18 hours of pure local bus ride fun!

Ohh what a wonderful experience an 18 hour local bus ride was from Manali to Rishikesh *note the sarcasm*. The first four hours was breathtaking as the scenery changed from mountainous conifers to broadleaf rainforest like rolling hills, with a waterfall that made your jaw drop, as well as the beautiful Beas River. The other 14 hours though involved leaking windows in the rain, constant stops with whistles to pick up and drop off locals. So lucky to have booked a seat, as locals were constantly standing in the isle. All in the experience. Getting off at the highly unorganized Hardiwar bus field was yet another experience. Yes, I said field, not a station. Picture an open field with tons of local Indian buses and tarp tents of people camping, if not living there. Luckily there were a few other foreign travelers on our bus, and in the confusion of trying to find the local bus to Rishikesh, and what time it comes (seeing two that were full and left just as we got off the bus from Manali), we decided to split a taxi rickshaw that fit seven people, for the ride we thought would be 20-30mins, ending up being 75mins. My bony butt obviously hurting from 18 hours of sitting. But its me so I still had a beaming smile on my face.
It was the end of a Shiva festival in Rishikesh, so the streets were bustling with many Indian tourist wearing orange Shiva shirts. The Rishikesh/Hariwar area is a very holy place for Shiva. No alcohol. We are staying at a hotel called Mount Valley Mamma Cottage. The owner is know as mamma, and calls all her guests daughter or son. We had a big communal dinner of Tali for only 50 rupees of all we could eat. SOOOO GOOD! After dinner a whole group of us walked down over the Laxsham Julha (the 2nd, and main pedestrian bridge) to this awesome restaurant called Freedom Cafe. They have a balcony that sits over the Ganges. So we sat for a couples hours talking and having some chai, next to the river Ganges. The river is just so powerful, with so much beautiful energy, such a site and so happy that I could see it clean and healthy state before I got Varansi. It comes out of the Himalayas 100km north. The amazing thing was as we were sitting we found that the sound of the rushing water would quiet and then become louder as if the river were singing.

We are just on our way to explore the abandon ashram the Beatles stayed at here and wrote their white album. Then hitting our 12 hour train to Varansi.