Doorway

Rishikesh...

And oddly up to date again...today was Jens birthday which happened to coincide with a rafting trip down the Ganges...only 18km, three sets of rapids of which one was interesting and at one point some of us decided to jump off and allow the river to carry us for a couple of kilometers...it was cold, didn't really warm up much after time...and fast flowing....a fabulous way to get downstream though...and cleansed in the ice melt, more holiness for me...it also tastes a lot better up here than it does in Varanasi....

And rishikesh has been a lovely break, but I kind of wish I could go north now...time doesn't really allow it, a few weeks too early I think...but will set off on Monday or Tuesday for shimla...there I can get the feel of the place and work out where the may/June route...if it works out...can start...the place is whetting my appetite for mountains...and I think that its really time to get up to Nepal....

These last weeks have been odd, falling into the fluidity of travelling groups and spending much time in, good, company...but its a restlessness that drives us sometimes and I feel it again...wondering what's behind the next valley, if somewhere in this landscape you can find the remnants of old travelling dreams. This place is like a memory of goa and what I find more and more as conversation ensues is that I have such different memories of places in comparison to recent reports...and I feel a great and growing gratitude to having a longer relationship with India, ghat glimpse of the last days, it seems, before the place exploded into tourism and, in some ways, has become easier...but it still offers up wonders beyond imagination on an, almost, daily basis...

And working WiFi means that I've started to put stuff up on twitter...pretty random and backward as the order will no doubt be...tech issues...

And I think bed calls...its getting to the point of finding a quiet day I think, before I go...but tomorrow three of is plan scooters, full tanks, spare petrol as bottles, an early start and to get as far along the Ganges road as we can....while returning for sunset...of course....