Weekend in Rishikesh

We spent a lovely weekend out of Delhi in Rishikesh, a city about 5 hours away from Delhi and known for various adventure sports. There is white water rafting on the Ganga River, and bungee jumping, and trekking. It is also a major spiritual center for India, with lots of yoga and holy men etc. (Maybe because it’s on the Ganga river?) For some reason, it also attracts lots and lots of Israelis. Menus actually list “Israeli salad” as an option! While there, we opted to do some mountain hiking. We were told by the guide that it wouldn’t be too onerous, since we drive to the top of the mountain and then hike down. I figured gravity is in our favor, what can be bad? Plus, I walk a mile or two every day; I should be relatively fit. Wrong. The tourist office really needs to have signs that say things like: “Warning – not suitable for children under 12 or pregnant women,” like they say on amusement park rides…I know how to read the signals. It was a lovely trek in the beginning, but we had a 16 km hike down the mountain…and somewhere around kilometer 10, I really wanted to sit on the sidelines. But what can you do? You’re in the middle of a mountain…We ultimately made it down, but I was nearly in tears and I couldn’t walk down steps for the next 5 days…Amnon and the boys then went white water rafting on the Ganges, and had a great time. I stayed behind and watched movies on TV.