My Scooter Adventure into the Mountains

We get Sundays off at Rishikesh Yog Peeth every week. It’s our day to go out and do whatever we want. You can go into town and chow down on pizza and lassi by the ganga, sit an enjoy a satsang by a famous person (like Mooji), or…rent a scooter and drive into the Himalayas. I’ve done all of these things, but I want to tell you most about that last one.

For weeks I’d wanted to rent a motorbike and drive into the wilderness behind our yoga school but never quite found time. I finally made time after visiting the Beatles Ashram (!) to spent the entire afternoon on the back of my bike, but we went further and higher than I ever imagined me going and it was beautiful.

My friend Kelsie and I went into Laxman Jhula (the nearby part of Rishikesh) to rent two motorbikes. It cost each of us 500 rupees for two days plus 360 rupees for gas. We had to gas up again before leaving town, which brought the total to 1560 rupees, or about $25. Super cheap, like most things here. Gloriously cheap. If you ever want to try something new this is the place to do it. (We rented two days because sometimes the scooters are all rented out by the late morning, so we got them the day before). Beautiful!

Well, almost. It didn’t start out beautiful. Driving one of those things was a bit scary at first. Wide mountain roads are in sharp contrast to the crowded, narrow streets of Rishikesh. I figured it out after 5 minutes but was pretty awkward and scary with all of the people, scooters, and giant jeeps vying for the streets along with you. There’s little room for newbies! 

Armed with out yogi apple bread from the market and a general idea of where to go, we set out past the footbridge. I had a general idea of how to reach this temple high in the mountains along highway 94, but not much more than that. I had my GPS with me to stay on route and it was helpful navigating the twists and turns. First we had to stop for gas. Gas pumps in India seem to all be full-service style. They’ll fill up your tank with a smile! They’ll also fill up your plastic soda bottles with petrol if you want. Wild!

The highway runs up along the mountainside so it’s tortuous like you wouldn’t believe. But fun! Along the way you see all of these signs for the Border Roads Organization, or…BRO. They’re hilarious.

We drove for an hour or so into the Himalayas before settling onto this beautiful little mountain town. We took our time here, taking in the sights and people. I took a photo with a cute little schoolboy who was with his sister. He had such confidence in telling me his name and talking to me. His father wasn’t far behind and said a very polite “Namaskar!” to me. People there were so polite and kind. 

We got a bit list and asked for directions at this swank resort on the mountain for the temple. We had another 11 km or so to go. At the next little town we found we were almost there…just another 4km. Those 4km were some of the most fun and beautiful we had driven (and most of it was fun and/or beautiful).  

Pine trees, a dynamic afternoon sun, and steep winding roads up to this beautiful temple. Just gorgeous! We passed by a small group of houses and an old woman pumping water smiled at us and said hello as we passed. We felt so welcome here.

The temple itself was rather small but had a beautiful view. We had bought a little offering “kit” at the base of the entrance and walked the 110+ steps up to the restaurant, and then another 50-80 steps to the temple. 

We had no idea what to do with the little offering kit, but there were some kids up there who were more than eager to help us out (for a price, of course!). We gave them some money and they cracked the coconut for us and showed us how to tie this red ribbon around the tree there. 

We took some photos of the view (which was obscured by haze and clouds, unfortunately) and fed some bread to the cute dog following us about. The temple sanctuary area was small and dark, but quaint. We requested the Ganesha mantra and were given some sweets to offer to Ganesha and were blessed. His words were calming. They put red bindi stuff and rice on your forehead afterward, but the rice always seems to fall off for me!

Now that we’d cleared any obstacles (spiritually) to our path, we decided to have our yogi bread for lunch down at the restaurant. The young guy running small cafe, Vicki, sat with us and helped keep the monkeys away while we dined on apple bread, almonds, and bananas. He was learning English from a “Learn Hindi” book in reverse, and I helped him out as best I could. We really hit it off and I was so content.

We had to take our leave, enjoying the sunset down the road. The roads don’t have streetlights so driving at night is more dangerous. The drive back was quick and sweet. I got good at leaning into the turns and moved swiftly down the mountain roads back home. Despite what the pictures look like, I wore a helmet for 99% of my driving. Also, we saw yet more puppies. They are so cute.

We finished with a dinner at the Beatles cafe in Laxman Jhula, returned our bikes, and called it a night! We drove a total of 78.7km. The journey was liberating. Driving myself anywhere I wanted to go was so freeing. We met wonderful people, shared smiles, and want to do it all over again soon. Beautiful day!