Ganga Kinare Hotel & Ganga Arti

We finally arrive at the Ganga Kinare Hotel in Rishikesh. We knew it was right by the banks of the Ganges but were were not prepared for the views of the river from our excellent rooms, it was spectacular. Every day a different view, rainy day follwed by clear day and then a misty day.

The reception had a lovely pool with floating petals in the shape of OM, and a young Brahmin chanted a welcome and adorned us with white mala beads. We got unpacked and prepared for our visit to the Ganga Aarti, a celebration of the river and its importance to the community that live alongside it.

The Hotel guide said we needed to book the 7am morning Yoga sessions and the 5pm Meditation sessions, as well as any visits to the restaurant we needed. I was straight on the phone to book our evening meal after the Ganga Aarti and the Yoga and Meditation for the next day. Very excited to have finally reached the 'Yoga capital of the World' and be booked in for some classes overlooking the huge river.

Ganga Aarti
We arrived at Triveni Ghat (steps down into the river) passing huge painted statues of Shiva, Arjuna and Krishna on top of the low level buildings at the side of the river. We took off our shoes and handed them over the counter, making a mental note of where they were, sometimes you wonder if you're going to get them back at the end!
We sat on the ghat and waited for the ceremony to begin as the sun set. The Aarti has chanting, drums and bells, lamps are lighted, and put on flower-filled leaf boats and released in the holy waters of the river. The whole crowd joins in and throws loads of petals into the water. It really is a sight to behold and made me a bit overwhelmed, I couldn't believe I was there in the sunset with the tray of flowers and candles joining in this ancient ceremony. When we eventually went into the river to throw in the petals I was quite emotional and threw them with such a force I ripped open the back of my thin kurta :0

So it was back to the hotel for a change of top. Dinner was lovely, if rather huge portions we couldn't finish, and we laughed as we discovered Chris had finally managed to take a photo of a cow or bull without it wandering off mid-shot. It turned out this was because the bull was having a wee on Triveni Ghat. We went to bed full with our red painted bindi's smudged after laughing about this alot.