A long way down

A long way down

An invitation for a wedding brought me to India. I took my skateboard with me to go traveling in the north. With a backpack, tent and sleeping bag. It turned out a bit different than planned. This is a third part. Read here the first part about the wedding. And here is the second part, in which for the first time in my life I went skateboarding in real mountains.

In the morning I wake up a bit woozy. The temperature is already about 25 degrees. Fortunately, I have regained some energy. Yesterday was a disaster. The sun, antibiotics and the heavily winding roads had exhausted me. It even looked like a sunstroke.

I had to reconsider my ambitious plan.

Fortunately, after a night sleep I regained perspective. And also without any tiger conflict. I was warned about tigers the day before. I heard some noice outside my tent, but that clearly came from something else. I decide to not do long distances anymore in the upcoming days. I need to take rest and restore my health. When my tent is packed I walk towards the road. “Where you come from?”, an Indian man asks me. He has his convenience shop alongside the road. The shop is assembled with wooden trees, lots of twigs and plastic bags.

I live in the countryside. In the Netherlands everything is flat. Houses are with stones and tiles. I also don´t really know any wild animals.

Here everything is quite different.

Monkeys in Mussoorie

After a few hours of skateboarding, I take the bus to the town of Uttarkashi. Here I stay sleeping for a night before I start the most challenging ride of my life.

Instead of a bus, I choose spontaneously for one of these jeeps. Faster, effective and most important more comfortable.

Public transfer Uttarkashi

The jeep has to bring me to Rishikesh. A long road of 200 kilometers downhill. The ride is almost seven hours and deadly uncomfortable. In that seven hours I feel sick. Because of the driving style? Antibiotics? Heat? Hygiene? I don´t know it anymore. From the busstation in Rishikesh I get on my skateboard to drive to a hostel. The attention of all people is huge. One sticks his thumb out while another tries to lure me into a tuctuc. I can´t even give any attention back because I’m still woozy from the ride in the jeep.

Rishikesh is known as the yoga capital of India. The city has many ashrams where you can follow a retrait. A week or longer in total yoga spheres. There are also daily drop-in yoga classes. A kind of spiritual resort it is.

And yes, if I can´t find some rest here, I won´t find it anywhere.

Evening ceremony in Rishikesh

And I find rest. After two days of yoga classes I´m fully zen, my stomach works again and I continue my trip back to New Delhi. Now only from Delhi to Ghaziabad skateboarding. In Ghaziabad lives Shivam, the groom from the wedding.

“Stop! Mango! Buy mango! “, someone shouts from the side of the road. It’s 35 degrees, a mango would be nice. I feel good. A few days ago it was quite different. In Ghaziabad I am warmly welcomed and I may stay at Shivam for the last two nights of my stay in india.

I spend another day in Delhi. A fierce city. It has its charm. I can stand at a crossroads for hours, looking at everything that goes by. In the old part of the city there is a bazaar in the size of an entire district.

It´s amazing to see what and how people are bringing all kind of things around.

This is it for my adventure in India. A pretty intensive two weeks. It all went differently than planned. But maybe that’s exactly what I’ve been looking for. The hustle and bustle, the challenge, it´s just so much different from what I get in everyday life.

Next Wednesday, I will go to Iran. Not long, just for a week. To pick up some memories and meet old acquaintances. And to show Lisa Iran, one of the finest countries I’ve traveled so far. I will regularly post photos on Instagram. Check it out 🙂