To Rishikesh and Haridwar

Thursday was a day off for the monks and the western educators. And it turned into a long
day.  Two people from the Smithsonian, a University of Arizona professor and I piled into a car at 9 am for the 30 mile (hour and a half) drive to the city of Rishikesh.  This is a city on the Ganges River that has a large number of swamis and yogis.  It also has many tourists and associated tourist shops. The city also has many ashrams were people can  stay for extended periods of time to learn. 

The four of us spent several hours walking through the city and taking in the sights.  There is a narrow bridge over the Ganges River to get from one side of the city to the other.  Suprisingly, the bridge was even used by motorcycles!

After Rishikesh, we drove another 25 miles or so to the city of Haridwar.  Haridwar is much different than Rishikesh.  Haridwar is a Hindu holy city on the Ganges River; many people make a pilgrimages to the site and bathe in the river.
 
Then it was a two hour drive back to Dehradun.  We think the driver got lost in Dehradun because  none of us remember the roads we took back into the city.  But we got home in time for dinner.