Rishikesh

A cable bridge crosses the river and people share it with motorbikes. It sways at the middle, so the steps have to fall in rhythm.

Once evening falls people sit on the steps and watch fire being turned. Singing runs through it and small lamps on leaf plates float away at the end.

The retreat where an English band stayed sits abandoned in the forest. Murals added later run across the walls of the egg shaped huts.

A raft puts in upstream and runs 16 kilometres down. Cold water means wetsuits, and partway down there is a jump from a rock.

Classes begin on a rooftop by the river before sunrise. The sound of the water carries up and mist lies low over it.

Twenty minutes up a forest path reaches pools set one above another. The water is very cold, so nobody stays in long.

At 1676 metres the Himalayan peaks show at first light. The temple itself waits three hundred steps up.

Tents go up on a sandbank upstream for a night. After dark nothing sounds except the river.

Temples and retreats stand along the lanes on both banks. Cattle and monkeys move among them, and food should stay out of sight.

Large rocks at the water are where people sit and stay a long while. Shade comes late in the day and the river sounds loud from there.

A Shiva temple in the forest 32km up the hill road from Rishikesh, where legend says Shiva swallowed poison and his throat turned blue. In July and August, pilgrims hauling Ganges water clog the road. A forest trail also climbs from villages across the river.

A rock cave upstream from Rishikesh on the Badrinath road, where the sage Vasishtha is said to have meditated. Inside it is nearly dark, with people sitting in silence before slipping out. Below the cave lies a quiet sandbar by the river.

Haridwar's main ghat, south of Rishikesh, where the current runs so fast that bathers hold on to chains. The sunset river rite here draws far bigger crowds than Rishikesh's. During the Kumbh Mela these steps are the most packed of all.

Forest between Rishikesh and Haridwar where elephants and leopards live. Jeep safaris head in from the Chilla gate. It shuts for the monsoon months, when the tracks wash out.

A 13-storey riverside temple, known locally as Tera Manzil, with a different deity on each floor and souvenir stalls along the stairs. Each storey opens up more of the far bank, and from the uppermost one you see the suspension bridge and the Ganges below.

In the Mohan Chatti gorge in the hills above Rishikesh stands an 83m bungee platform. The same site runs a giant swing and a zipline. Weight limits apply, so check them when booking.