17th October, 06.Wake up at 0530 am, tons of bird sounds of all kinds, they drown out the river sounds, hay…… where are we !!!! It’s dark and the stars shining bright, sit and stare at the morning star and the sky, the temp must have dropped in the night again, its around 14/15 , I wrap the blanket tight around me. The day breaks slowly around, sun glowing and raising over the mountains around 0630, shadows dancing all around you; growing, moving and twisting to dreamy shapes. The river becomes brighter and takes on a bottle-green hue, what a sight for sore eyes. The white sands, bridge, shade of mist, sun on the background, looks like a wishful wall paper.
Soon the kids and Anu wake up, we play shuttle on the beach and go to the dining tent. Nice breakfast with fruits and juice; Mr.Bist is a great help, he was a rive runner, been in the river for 13 years and knows it pretty well. Tells story of rafting and adventure in the river and we sit spell-bound for an hour, that was some river history. Kids are impatient to be off for the rafting, they don’t know what’s in store for them !!!!!
Meet Payal from USA on her vacations; good company for Anu and Kids for the rafting, we walk up to the road; this 1 km walk up is a killer in the morning, reach the road sweating and gasping, muscles screaming rest but the vision of rafting dragging us on. Get into the jeep and reach Marine Drive, 5 km away, the starting point of the 1st leg of rafting.
Meet Pavan the river guide, helps us on with the life jackets, helmets and the rules. Simple rules for safety and paddle; forward, backward, all down into the raft and stop. River is cold, they say ice melted water is constant throughout year at 10-12 degrees, the outside temp raises and ebbs with the seasons. Pavan sets us up on the rig raft; rig rafts are safer with longer oars and are more stable. We’re all paddling away through choppy water and start hitting the rapids; funny names for them too; good morning, Investment, Black Money, 3 blind mice, little Any, Body Surfing and Shivpuri rapids. We reach the first stop where the kids are off loaded, they will catch up with us downstream through the roads; some rapids are off limits for kids, they’re pissed-off. Me, Anu and Payal are paddling away; some big mama rapids coming up; Return to Sender, Roller Coaster (this one has a big hole down in the middle and needs careful rafting), Tea Off, Golf Course, Club House, Cash Flow and Initiation. We beach mid-stream and pick up the kids for the next few rapids. Soon we’re into Body Surfing, all get overboard into ice cold water; pretty chilly at first, sun shining so its OK if you get back into the raft and row hard, generates heat. 
We reach the cliff jump point where Pavan takes us up 25/30 feet rock face from where you jump into the river. Looks easy from river, when you reach the top its like 300 feet down !!!! Payal goes first, Nidish and then Brijesh and me. With a little coaxing Anu takes the plunge too; its an awesome experience; once you jump, it takes eons (so it seems, actually in about 5 seconds you hit water) to hit water and you’re popped up by the buoyancy of the life-jacket. At our take out point near the cliff-jump; they arrange for a great lunch on a platform (later we learn it was a Ghat!!!) and our pick up truck takes us up the roads to Biasi. 1 hour+ and we are at the camp, down the bridge, down the beach we reach camp by 4 PM. We’re thoroughly exhausted by now and want to rest. We have hot Pokodas and tea waiting; kids go in search of rappelling, there’s a 40 feet rock face in the camp. Its sundown again, time for the camp fire; 5 of us sit and crack Sardar Jokes and sing songs till 10 PM and we go off to sleep; tomorrow’s going to be a busy day.
Picked up a guide for 50/- and 2 hours to show us around. Young guy knows his way around takes us through to Swargashram and all the Ashrams around including Ram Jula and the Shiva temple. Lunch @ Chottiwalla, an experience in itself, a painted baldy sitting on a high stool in front of the hotel with his long hair sticking straight up, Chinese style. He was cheesed off when I stood near him to pose for the camera with my clean shaven head to compete with his bald and painted head !!!!!
Drive thro Rishikesh, Shivpuri (the rafting capital of Uttranchal) to reach Biasi and the campsite around 330 PM. There’s this heavenly campsite on the other side of Ganges and a dream like hanging bridge to cross over. We honk the horn pretty hard, sound carries far and wide, soon we have porters from Camp 5 elements picking up the luggage. Lock the car and start the 1 Km trek down to the camp through steep down roads, rocks and boulders, hanging bridge across the river down into the beach site camp. It should be around 500 Mtrs long and 250 Mtrs wide and soon we chuck into 2 tents. There’s a camp brief by Mr. Bist, do’s and don’ts and how to use the toilet tents. There’s glorious white sands all around; soon we realize sand reaches everywhere; everything you wear and everything you eat too!!!! We are at about 1700 Ft and more climbs to come for the next many days.
There’s electricity all around and people are agog with expectations and chanting. Sundown and the Aarti starts; this is something worth seeing. To me it’s, different from Varanashi where it’s more organized, more mechanical and sounds more commercial too; Haridwar is more humane and palpable and a little more personal. After the show is over; we go down the steps into the Ganges and set off the Dhias for the Peace and happiness of the family; they fleece us for Rs.300/- ; well worth it and we fend off circling swamis / gurus and gods men in all sizes and shapes. We run back to the hotel fast as we can shake our legs and are relieved when we see the gates of the hotel. Early dinner, watch TV and crash around 11 PM. We did 206 kms today and are at elevation 982 feet. 
