Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Cliff Jumping Epic Fail

Rishikesh has been full of so many thrills and adventures. For starters, we climbed down a steep mountainside path to reach a beautiful, serene area in which we all took a quick dip into the Ganges River. Although I didn't go in all the way at that point, I would later find out how much I loved swimming in the cool, refreshing water. The markets within Rishikesh were just as crazy as the ones we saw in Dehli. The annoying part was that all the shops seemed to have set up fixed prices for certain things like skirts and scarves and refused to negotiate any prices with us (or at least the girls). After spending this much time in India, most of us could tell when we were getting ripped off, so a lot of us had to walk away. Somehow Maddy got some great deals so I'll probably ask him to haggle for me later. If that doesn't work out, I'll just wait until Dehli. The people there seem to be a bit more reasonable. Later we checked out the ashram in which the Beatles stayed. It was amazing to see all the different artwork that both local and traveling artists had sprayed painted onto the old building walls. Some people left messages for their loved ones on the wall, but most had decided to leave lyrics to the Beatle's song that meant most to them. Despite the decaying rooftops, random holes some of us stepped in, and crazy men trying to make us pay them for jobs that don't exist, it was a great experience and I truly hope I can visit it again.

The white water rafting in the Ganges River was definitely one of the craziest, but best experiences I have ever had.  I've been white water rafting before, but what could possibly beat doing it in the Ganges!? Our awesome guide, Karan, made the experience even crazier by randomly pushing us off the raft (that probably sounds bad, but it was all in good fun) and playing games with us on the raft in which a good amount of us would always end up falling off. The rapids were so much fun and my favorite was the one we were allowed to swim through instead of staying on the raft. Now for the cliff diving experience...I may have messed that up a bit. The roughly 40 foot jump was supposed to be done in a pencil straight body formation. My praying mantis-like pose probably was not the best idea. Although I jumped off straight, I definitely did not realize how much the pressure would lift up my limbs. Sadly, I learned my lesson the hard way by ending up with a bad case of whiplash. As I swam back to the shore I thought everything was great, but then my head slowly told me otherwise. Dr. Maher, Karan, and Shayna all helped me out for a bit and everything ended up to be completely fine. Also, mom and dad, I really am fine, but I'll call you later so you can confirm.

If I had to describe my experience in Rishikesh in one word, it would be crazy. I still can't believe everything we've done here and I hate that my time here has to end so soon. 

1 comment:

  1. hey how is the cliff jumping in rishikesh.i saw couple of videos. it looks like we cant jump the way we wana jump. we gotta follow what the lifeguard says?

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