Shopping for Water in a Spiritual Supermarket

Us loaded up at the De-N-Ascents shop with Zed, Liquid Logic
and Wave Sport kayaks with good decks and Werner paddles

I have been drifting back into white water kayaking for the last few months.  I am not sure why I haven't done more but it has been hard to maintain skills to a level that allows you to paddle most Indian rivers comfortably.

The Ganga valley

Brendon and I had been so focused on trying to get out sea kayking that we hadn't research the white water options. A couple of runs on the Kundalika, a river south of Mumbai, reignited the flame and soon we were looking for some more opportunities.

Ashram central at Laxman Jhula near Rishikesh

After some research we decided on Rishikesh as a location for getting on some slightly harder big volume white water.  Rishikesh is one of the holiest places in India and is the epicenter for yoga and associated spiritual practices and and is set on the banks of the Ganges, or Ganga,just before flowing onto the plains of India at Hardiwar.
















There are over 160 rafting companies in Rishikesh but we found a small guiding company, De-N-Ascents, who specialise in kayaking to provide some guiding and they helped us with accommodation and within a dozen emails we were organised for three days kayaking on the Ganga over the Thanksgiving weekend. They were professional, well equipped and very very well priced.

Brendon buried in the wave train with only helmet and GoPro visible

We flew to Delhi from Mumbai before a five hour drive to Rishkesh in the evening.  We stayed at Tapovan Resort, a basic but clean Hotel with a good supply of hot water, my two key criteria for accommodation. The added benefit was that it was adjacent to De-N-Ascents.

Great fun on the hydraulics

We met Harendra the next morning and we were somewhat surprised by the quality of the gear.  Modern big volume creek boats, good decks and Werner paddles.  We had traveled with most of our gear including paddles expecting a poor selection of equipment but we were very happy with what was on offer. Harendra and his team that included Nial, Naresh and Vishal, were skilled kayakers who worked in India, Nepal, Norway, Japan and a number of other locations. They were just the right balance of professional but casual as they showed us down the river

The plan was to gradually work our way up the river increasing the size of the each day as we built our confidence and skills.  Harendra was cautious as in most cases people overstate their abilities, in our case the reverse was true.  We must be getting old. The river in November is a biggish volume class 2+ to 3. Very little maneuvering was required and there were very few holes and lots of big pressure waves which made for fun boating.

Dipping Kate's Rudraksha Beads in the Ganga.  
The young man sold me the Pooja offering of flowers and a candle 
and helped with the process.

Kate calls Rishikesh a spiritual supermarket and it was a great place to wander around after a day of boating. All forms of yoga, meditation, chanting, mediation, ayurveda, meditation and Ashrams lined the banks of the Ganga at Laxman Jhula.  The main market for many of these seemed to be Western ladies "finding themselves" on their "Eat Pray Love" tour.

The Ganga in a mellow mood at sunset

Hashish was common, with touts approaching you on the street. However, meat and alcohol were banned. Brendon and I felt like criminals trying to find an afternoon glass of beer and a plate of mutton momos  after a hard day on the river! In the end we settled on Petit Momo, no beer but a great little restaurant that just sells fresh, handmade vegetarian and paneer momos and thoukpa, Tibetan noodle soup. A late lunch here washed down with a ginger lemon and honey tea became our post paddle routine.

The best yak cheese pizza's ever,
all Pizza Huts should pick it up

Each day the weather was perfect and we had a bonus on the last day as the water level was a little higher with a larger release from the dam on the Bhagirathi, one of the main tributaries to the Ganga.  After reflecting on the trip over a yak cheese pizza at Pizza Hut in Laxman Jhula, next time we will do a couple of warm up runs on the Ganga then look to go higher into the tributaries the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi for some more sustained boating.

From right to left, Brendon, Vishal, Harendra and myself.