Hotel Sujata Bodh Gaya

... in India I had not encountered a single fully booked hotel room and I think it goes without saying that at least some of these places had rooms. They just didn't have staff that wanted to be bothered from their sleep in the middle of the night to check me in. This is the sort of culture shocking willful incompetence I wrote about before. Eventually I let the rickshaw driver take me to some place he knew about and it turned out to be an absolute ...

... I refused to play his game but it was only when I started leaving with Judith that he gave up. Even then, they followed us all the way to the car, talking in Hindi amongst themselves. We will never know what they were up to but it was an unfortunate distraction which made us even more distrustful of the locals. Back at the Nikko we had another mediocre meal and turned in early. The plan for tomorrow is to leave early for the return to Varanasi. Namaste

... allow us to sleep together. I guess the hotel looked worse to us because we had just come from the Radisson where everything was top class. The Lotus definitely left a lot to desire. I would give it 1 ½ stars at best. The next negative we discovered is that the electricity shuts off every 30 minutes or so. Fortunately the generator kicks in after a few moments, but, they wired the hotel in such a way that the generator only operates the lights, but ...

5th April: Got to Bodhgaya after about 45mins in the rickshaw (3-wheeled taxi powered by lawnmower engine) and arrived at the deep guest house which proved the lonely planet (or the book) right in that the staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and the room was pretty nice as well, even had a TV. Unfortunately the power was prone to switching off occasionally but this we could live with. At last an India we could get on board with! After pancakes and a nap (about ...

... which was nice but nothing special, didn't meet anybody worth keeping in contact with. Jaipur was an interesting place, I can't say that I liked it. There are a lot of interesting old palaces and wierd buildings that your not really sure what happened there hundreds of years ago. How much of that can you really see! One place we went which was actually really cool was a place called Tiger Fort which was on top of a mountain. We got a rickshaw to the bottom, and to our surprise our ...

Hi All! [Before you start reading, I just uploaded a butt load of photos to yesterday's post so please check those out first. Amazingly, I'm in the place most off the grid, and I just found the most advanced internet place so far! Fantastic!] I started the Cipro the night before last and am feeling much better. I wasn't feeling bad before, but those minor cramps have stopped. I'm also getting my appetite back which is a good sign. I've probably lost between 5-8 pounds. To ...

We have found a peaceful sanctuary in Bodh Gaya, the place of Buddha's enlightenment, which, outside of the spectacular temple complex that contains the Bodhi tree, I am sorry to report is the filthiest place I've ever seen in my life. I had expected to spend a large chunk of our trip here taking more music and perhaps cooking lessons, meditating under the Bodhi tree, and hopefully receiving some teachings. But there is really nothing ...

... taken from a direct relative of the tree (which lives in Sri Lanka). You are not allowed to touch or harm the tree in any way, but while I was visiting, a man decided to pick a leaf from the holy tree, and lets just say he was punished by the large security force that protects the compound. The place is beautiful, and contains monks from around the world, one of which befriended me and ...

Tom and I hopped a rickshaw from the ruins of Sarnath to the Varanasi train station. Upon arrival we made our way to the platform where our train was to stop, layed down our packs, sat down, and Tom began playing his guitar. Soon the crowd formed around us with stares all directed to the exhibit that we were. This was to be expected as we had both spent enough time in India at this point. The train pulled up and we began searching for the ...

... with a thousand of their followers, became monks and accompanied Shakyamuni to Rajgir. Thus far we have described Bodhgaya only in connection with Shakyamuni Buddha, but that connection is in no way exclusive. In the same manner as Shakyamuni, all the buddhas who show enlightenment to this world eat a meal of milk rice, sit upon a carpet of grass at Vajrasana, engage in meditation, defeat Mara and his forces and attain supreme enlightenment beneath the bodhi ...