancing moves, with some chanting and meditation throw in for good measure. Was thinking of signing up to an intense course and stay at an ashram, which involves being a student for three days minimum, having yoga sessions, lectures and a fairly strict diet to purify the body. I will do it at some point...

Instead I signed up for a three rafting trip along the river Ganges! Never having done rafting before, I wasn't sure what I was letting myself in for. I was told there were a couple of grade 3+'s along the way which was the most difficult it would get. Later discovering there was excitement about a rapid called the wall...

I was later joined by a well travelled American family (rafting instructors), thinking the difficulty of the rapids wouldn't be something too intense for me to handle, due to the ages of all three young ones... These kids have got guts, enjoying throwing themselves off rocks and the lack of fear in all aspects of what we did. I couldn't be put to shame, so I also plucked up the courage and tried to become equally fearless!

Losing two members on my second day of the trip through food poisoning, we continued down the river, where the recovered members plus one joined us for our final day's of rapids.

We had left the encounter with the wall for the morning, giving us the wake up we needed for the day ahead. It was fairly vicious looking with a high percentage of the raft flipping. Our confident group was later washed up as the wall had succeeded. I can now say I've had the water of the Ganges wash my sins away externally as well as internally! A great day filled with some exciting rapids, and gently floating down the scenic valleys with good company.

We arranged to meet up later that evening for food, which was partially interupted by a transformer on a powerline blowing up yards in front of us, which had been inflicted by the incoming storm overhead. It ended up being a romantic candle lit dinner with the whole group, while the rain poured down and the guys at the restaurant were trying to power up their generator.

Spending a couple days chilling in Rishikesh, then thinking of heading back to Delhi and plan my journey down to Mumbai and Goa...