Who Am I??

An environmental engg turned Software Engg working for a MNC. U cn call me Peenuts..thats what my long lost frend used 2 call me, and its in his memory.

6/15/11

Living on the Edge - Camping & River Rafting @ Rishikesh

Dated - 10th to 12th June 2011 


River Rafting @ Rishikesh


A few months back someone had asked me what gave me a high. At that time i was at a total loss for words, but during this trip to Rishikesh i found or shud i say - refound - the answer.

The 7 of us left for Rishikesh from Delhi on Friday night. But that wasnt without some initial hiccups. Baba Ramdev who were fasting in Haridwar had gotten seriously ill. There were rumours of his followers blocking roads to protest against government's arroagnce. Initially it was decided to postpone the trip to next day but at 10:30 pm Mr Maurya calls and says the plan stays. And from here on the adventure begins.

I was picked up at 1 in the night. Despite such late hour we got caught up in numerous traffic jams when we hit the highway.

In desperate need of a nap


By morning 7:30 am we reached Haridwar. Intially we had decided to take a dip in the Ganges therebut we got to know that GangDushera was being celebrated that day (Saturday) (there was immense rush). Seeing this we left directly for Rishikesh.

Clicked on the way  - @ Haridwar


Camping in Rishikesh

We had taken a combo package which included 3 meals, stay and rafting. The cost was Rs 1600 per person. The camp - organised by Alpinestar Holidays - was situated just next to the river bed. 

Reached base camp



Awesome location. Tents were situated just next to the river bed


We reached the camp by 9 am and were served breakfast - aloo paranthas, bread butter and tea. After that we explored the surroundings and clicked some pics. 

The mess - Food was pretty good



By 11 we got read for our rafting adventure.

The River Rafting begins..

There were 10 of us in the boat including the guide. We were accompanied by a life safety kayak. The rafting stretched across 18 kms - from Shiv Puri to Rishikesh city - across numerous rapids. While some of them seemed pretty hard to navigate, our guide made us cross them with ease. 

Getting ready for a thrilling experience

Life Safety Kayak

Navigating the rapids


On the way we stopped for Cliff Diving which involved diving from the cliff one and half storeys high, straight into the water. Our guide was hesitant to let us go for it - he said it was risky  but i felt he was just saving his time - so finally after a lot of persuasion we went for it. 

Testing our life jackets :P


Mid way halt - On the way to Cliff Diving

Cliff Diving was a mind numbing experience. As soon as u hit the water, u lose your senses for the next 10 seconds. The life jacket thankfully brings u back to the surface in no time. But the experience gave me such a high that i went for it again and finally my friends had to stop me from trying again as were getting late.


Caught in the action :)






Thank God I knew lil bit of swimming



One more rapid and we reached our destination. While other camps had arranged for taking their guests back to the base camp (We had landed around 20 kms far from our base camp while rafting), ours gave it a miss - pretty unprofessional indeed. Anyways, we managed to reach the camp somehow.  After having lunch - dal, sabji, roti, rice and salad - we wanted to rest badly but it was damn hot and our tents felt like they were on fire, so we decided to lay by the river bed and do some gup shup.



Tats me



Sun bidding us good bye

The evening snacks which were to be served at 4:30 were served at 8. But thankfully they had also arranged for a bon fire. We sat there as we ate, clicked pics, finally had dinner and then left for bed. We and a friend of mine chose to sleep under the sky, with Moon staring down at us :) Next day we got up early and left for Delhi.

The river rafting experience at Rishikesh was an experience of a lifetime. We had started from Delhi unsure of what was ahead of us. While we thought the distance from Delhi to Rishikesh would be covered in 6-7 hours, it took us nearly 9 hours to reach there. Organizers Alpinestar Holidays did an average job. While the food was good and stay was comfortable, they lacked punctuality. Evening snacks were almost given a miss. There was not much arrangement for entertainment after rafting. Also they were not clear about the transportation arrangements on the way back to base camp after rafting.

But all of this was worth the fun we had - living in the tents, sleeping under the sky, rafting in the Ganges, diving into the water. If you havent been here yet, then add this to a 'must do' in your list :)

1 comment:

white water rafting tips said...

Looks like you guys had tons of fun river rafting!!!

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