Excuse me, I have schizophrenia...

Rishikesh is an amazing place. It is more peaceful than Delhi, cleaner than Varanasi, and one of the best cities for people watching that I have encountered in quite a while. You can stroll along the Ganges River, cross a pedestrian bridge at two different places, wander around the many temples, and choose from a dazzling array of restaurants and road stalls for dinner. You can get fresh pomegranate juice in the morning, watch the obnoxious monkeys and cows meander their way through the city, and stay up late at Mama's Cottage Guesthouse having late night talks with other world travelers.

I have been here now for about four days, and have no desire to leave anytime soon. Leaving the overly crowded, rainy, and dirty city of Delhi was hard enough after spending my time in the company of some great people who made my experience in the chaotic city one of the most memorable so far.

I arrived in the city of Haridwar a couple days ago, in the late evening, in the pouring rain. My five hour train was pleasant enough, but I was tired and a bit lonely, and immediately took a rickshaw to a hotel that was recommended in Lonely Planet. It was a typical Indian hotel room, 300 rupees a night, dirty sheets on a sagging bed, and a bathroom that hasn't seen any sort of cleaning in far too long. I went to sleep in hopes that the morning would bring a better experience. After checking out of the hotel and aimlessly walking in the direction of the train station, I eventually found myself on a noisy and cheap public bus surrounded by Indian tourists on our way to Rishikesh.

The rest has been great. I found an awesome little guesthouse ran by the sweetest little lady known to everyone as Mama, which has better rooms for half the price than in the other cities I've been in. I spent a quiet, independent day walking around the various different parts of the city, taking photos with the many curious Indian tourists who are brave enough to approach the solo white girl, and just enjoying watching the people and sights of this amazing city.

Over Mama's delicious Indian dinner of thali (which is basically vegetable curry of some sort, dhal, rice, and chapati), I met some very interesting characters that I have now been spending a lot of time with. A couple of us went hiking to a waterfall outside of town yesterday, which turned out to be a long, incredibly hot walk through winding dusty roads with trucks honking and careening at us every five seconds. But it was so worth it. After a long uphill walk through the woods we came to a swimming area, full of people, with refreshing water and a beautiful waterfall. I went in fully clothed and came out refreshed and dripping wet.

I spent an entire day with an Israeli guy (Israeli tourists flock to India, and it's not uncommon to be surrounded by them at any given moment in any city in India), walking around the entire city and having a great time. We splurged on a great meal of Mexican and Italian food (always a risk in India), that actually turned out to be quite good. We sat for hours and watched the people and the monkeys, we took silly pictures, and went shopping for Indian inspired clothing. We got approached by an odd man whose only words were "Excuse me, I have schizophrenia," and we almost suffered from an Indian Helicopter Related Injury (little flying helicopters that are shot into the air and fall randomly onto unknowing tourists heads). We walked back to our guesthouse after a full day of Indian greatness, and spent hours talking to the other travelers, eventually being told my Mama to go to bed by midnight and to be quiet.

Overall, my time here has been relaxing and exciting. I think I am going to stay where I am until Sept 18, when I will either take a train or bus back to Delhi, to catch my flight to Malaysia on Sept 20. It's hard to believe that my time in India is almost up, and it will be weird to get to the more Westernized city of Kuala Lumpur. But, I am excited to be starting a new leg of my journey, and soon I will be making my way from Malaysia up to Bangkok, where I will meet my sister on Oct 1! Words can not express how excited I am to get to see her and travel with her for two weeks!

For now though, I am going to thoroughly enjoy my last couple days in the mind-blowing country of India, and the relaxing, peaceful city of Rishikesh.

I hope everyone back home is doing well, and I will see you all very soon. Miss you and love you.