The Golden Temple... It truly is a beautiful place. Many say it is the most peaceful place on earth. I’m not too sure if we would go that far. It’s hard to find peace amongst the thousands of other people there. And especially when they all want their picture taken with either us or with Gypsy. 

The parks, still inside the temple complex, but not directly on the lake were much quieter and nicer.

It is a very impressive place though. Yes, on one hand it’s coated in gold! A ridiculous waste of money. But on the other hand, the temple offers free accommodation and food to EVERYONE! On a normal day they feed 15000+ people!
Regardless of your own religious beliefs, nationality or gender, you are welcome at the temple. Which makes a nice change to the general greed mindset found in many other religions.

Outside the relative calm of the Temple, Amritsar is a crazy, busy, noisy, dirty city. It’s vibrant, with lots of markets, and people playing sports outdoors on every available patch of grass. Inside the summer palace was particularly popular with sports lovers. 

We also visited the Panorama which was completely mind-blowing. It wasn’t the most amazing museum I’ve ever visited, but it was completely unexpected and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Aside from the exhibitions, it’s just crazy how for a mere entrance fee of 15 rupees (30c) they are able to maintain the exhibition, pay rent, pay wages and pay electricity! Sure, the government no doubt subsidizes it but it’s still crazy to think. 

All in all, we didn’t mind Amritsar. Most people come for 1 day and 1 night, see the temple and go again. I’m glad we gave it more of a chance and saw some of the other sites. That being said, we won’t be rushing back….

Rishikesh is famous for different reasons to different groups of people. To Indians, it is a holy place where the Ganges emerges from the Himalayas. Every day, but especially on weekends, thousands of domestic tourists flock to Rishikesh to pay respect to, and to bath in the Ganges. River rafting is also popular now and raft after raft, full of Indian tourists float down the rapidly flowing river, occasionally with everybody jumping overboard for a quick blessing. It is also where they come to gain blessings from the many deities at the many temples and ashrams around the area.

To Yogis and Yoginis, Rishikesh is the mecca of all things Yoga. Especially Hatha yoga. There are so many Ashrams, and drop-in yoga classes, shop after shop selling yoga clothes and the type of cliché funky “indian” clothing worn to and from yoga class in the west. I can’t even count the number of places it is possible to do a TTC (Teacher training course)!. And then there are the chill-out cafes offering everything western and everything yogi.

For the non-yogi tourist, Rishikesh is famous as the place where the beatles stayed and wrote some of their most famous songs, including the entire "white album."

Just before you enter the Ashram is a little park with the most gentle monkeys I’ve ever seen. They literally take the food out of your hands one peanut at a time. But they don’t fight for the right to be fed by you. They patiently wait their turn. The epitomy of “Shanti” (peace). 

Although the ashram itself has since closed down, you can still visit the Ashram grounds today. We visited a lot of Ashrams in Rishikesh, but wow. The Maharishi Mahesh Ashram (or Beatles Ashram) as it is locally known, was another world. I can only imagine how peaceful and beautiful a place it must have been in it’s prime. 

I want one of these dome meditation rooms!!

On top of the main Ashram building you get an amazing view over all of Rishikesh.

Even the graffiti was tasteful and awe-inspiring!

It was a hot day, and quite a walk, but it was absolutely worth it. 

The guard told us next year they are going to start rebuilding it and turning part of it into luxury accommodation, and the other part into another Ashram. I just hope they are able to retain the wonderful feeling of peace and calm that it currently has.