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Jeff Robson's Travels
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Location Date Pakistan 1707091200 South Korea 1531004400 India 
1530918000 Thailand 1529967600 United Arab Emirates 1503097200 -
- Breakfast with Angitha today (the others joined us briefly at the end)
- Our plan for today is to go & see Rishikesh but we both agreed, no more temples!
- We hired a nice air con taxi for the day as it was hot & humid again (No surprise!).
- Bought some cold & flu medicine in Haridwar for about $2 but it was pretty weak so only helped a little - better than nothing I guess. Looking forward to getting some Codral tonight.
- Rishikesh is described as the adventure capital of India. There's white water rafting, bunny jumping, jungle trekking and all kinds of other activities. Most seemed to be closed when we were there, not that we were planning to do any others anyway.
- It also seems to be the yoga capital as every second building is devoted to yoga.
- There are two main suspension bridges over the Ganga river in Rishikesh so we decided to walk the loop between them.
- I think they're meant to be pedestrian bridges but that didn't seem to worry the motorcycles or bicycles.
- Lots more shops here that are geared for tourists. We stopped at a few here & there but didn't buy too much. It seems Angitha isn't a huge shopper either which is good!
- Walked back across the second bridge then found a nice cool place for lunch, overlooking the river. It's surprising that a river so large is flowing so fast!
- One of the trek guides had mentioned a butterfly park to Angitha so we decided to visit there as well.
- It could've been good ... that's the nicest thing I can say about it as there weren't any enclosures or butterflies to be found, other than those roaming free in the surrounding forest. Oh, and a giant butterfly statue in the middle of a big garden. Glad we only spent about $2.50 (total for both of us) to get in!
- Walking back towards the car, we spotted quite a big, beautiful blue butterfly... and that was the highlight of the visit!
- The afternoon rain (ie deluge) started shortly after we got into the car. We asked the driver if there was anything else to see nearby but he could t think of anything so we gave up & just went to the airport.
- We paid $2 to enter the "Executive Lounge" that gives you free WiFi plus the option to buy snacks.
- When we eventually checked in, they told me the flight would be delayed by 30min. Normally this wouldn't really matter but is arranged to meet my good friend Kelley Chisholm for dinner. It was already going to be late enough! I didn't want her to have to wait for too long!
- My flight was only 15min before Angitha's & her flight was also delayed.
- I felt very sad saying goodbye to Angitha. She was the first person I met on the trek & we'd spent so much time together. She's a lovely girl with a quiet, kind & gentle nature. I felt like I was saying goodbye to a dear sister.
- They managed to turn the plane around very quickly & we ended up getting into Delhi nearly on time.
- I went to get a cab to Kelley's hotel. She'd told me it was "near the airport" so I assumed it was in the same area as mine since that's where all the hotels near the airport are.
- I paid for a prepaid cab then went outside to get in & get going, only to find that her hotel was actually in a different location, about 30-60min drive from the airport. This meant I hadn't paid enough so would have to pay a little extra.
- That's all fine, except that the security guards wouldn't let me back into the airport building to go & exchange my fare.
- After a lot of negotiations, one of the guards went & refunded my fare then gave me the money so I could go outside & buy another one.
- I paid the correct fare this time then got in a cab. The guy drove about 50m then decided he had to stop & go off to do something.
- Chalo chalo ("let's go!"). I tried beeping his horn but I must've gotten into the only cab in Delhi without a horn as it didn't work. So after about 5 min of just sitting there, I got out of the car & went to find him.
- Got him back junto the cab & off we went. The traffic was terrible though so it took 60min to get to Kelley's hotel. I'm pretty sure the cab driver didn't believe me when I said I was "going to see a friend for dinner" at her hotel. Anyway who cares as the guy was an idiot.
- Had a fantastic meal with Kelley (the first non-Indian, non-veg meal I'd had in nearly 2 weeks) and it was so lovely catching up with her.
- The DJ was having his own private party in the restaurant & kept turning the music up, even though he was the only one dancing, so we decided to go downstairs for tea & more chatting.
- Fell asleep in the cab back to my hotel then got in, unpacked the bare minimum & got into bed a little after 1am. Fortunately everything I left with the hotel was still there!
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