A Little Luxury and a Hot Shower

I know what you're probably thinking after reading my last post about rafting in the Ganga. "Ew, she went swimming in a river where people bathe, pee and place their dead?" While parts of the Ganga are polluted and less than sanitary, this segment is quite clean and pure because it is so close to the source in the mountains and its rushing current. There's no downstream effect yet. You can bet that when I go to Varanasai (Beranas), the city on the river where many go to die or spread the ashes of the creamted bodies of their loved ones (or simply drop the body whole), I will be admiring the river from a dry spot on the shore.

I also promptly took a shower, my first hot shower (from a gyser and not a bucket!) since September 6, when I took one at my parents' house in Bloomington, Ill., but not before I had an intense full body massage. I saw signs all around Rishikesh for the Baba Massage Centre and heard great reviews from other travelers. After logging hours on Indian buses and getting knocked around the river, I decided that I deserved a little pampering for the price of two Starbucks lattes. The masseuse used her entire body--hands, feet, knees, elbows, even her head--to massage mine. I got my head massaged, my face massaged, back, legs, arms, feet and even my ears. It was exactly what I needed to work out the kinks from that morning's militant yoga session.