Feb. 5 - Haridwar, India

Sunday, February 5 :: Haridwar, India :: 158km today / 3643km total

Another early, chilly, foggy, but strong start on the bike today. I'm more or less riding the boundary between Uttar Pradesh province (which extends South down to Agra - Taj Mahal) and Uttarchanal province (extending Northwards, mostly Himalaya). I'm only about 200km from Delhi, but will not return there and "see" it until the very end of my trip. I really like this area of India - not overflowing with people, occasional forested stretches, wildlife in places, and the people seem to be more placid and easygoing. They still drive like maniacs, and today I would ride off the road 10 times to avoid getting hit by an oncoming truck or bus. Once the oncoming bus even had one of it's wheels in the gravel, on my side, forcing me to the far edge of the gravel shoulder, almost into the ditch. I am not alone in doing this; the local cyclists and scooters have to do the same thing. Where is the policing?

The wind was up early as well, not in my favour, as it hasn't been since Siliguri on the other side of India. All good though, and I determinedly plowed my way into it. Just past the 100km mark I slipped into an upscaly roadside hotel/restaurant, and as luck would have it they had chicken tikka on the menu, and their tandoor was fired up! It's extremely unusual to find a restaurant that has a tandoor operating before dinnertime, and I couldn't believe my fortune. So a big lunch it was, with my favourite Indian food (chicken tikka and naan), and when I rolled back onto the road I felt like Popeye does after eating his spinach. Just to keep the day normal I got a touch of welding done, on a little crack I had noticed, to be on the safe side. Now, 50km to go, bring it ON. Whether it was psychological or not, I hammered the final distance quite easily, getting into Haridwar well before dark.

Haridwar sits at the point where the Ganges emerges from the Himalaya, at the head of the Gangetic Plain. It's one of India's holiest cities, not only because of the aforesaid, but because one of the main Hindu Gods (I think it was Shiva) apparently did something or other here, as well - I left my guidebook in the room (oops!). There are many pilgrims here, but few to no foreign tourists, surprisingly. The pilgrims are quite varied in composition and background, ranging from the deathly poor to happy families to crippled to well-off NRIs (Non-Resident Indians). Its an extremely bustling place, and every night at sunset there is a ceremony at the ghats where pilgrims (or anyone) place little burning bundles of significance into the river. I went to see it, but was quite appalled - priests and/or "priests" were busily hustling the crowd, playing the donate-and-your-sins-will-be-forgiven game. They were walking around with receipt books open, pens a-ready, giving a little chant to a group of people then looking at them expectantly. Terrible to prey upon the weaknesses in the human psyche, particularly among pilgrims, many of them extremely poor who may have sacrificed much just to be here. No need for that nonsense here, and it completely destroyed the ambiance of what should have been a place of worship and respect. Many of the priests/"priests" came after me, but I was in a gamey mood and worked them over pretty good, pressing them on why they are taking money from the poorest of pilgrims, crippled, etc. etc.

From here its only 24km to Rishikesh, yoga centre of the Universe, apparently. It's a big foreign tourist enclave which, at the very least, promises a Swiss bakery. I'm not much for yoga or ashrams (can any of you imagine me in an ashram?), but I'll try to find a kayaking outfitter here, I'd love to do some paddling in the Himalaya on the Upper Ganges. From Rishikesh I turn West, straight West, through Dehra Dun to Punjab province... through the great cities of Chandigarh, Jalandhar, and Amritsar, to the border with Pakistan.