Aarti Ceremony

A bit of a mixed day....up early for our little safari in the Rajani National Park. Knowledgeable guide, Bendi, tried hard to find us elephants...we could hear them and see their footprints but only saw one way in the distance. Plenty of deer and beautiful birds but not much else today. But it was a good drive. Clean air and interesting landscape.

After a break at the hotel we were driven to Rishikesh. What a disappointment! Traffic everywhere, yoga everywhere, shops selling tourist rubbish and tourists either on high danger sports or spaced out in a "Peace, man" sort of way. I really didn't like it. However we stayed for the Aarti ceremony where 16 priests dedicate themselves to the sacred river Ganges. Shorter than the one we saw yesterday it was good and quite an audience participation event.

Back to Haridwar for another great veggie meal. Really delicious.

We get an extra couple of hours in bed tomorrow as we don't leave until 10.00am. Hurrah!

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