Stayed up last last night to take long exposure pictures of the Buddha (25m) down the street and our hotel-monastery. It's still hard to believe that we're staying at such a beautiful building. That's Aaron and one of the resident ghost dogs in front.
We woke up early yesterday morning for the 6AM service at our hotel/temple. Lots of chanting, loud horns, cymbals, and drums. Went back to bed, then headed out for something to eat. On the way we met Jakey and Rawan who later joined us for breakfast. Over pancakes we planned to visit the Mahakala caves and Sujata's home, both important locations in the storyline leading up to the Buddha's enlightenment.
Our ride on the back of a couple motorcycles was a blast, since we were in the hands of a couple fast but experienced drivers. As we sped down the road Pawan was singing songs from bollywood favorites like 3 Idiots and Fanaa. After riding through some villages we reached the small cave where Siddhartha spent 6 years, now decorated with buddha statues and Sri Lankan flags. Next was the stupa commemorating Sujata's donation of milk-rice to Lord Buddha so that he had enough energy to meditate and attain nirvana. Here's Pawan, me, Aaron, and Jackey after the ride.
On our way out to dinner we ran into a Tibetan lama, who was very friendly and wanted to know how we were handling the weather, and what the temperatures were like in California (in Celsius, of course).
Today: Off to Orissa/Konark, to the south of Kolkata/Calcutta in West Bengal. We were planning on heading to Darjeeling and Kathmandu but it makes more sense to do it later when the weather is a little colder but clearer.
Aal izz well.
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