White Water Rafting - May '05

We dint plan a larger than weekend trip.

How did it go:-
We took a local bus to reach the Bus terminal at Kashmere Gate. Reached the place at around 11.15 but till then the Uttranchal Roadways push-back(2X2 deluxe) bus has left. As told by the inquiry desk they have a bus leaving every hour. We were keen on not taking a UP Roadways bus. Anyways, the Uttranchal Roadways push-back slated at midnight(2400 hours) never turned up so we had to look for the normal buses. Although there were no dearth of buses but we were keen on finding a very vacant with good seats, and easily did we found one. Hopped into it and it moved out of the terminal at around 30 minutes past midnight.

It dropped us in Rishikesh at around 6 AM and then we took a auto-rickshaw to Muni ki Reti which is the place where there are maximum number of shops for rafting and other sports. Checked out a couple of rafting shops and then decided on one. The guy was asking for 450 bucks per head for the trip from Shivpuri. This is approximately a 3 hour trip downstream. The guy asked us to come back an hour and a half later. We were back at his shop after relieving ourself and having an almost impeccable breakfast at Govindam (a vegetarian ISKON restaurant). The cost of hitch hike till the rafting start-point is included in 450 bucks.

Completed the rafting in around 2 and half hours and went back to Govindam for the lunch. This place is as clean as its reputation and has very competitive prices.

At around 2.30 PM we took an auto-rickshaw to reach the bus terminal from Muni ki Reti. At 3 a bus to Haridwar and at around 4 we were at Hari ki Paudi waiting to take a dip in the icy waters :D. After watching the grand Puja which was around 7 (the time changes in accordance with the sunset time) we took dinner at one of the local restaurants and went to the Haridwar bus terminal. Took a bus for Delhi at around 8, reached Delhi at around 2 (pretty fast...heh? yea it was :D) and back in my bed at around 3. :D:D:D

The Synopsis:-
- Bus from Kashmere Gate terminal to Rishikesh - Rs 100, 5 hours

- Auto rickshaw from Rishikesh terminal to Muni ki Reti - Rs 10, 10 minutes

- Settlement for Rafting from shivpuri - Rs 450 (no advance payment)

- Nature's call at shulabh - Rs 2 :D

- Pure vegetarian and tasty Breakfast at Govindam - Rs. 50 (max)

- Back from rafting - Rs 450 payment (if you are around 6-8 people you can ask for a good bargain price because the guy dont have to wait for his raft to fill)

- Nice lunch again at Govindam - Rs 100 (max) (actually when ur a group the bill comes out to be quite less than what I have quoted)

- Bus from Rishikesh to Haridwar - Rs 18, 30 minutes

Tips:-
Best time to visit - April, October
Essential accessories - Floaters(if u mind rafting bare-foot), extra undies(property of water is to make you wet)
You generally can't take much stuff on raft so either prepare to leave your bags at rafting shop or dont pack anything expensive for which you have to take a room or anything

Critics rating - B-
Popular rating - A-

:D

If you have any suggestions, please send them in comments section and I would include them here.