Red Chilli Camp

 'Glamping' by the Ganges.

A bulbul.

 Looking for what he can steal.

 We were being watched.

 Down to the holy river.

Thursday, March 22^nd.

This is my 1000 post on my blog and it is appropriate that it has to do with being beside the River Ganges. I spent my 57^th birthday on its shores in Varanasi on April 12, 2011. I will be spending my 65^th birthday in India as well, in Darjeeling. 

I got up early and went and had breakfast before everyone else and today the service was much quicker. Then I spent some time sorting photos and writing up the blog for the last couple of days.

At ten we took the van and drove to The Red Chilli Camp on the Ganges River. It was about an hour drive to get there. The camp was quite nice with permanent tents, but we were all initially disappointed that we weren’t camping right on the river. We had lunch and then had a bit of free time, before going to the river.

The Ganges River, also called Ganga, is a river located in northern India that flows toward the border with Bangladesh. It is the longest river in India and flows for around 1,569 miles (2,525 km) from the Himalayan Mountains to the Bay of Bengal. It is a holy river to the Indians and there are several cities along its route where Indians are cremated.

We hiked down a ridge on a fairly steep rocky path to the river. There was a very nice sandy beach area where we parked ourselves for a couple of hours. We swam, with lifejackets, in the river and we had two guides with us who took us kayaking one at a time. We didn’t go far but it was fun. Then we just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful, quiet and peaceful surroundings. The water in the river was quite clear here, cold and fast moving as it is coming down from the mountains.

Then we hiked back up and hung out at the camp while waiting for four of our group to come back from white water rafting. Prerna had gone with them too. I read a bit of my book and showed some pictures to Mary of the flight around Everest and the gorillas. The camp served us some snacks around a campfire and then a little later dinner. The food was quite good here. This was our last group dinner as tomorrow is the last day.