Hotel Buddah International Bodh Gaya

... and that makes me cooler than you…….anyfart…after checking out the tree we went to a pond where Buddha spent his 6th week meditating and got caught in rain story. As the legend goes, the animals in the pond got out and shielded him from the weather…from the looks of the statue it turned out to be a 15 foot cobra…Only the best for Buddha! The pond itself was teeming with a type of carp that would literally go into a feeding frenzy ...

... like us, who have come to learn and take pictures. Also inside the grounds is a cement pond filled with catfish. The surface comes alive when bits of food are thrown in the water. After a few hours in the temple we walk back to the hotel for a late breakfast. The food was neither good nor bad-just adequate. Since it was too hot to be very hungry we ate a light meal and went to our room for some rest and relaxation. Around 2PM, which corresponds to ...

... dump. Anyway we headed across to the station at midnight. We couldn't wait to get out of this place as it stunk, not surprising really with people pooing and weeing everywhere. They still did that in Bodhgaya but not as much. That said it was an Oasis of calm compared top the border town and the staring was far less intense, I guess they are much more used to seeing westerners there. Bodhgaya for the record was really nice, friendly people and a good time was had by us both.

... was no list on the train anywhere. After looking forever, I asked the guy who had the list with him and he told me to just get back on the train. So we did, and we sat down in three different compartments before ending up in "his seat", one of the compartments being a bunch of French tourists who were also so rude. We sat in his seat for a while because we kept asking him what we could do but he wouldn't tell us, and his seat was the only one open. Finally the guy told us that we had ...

... the "river" - since it is the dry season right now, it was more a giant expanse of sand than a river. his sister had cooked us a meal of rice, dal, tomato chutney and spiced mashed potato, finished with the most aromatically spiced black chai i have ever tasted. it was such an honour to share some real time with people in their home. the boys were so sweet and intelligent and interesting company - although i did not expect it, i am so glad to be here experiencing this.

So today is my last day in India. I'm sure as you can tell, its been quite an experience! As a final send off I did a few things around Bodhgaya (which I'll get into in a sec). More significantly, I thought I would give you a health update. Dr. Edie, in her wisdom, suggested I get a second antibiotic in case this one doesn't work or I get sick again in Bhutan. This was a really interesting experience. I went to the Dr's office, which was an alcove off the side of the ...

... this trip - a small town, roughly a mile long - and surrounded by farms and plants. Its not the congested bigger city of Gaya (about 20 min away) and as such has a wonderful serenity about it. Its relaxing, people are more peaceful, gentle, and there are travelers from all over the world. Clearly this is a sacred Buddhist place. Noticeably, there aren't any free roaming cows here (a particular contrast to Varanasi). Being a smaller place, there are few cars (basically ...

... that. Plus they have to pay off any government inspectors 2000rp per inspection. Teachers can't be fired as with all government jobs and they make ~3000rp/mo (~$80). It is a highly sought-after job (as are all government jobs) because of it's reliability. You get a pension when you retire also, which is not given for many other jobs. I was trying to figure out if Dinu and Mahendra were scamming me. I puzzled over it and asked them things. Why does Mahendra have a ...

... close to the place now known as Bodhgaya. Here they engaged in long, austere practices. For the first two years Gautama ate but one grain of rice a day, and for the next four years he ate nothing at all. He remained sitting in continual meditation despite the almost complete degeneration of his body. Six years after his initial renunciation he realized that extreme mortification does not yield liberation. He arose and broke the austerities. The five ascetics were ...

... place and bathe in the intense energy present. The currents guiding us to drift in and out of heightened states of awareness. The maya of space-time occasionally rippling before your very eyes. We put on some traditional clothes for a special birthday dinner at a local Indian restaurant, as fate would have it, one of 2 places in town that sells alcohol. We try the local lager which would have been better left in its dusty bottle. The lingering ...