Laxman Jhula, Inidan Spa and The Beatles ashram

Laxman Jhula

I left the Phool Chatti Ashram for Laxman Jhula on 24 March at 1:30 p.m. via a jeep shared by four people. We paid 250 Rupees for the ride, which was about 1EUR (1.30 USD) per person.

I was dropped off at the hotel, where I booked a room by phone. The outside of the hotel looked much better than my room inside, but it was OK for 400 Rupees (6 EUR/7.80 USD).

Spa services

The first thing I did after staying in the ashram for almost one week was visit an Indian spa :).

In Laxman Jhula I found a decent-looking spa saloon and chose two massages – a full-body massage by four hands (two women) and a head massage with hot oil – Shirodhara. I had never tried these massages before and I booked the services in advance.

The first massage was fantastic; the women were working simultaneously, one from the head and the other from the feet. They were experienced and hard-working.

The Shirodhara was disappointing – the oil was either too cold or too hot. Loud noise from the street and the loud talk of the saloon owner did not help with the relaxation element. The ensuing massage of my head was done too roughly and did not create the expected relaxation.

The next day I scheduled an Nasya (Ayurvedic nose cleaning)  and a one-woman body massage.

Note for ladies: India is not the right place to color your hair or have your nails painted. The main problem is an absence of hair and nail polish products. Well, of course, if you want to take a risk you can try henna, but I didn’t go for that.

So, one way to stay beautiful is to bring hair and nail products with you from the Western world.

The Beatles ashram

I decided to stay in Laxman Jhula for one more night because of the “Beatles ashram”. Before visiting Rishikesh, I hadn’t known that the band The Beatles had come here for inspiration in February 1968 and that John Lennon had recorded a song, Happy Rishikesh, after his trip to India.

I called another hotel, which the spa salon owner had recommended, and a room was available. Because my luggage was very heavy, I took a taxi. The room in the “new” hotel was similar to the previous one and cost the same.

The same taxi driver took me to the abandoned “Beatles ashram”. The ashram had been closed to the public for several years due to abuse – drug addicts gathered there.

The ashram’s main entrance gate was closed. Luckily, I met some Russian people who “knew the way”. The hidden “entrance” was a hole in the brick wall and we jumped over. The land surrounding the ashram was large. Nobody had taken care of it recently; houses were in ill repair and the flora was growing wildly everywhere.

There were several relatively small, pretty stone cottages that looked like bee hives.

In one of them, a musician sat on the floor and played a fancy instrument that reminded me of a drum.

The cottage was painted in a bizarre way.

I left the Russian group and continued investigating on my own. I found several abandoned apartment houses and finally I found myself in a big room with paintings of The Beatles, writings, etc.

The trees around me had beautiful flowers and I picked a few.

On my way back, I met three Indian teenagers who invited me to follow them to The Beatles ashram so they could show me “an attraction”. My time for the taxi had already ended (I had hired the driver to wait for me for one hour), so I said “next time” to the boys and went back to my hotel.