Day 5 - Back to Gangotri - Als Expats in Indien

I wake up early. Gently the first daylight dispels the spectacular view of the starry sky.

"Six, seven, eight". One last time with this wonderful group, tea, breakfast, departure. Martin and I are a bit melancholic, the days went by so fast and we would have liked to walk one or two more days.

But so it goes for us only 14 km back to Gangotri, in beautiful sunshine. We try to soak up the scenery once again - because soon we will be stuck again in crowded Bengaluru between concrete buildings and hectic traffic.

In between, we give our all again collecting garbage and carry more than 50 plastic bottles out of a small forest. There we also meet an alleged guru. And although most of our hiking group believe that he is an imposter, a few still seem to be impressed by him.

Way too early we reach the end of the national park and soon after Gangotri. Martin and I take the hotel room again, enjoy a quick semi-warm shower and then march to the others in the base camp. There we hand in our rented helmets and review the hike with chai and snacks.

Afterwards we walk to Surya Kund, a small but spectacular waterfall in Gangotri. This one also has a religious meaning, it is said that the goddess Parvati would have liked to bathe here.

With some fellow treckkers from our group we continue to the temple. There we take part in the Arti, the prayer. Afterwards we are even allowed to enter the temple. Dinner is again at the base camp, to celebrate the succesful hike we even have cake for dessert. With a full belly, we go back to our hotel and fall asleep quickly.

Much too fast the beautiful mountain days have flown by and the next morning we take the minibus back to Dehradun. There we will spend the weekend relaxing and strolling through the parks and museums of the FRI (Forest Research Institute).