Namaste Travelling!: India - Mcleod Gange, Rishikesh & Corbett Tiger Reserve

Paragliding

After Amritsar we moved onto Mcleod Gange, where the Tibetan government lives in exile. There was a completely different feel to the whole place with Tibetan people everywhere it felt like we’d crossed into a different country. It was so peaceful there with lovely views of the mountains, no hassling, no staring and no touting! Unfortunately for the first 3 days, something finally got the better of me and I spent 3 days in bed with diarrhoea and complete exhaustion. I made a speedy recovery though and despite the health hiccup I think Mcleod Gange remains one of my favourite places that we visited. Whilst I was at home suffering Mike nipped off to do the world’s second highest paraglide! Unfortunately he travelled 2 hours each way with the promise of a 45minute flight…only to discover the winds were too strong, so he had to wait for 5 hours and then had a rapid 8 minute descent straight down the mountain. Although slightly annoyed at the reduced flight time I think part of him was pretty relieved – it sounded like the flight wasn’t exactly smooth to say the least!!

The Dalai Lama

The big highlight of Mcleod Gange was that whilst we were there, the Dalai Lama was not only in residence but actually giving a talk at a local refugee school. Equipped with fm radios we trekked up to the hillside school and waited patiently outside for him to arrive. There were no more than about a hundred of us including the school children who all wore traditional dress. When his car arrived and he climbed out all the children started singing and he smiled and waved to everyone as he was helped up the steps into the school. He was less than 2m from us and had the most gentle, kind face. It was the strangest experience because both mike and I became really emotional and were struggling to hold back tears! Quite bizarre seeing as neither of us at the time actually knew that much about the Dalai Lama and don’t follow the Buddhist faith! Unable to enter the hall we sat on the roof of the school listening to a translation through our radios. He spoke in a very relaxed way coming across as very knowledgeable and open minded but also quite witty in his delivery. Although perhaps not converting us to Buddhism it definitely spurred us on to not only visit the museum and find out more about Tibet, but also to watch the film ‘Kundun’ telling the story of the Dalai Lamas childhood.

School children awaiting the Dalai Lama

Our Ashram with Yoga Hall on the left

Rishikesh was the next stop on our trip. Most famous for being the home of the (now derelict) Ashram where the Beatles supposedly wrote the majority of their ‘White album’ during an extended stay in the 60’s. Our understanding of an Ashram is a place of communal living usually under the guidance of a spiritual leader. We stayed in a neighboring ashram where actually the only communal activities we took part in were the 2x90min sessions of yoga a day – a bit of a shock to the system after an otherwise exercise free India! Mike also took part in the daily meditation sessions though they sounded slightly whacky to be honest, particularly the one titled ‘fruit and water therapy’. Not satisfied with what our Ashram had to offer in the way of meditation, Mike looked elsewhere and ended up doing a couple of early morning sessions with a local homeopathic doctor. He described the experience of sitting on the doctor’s roof cross legged at 6am in the morning concentrating on relaxation, not surprisingly, as very relaxing. For the first 10 minutes at least before it became insanely uncomfortable and actually just as much of a physical challenge as a mental one! I have to say I haven’t caught him practicing again since thoughJ

The BEST fruit muesli maybe ever?

Once again one of the highlights of Rishikesh was food related. With the heavily deep fried food and distinct lack of fresh fruit and vegetables throughout India it’s not an exaggeration to say we were aching for some fresh produce! Rishikesh was our answer to this…in the form of the most amazing (and massive) fruit salad with yogurt and muesli we have ever experienced!! It was not only the only thing that got me through the morning session of yoga but also ended up being the daily meeting place for the resident travelers. A little like Varanasi, the streets in Rishikesh were filled with touring Indian pilgrims but unlike Varanasi the Ganges here was clean enough for us to be tempted into its waters. Though it was absolutely freezing, after 2 months of being in the heat and not being able to swim it was sweet relief to finally be able to jump in! Even if in my case it was in full length leggings, top and with a sarong draped over my shoulders.

The Ganges really was that cold

Proof...?

We did also, of course, visit the ashram where The Beatles stayed and as you can see from the picture, went inside the room that John Lennon himself slept in! It was a huge complex, a shame that it’s now completely derelict, with the many dilapidated and deserted buildings overgrown with wildlife. Apparently according to our local guide it closed because the lease ended and the government claimed the land back but have just let nature take its course since.

We couldn't believe it but our 5 weeks in India were almost up and the final stop before flying out of Delhi was The Corbett Tiger Reserve. We stayed in a place with a real safari feel to it, sleeping in a massive tent under a canopy of mango trees. Here we met a young English couple who we ended up doing our safari the next morning with. We had intended to do an elephant safari but unfortunately all elephants were on loan to the government, taking part in a mission to round up a tiger that had strayed into one of the villages! We settled for a jeep safari and got up early, only to wait for over an hour for our jeep to arrive. One of the disadvantages of booking the day before - our guide had to content with the park queues before picking us up!

Although we saw a Jackal, and lots of deer we felt a little bit cheated because the tour wasn’t as long as it should have been and we weren’t completely satisfied. Plus even though we had known we probably wouldn’t I think we were all a bit disappointed that our chance to see a tiger was over. So… we booked another safari for the afternoon!

Green bee-eater

This time it was completely different – we had a very charismatic driver and guide who made it much more fun. We saw an owl and a monitor lizard, as well as lots of deer… but the real highlight came as we were heading back to the park gates before the very stringent closing time. Just as our guide was saying we had had a good time even though we hadn’t seen a tiger, a jeep with cheering Indians came speeding past…we were off! Obviously some special guide sign language had taken place and we went racing through the jungle at top speed to a clearing where we screeched to a halt. There, rolling around on his back was a huge male tiger!! We couldn’t believe it!! We watched him for about 10 minutes and it sounds ridiculous but he was so cat like it was amazing! Then he just stood up and slinked off into the jungle seemingly without a care in the world. It was time for us to race back to the gates before they closed at 7pm. The perfect end to India!