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Taking the opportunity of a long weekend we decided to go into the hills and enjoy nature and also quench our spiritual needs by visits to the Ganges and old architecture temples in the foothills of the Himalayas.
Day1: The plan for the day was to drive down to Rishikesh and Hardwar and return back by nightfall. Rishikesh, also known as the Yoga Capital of India, is about 42 km from Dehradun. It is situated at the confluence of river Chandrabhaga and Ganga. With detail maps in hand, we reached Lakshman Jhula without any problem.
Built in the year 1939, Lakshman Jhula has turned out to be the chief attraction of Rishikesh. The bridge is supposedly the first suspension bridge in India. If you walk in the middle of the bridge you will find the bridge swaying mildly. There is also another similar suspended bridge called Ram Jhula. These two beautiful suspended bridges are two hot destinations in Rishikesh.
At Rishikesh, Ganga leaves the mountains and joins the plains for her long journey. The flow of Ganga River is very calm near Lakshman Jhula. People enjoy river rafting in the upper part the Ganga. Near the jhula we hired a guide to get the local flavor. He took us to the Lakshman Jhula, temples and ashrams nearby. As there was not much crowd at that time, we could enjoy the beauty of the Ganga without any disturbance.
The water was very cold but clean. Even the thought of taking a dip in such cold water brought us shivers, so we left after dipping only our feet and washing our face! Other attractions of Rishikesh are triveni ghat and many ashrams as well as the Ram Jhula.
We started for Haridwar at 2pm. It is 32 km from Rishikesh and we were there at around 2.45 pm. Had lunch and proceeded to Mansa Devi temple. Mansa Devi and Chandi Devi temples are situated on adjacent hills surrounding Haridwar. There is now a provision of reaching the top via a ropeway for both. We decided to visit only Mansa Devi temple as we had to be back by 5.30 pm for the aarti of the Ganga river, which we were told is something definitely worth a sight and experience.
We enjoyed a ride in a cycle rickshaw to the ropeway station through the crowded market street. The huge riverbed of Ganga, many bridges built on it and the crowded part of the city could be seen while ascending to the temple. The Mansa Devi Temple is an ancient 11th century temple situated on the hill top of Bilwa Parwat, and is considered as one of the Siddhapeethas.
After coming down took a walk to Har ki Pauri Ghat with a tea break on the way. The view of huge Ganga river from the famous Har ki Pauri Ghat was really breathtaking. The water was flowing with a great force after descending from the slopes of the mountain region. Many people were taking a dip in the holy water hoping to clean their past sins and start life a fresh!!! Even the ice-cold water could not deter them from doing it. In the evening just when the Sun was about to go down below the horizon, priests perform the religious rite on the bank of the river.
This is extremely scenic and spiritual. Small candles are floated on the river. The place looks enchanting. The river looked beautiful with many such lamps floating.
Day2: Kempty Falls and Musoorie were planned for the day. At an altitude of 1370 m from the sea level and almost 15 km away from Musoorie, this surely is one of the finest waterfalls in India. From a great height, water cascades down a hill and dives straight into a plunge pool. A narrow, winding, stair lead us to the plunge pool and the view of the waterfall from the very bottom is awesome. This pool is an activity center for tourists for generally playing in the ice cold water.
We could feel the droplets of splashing water even from the bridge built as a viewing platform for the falls. The swim suits and lockers are available at nominal rents and while hygiene could be a cause of concern, there is an option available to those who want it. After enjoying the falls we headed straight for the ropeway. This proved to be a better choice as it gave the complete view of the falls as well as the Kempty Lake below. The clouds hanging down, added to the beauty of the falls. It was almost 4 by the time we reached the mall road of Musoorie. The weather had a very pleasant chill and was very refreshing. The shawls had to come out though as the evening progressed. The view of the valley below was awesome. The sky was cloudy and the sun peeking from behind the clouds was adding to the beauty of the hill station.
Day3: Visiting Dehradun was today’s agenda. Our first stop was Buddha temple. There is a huge golden statue of Lord Buddha overlooking the temple as one approaches it. The temple is open everyday but the top terraces are open only on Sundays. We were awed by the paintings on the walls depicting various Tibetan folk-lore. We then visited the monastery and the prayer room inside, which has a residential school for Tibetan lamas. The whole surrounding was serene and peaceful and the whole atmosphere soothes one down. From here we headed for the Sahastradhara falls. Near this place of perpetual shower, there is a sulphur spring. The presence of chemicals in the water is said to be very useful in curing different types of skin diseases. Even though the name says Sahastradhara i.e. thousand streams, the fall was much smaller as compared to the Kempty falls. We were just about to reach the falls when suddenly it started raining heavily. The rain added to the beauty of the flow of the Baldi River flowing at the bottom of the falls. There is also a provision of ropeway to enjoy the view from heights.
Our next stop was Sai mandir. The statue of Sai Baba is an exact replica of that in Shirdi. The temple architecture isn’t very elaborate but the atmosphere was serene and so blissful – felt at peace with oneself. Next we headed for Tapakeshwar Temple. About 5.5 km from the city, this is one of the most ancient places of worship in Dehradun. This temple is situated on the bank of a small stream. It’s a cave temple of Shiva. The name of the temple is given because of droplets of water that fall constantly on the ‘shivling’. We had to climb down around 30-40 stairs to reach the temple. The short vacation came to end with tons of memories to take home with. |
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