Bodhgaya in Depth

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.

Bodhgaya

After a mercifully quick stay in Gaya, we headed on to Bodhgaya by bus (Rs.15, ticketmaster smirked as he asked for Rs 50(~$1) while everyone else looked on and paid Rs.10. I laughed back and handed him a much more reasonable fee).

The Mahabodhi temple at the town center is a 19th century reconstruction of a 7th century temple at the location of the Bodhi tree where Buddha attained enlightenment. It's surrounded by a multitude of smaller stupas, as well as a reconstruction of a 2nd century fence. The Bodhi tree in the rear gave shade to about 150 Sri Lankan pilgrims praying. Picking up a fallen leaf from the tree ensures good luck in studies; plucking one is very bad luck. Don't worry, I got mine the right way. Aaron and I returned at night to play with the low light settings on our cameras:

The Mahabodhi towers 55m above the field of stupas. The great bodhi tree is in front.

The Bodhi tree and its protective fence, behind which is also the Buddha's thunder-seat.

We buzzed around to every country's temple here: Thailand, the 4 Tibetan ones, Burmese, Bhutanese, Japanese, Chinese, the Mahabodhi Society's, as well as the Archaeological museum here. Particularly outstanding were the relief work in the Bhutanese one and the interior painting and exterior decoration of the Thai temple.

Bhutanese Temple and monastery.

Thai Temple, during evening prayers. Thailand wins fanciest temple.

Oh and we're staying at one of the Tibetan monasteries.

New Plans/Varanasi

We got up really early to see the sunrise over the Ganges, which was incredibly worth it. Streets were still bustling at 5AM though. I did manage to get a shot without anyone else (but the cows of course):

And our early wakeup paid off:

Last one's big, for your wallpapering benefit.

We also went back to the burning ghats after I warned Aaron about the scam. Turns out he already knew about it from his book. Anyway we ran into the first tour guide who took us around and didn't force us to go to his shop or follow us. It was amazing. I knew enough from the wood touts that I could give the tour.

Monsoons have swollen the Ganges significantly. In the last picture you're supposed to see about 50 meters of steps leading into the river. They're underwater right now, making travelling up and down the river more difficult.

And the plan for the next couple of days, tentative of course:

Tomorrow: Sarnath (10km north, where the Buddha gave his first sermon)

Tomorrow evening: train to Gaya in south Bihar.

The day after: Bodhgaya, where the Buddha attaned enlightenment.

We weren't feeling enough of the dharma love, so we had to change that.