Thursday, January 8, 2009
Varanasi to Delhi - Sheila Arrives - jim
When we finally arrived in Delhi we hurried to our hotel, the same one we stayed in when we first arrived from the Philippines, because we wanted to clean up, eat, nap a little and do a few chores before we had to go to the airport to meet Adam's mom, Shiela, who was arriving at the airport around 9PM to spend 10 days traveling with us. We got all that done in plenty of time and had the hotel find us a car that would take us to the airport, wait till we found Sheila and take us back to the hotel. It was a surprise to me how pleasant it was to return to a place I knew, even if just from a few days a month ago. When traveling I often forget how much work it is each time we reach a new city to find our way to a hotel, figure out where things are we want to see etc. So it was pleasant to be back in a city we knew a bit and a hotel that we were familiar with and liked. The trip to the airport to pick up Sheila was uneventful except that Adam and Sheila somehow were both in the arrivals hall for about a half hour without spotting one another, but eventually everyone found everyone and we were on our way back to the hotel in our Toyota Corolla with driver. It was funny how fancy the car seemed, it is really quite a small car, but it was probably the most room we have had and the only vehicle we have had to ourselves in about two months. Back at our hotel we visited for a while, though it was quite late for us, and then went to sleep. The next day we spent in Delhi. Adam and Shiela went out to do a little sightseeing and I stayed back at the hotel to catch up the blog, it seems like we are always behind on it, change money, rest a little, I cant sem to get rid of a cough and congestion from the cold I had a while back, and do a little organizing work for our upcoming trips.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Varanasi - 12/26 - 29/08 - Jim
So we finally arrived at our guest house in Varanasi, a city formerly known as Benares, the Sahi River View Guest House, by auto rickshaw about 8AM with with fervent hope, after our night in the train station, that our room would be ready. No such luck, it would be ready sometime after 11AM which was check out time for last nights guests. We dropped our bags at the guest house and decided to go for a walk on the ghats, we were somehow too tired not to do something. Varanasi is famous for many reasons including it's ghats and what goes on there. First the city, Varanasi is one of the oldest continually occupied cities in the world, up there with Beijing and Athens, it was contemporary with Babylonia, and has for most, if not all of that time been a holy city, for the Hindu's and their predecessors. The Buddha taught there as did the founder of the Jain religion, that was in around 650 BCE, when Varanasi was already an ancient city. The ghats are stairways down the bank of the Ganges river that line the river bank for 3 or 4 miles, maybe more. The Ganges River and Varanasi our sacred to the Hindu's, if you die in Varanasi you get out of the cycle of rebirth, and bathing in the river is kind of like a plenary indulgence, pardon the Catholic allusion. So on most mornings you can see thousands of the faithful worshiping at the many shrines and temples on the ghats, getting advise from holy men and bathing in the Ganges. The river itself is not in very good shape ecologically, we read that its not the human waste that you should most worry about but the heavy metals dumped by up river plants. In another place we read that it was in such bad shape that there was no dissolved oxygen left in the river, making it organically dead. In our walk that first day we saw little of this, for whatever reason not many people were out that morning, we saw none of the weirdness that we had heard about. It was probably a good thing, I was very tired and the ups and downs of the stairs weren't helping that. Adam claims I was actually grumbling at the stairs, imagine!! After a while we went back to our guest house and had some breakfast, I fell fast asleep on a couch, I remember none of this, and after a while our room became available and we thankfully moved in. I napped, Adam showered, and then when I finally pulled myself out of bed I also got a shower, which felt great after our train station floor experience. Later we walked a ways up the ghats to lunch in the old part of the city, me grumbling all the way about all the ups and downs; I was really tired and a bit worn out. Later in the day we found a place close to the hotel for dinner and then to bed.
Woke up feeling a lot better - and anxious to see more of the ghats and the city. We had breakfast at a place right next door, which had great Muesli and curd, similar to yogurt. We decided to walk the length of the ghats that morning and off we went. Along the way we saw a lot of signs for a concert that night, Sitar, Tabla and dance, we decided that would be fun and part way through our walk we cut off into the old city to find the concert site and buy our tickets. This was more of an experience than we originally planned on, fun though. The old city of Varanasi is all curving alleyways with no street signs or method of determining which direction you are heading in, it's alleys are also narrow and a few stories high so you cant even determine your direction from the sun. After a while and a lot of asking we finally found the concert site and bought our tickets. Then it was back to our walk up the ghats, past the burning ghats, where cremations go on at the riverbank all day long, and up almost to the far end. On our way back down towards our guest house we stopped at a place for lunch, the Brown Bread Restaurant, which we really liked, real good baked goods. The restaurant once again took us through many of the allies of the old city, can't say we were learning our way around but we were certainly getting used to being lost. Almost back to the hotel I found a place that was going to cost me, a nice book store just a little way from where we were staying. We spent a little time there and then went back to get a little nap for me, a little reading for Adam, before setting out for dinner and the concert. We tried a new place for dinner, a Japanese place in a Hindu holy city, the world is small, and then found the concert venue again, a little easier this time. The concert was fun, we had to leave a little early as our family run guest house locked the doors at 10:30 PM and we didn't want to be sleeping on the floor again.
This morning we walked about half way up the ghats to get breakfast at "Brown Bread" and suddenly the ghats were filled with people the way they had been described to us. Lots of people taking the plunge in the river, yogis doing yoga and all the other activities that we had been told about, we must have seen Varanasi's only two off days our first two days here. On this,our third day in Varanasi, we decided to try to find a Temple that M. Ghandi had sponsored years ago, strange for a temple but it featured a huge relief map, in granite, of the Indian subcontinent, plus a bit. It sounded good to me, esp given my love of maps, so off we went into the newer part of Varanasi, lots of hotels, stores, small shopping centers and traffic. After a while I began to despair that we would ever find the Temple and began being, according to Adam, a bit of a grouch. It just seemed we were walking in circles and not getting any closer, despite the fact that everyone told us that it was just down the street. Finally, we took up one of the rickshaw drivers on his offer to take us there and in a few minutes we were there. It was really a neat map and it was amazing to see how straight up the Himalayas went, with this my irritability went away. Strange the effect of maps on me. After seeing the map we walked back to the guest house and I took a nap, guess I needed it. We then hung around the guest house for a while, I had a great conversation with a young Chinese student from Chengdu and also headed back to the bookstore for a little book shopping. Just a note, most book stores will ship back to the states for you, so no I am not carrying all the books I have bought, I'd probably need a caravan of yucks to do that. For dinner we went back to the Pizza place we had gone to for breakfast, they had quite good pizza, the best I've had in India, baked in a brick oven, and great apple pie a la mode.
On our last day in Varanasi we were up early, 5:30AM for a hour and a half dawn boat ride up the ghats. It wasn't a spectacular sunrise but it was fascinating to see all the activity from the river, it actually seemed that a lot more was going on from that perspective and maybe there was since we had never gotten out this early before. After a while Adam asked the boatman if he could row for awhile, he rowed crew in college, and he rowed us part of the way back, perhaps not on quite as straight a course as the boatman. After our boat ride we had breakfast and then split up for a while; Adam went back to the guest house to work out and I went for what I thought would be a short walk. Well, as is often true on my walks I got lost and found a lot of interesting places including ending up near a pontoon bridge across the river. On the other side of the bridge I remembered was the fort of the Raja of Varanasi which the guide books said had an interesting museum, so I headed there. The museum was interesting, if in need of a little dusting. There were old cars, palanquins, arms, including swords pistols and elephant guns, and some fabrics which were in pretty sad shape. On the way back I ran into Adam on his way there and then continued on my way. We had agreed to meet back at the guest house about lunch time. While walking back a guy on a bicycle, out of the blue stopped to chat with me, he turned out to be working on his doctorate in philosophy at a local university, and we had a very animated and interesting 45 minute talk. Then it was back toward the guest house, as I approached it, from the opposite direction that we usually took I walked right by a book store we had been looking for the previous day but were unable to find. The guide book had said it was the best in town, so I went in and did a little damage to my credit card. By this time we had checked out of our room, we were leaving for Delhi by train that night to meet Adam's mom, Sheila, at the Delhi airport, so I hung out in the guest house lobby and had some food. When Adam got back he decided that a trip to Varanasi wasn't complete without a dip in the river but he had no place to take a shower afterward, as we had given up our room. Some people from Oregon that I had been talking to in the lobby offered their shower if he really wanted to take his plunge. All of us trooped down to the river and Adam took the plunge, which I recorded with his camera. Adam took his shower, and no longer glows in the dark, and a bit later we had an early dinner at a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant, before leaving at about 6PM for the railroad station. We had to catch our overnight train to Delhi at 8PM - which was scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 9AM. This would give us plenty of time to get to our hotel and get cleaned up before we had to meet her plane, which was due in at 9PM. This, however, wasn't the way it worked out, the train left a little late but overnight it must have stopped, both of us were asleep, because when we got up in the morning we began to realize that we were running late, real late. We finally arrived in Delhi about 2:30PM.
Woke up feeling a lot better - and anxious to see more of the ghats and the city. We had breakfast at a place right next door, which had great Muesli and curd, similar to yogurt. We decided to walk the length of the ghats that morning and off we went. Along the way we saw a lot of signs for a concert that night, Sitar, Tabla and dance, we decided that would be fun and part way through our walk we cut off into the old city to find the concert site and buy our tickets. This was more of an experience than we originally planned on, fun though. The old city of Varanasi is all curving alleyways with no street signs or method of determining which direction you are heading in, it's alleys are also narrow and a few stories high so you cant even determine your direction from the sun. After a while and a lot of asking we finally found the concert site and bought our tickets. Then it was back to our walk up the ghats, past the burning ghats, where cremations go on at the riverbank all day long, and up almost to the far end. On our way back down towards our guest house we stopped at a place for lunch, the Brown Bread Restaurant, which we really liked, real good baked goods. The restaurant once again took us through many of the allies of the old city, can't say we were learning our way around but we were certainly getting used to being lost. Almost back to the hotel I found a place that was going to cost me, a nice book store just a little way from where we were staying. We spent a little time there and then went back to get a little nap for me, a little reading for Adam, before setting out for dinner and the concert. We tried a new place for dinner, a Japanese place in a Hindu holy city, the world is small, and then found the concert venue again, a little easier this time. The concert was fun, we had to leave a little early as our family run guest house locked the doors at 10:30 PM and we didn't want to be sleeping on the floor again.
This morning we walked about half way up the ghats to get breakfast at "Brown Bread" and suddenly the ghats were filled with people the way they had been described to us. Lots of people taking the plunge in the river, yogis doing yoga and all the other activities that we had been told about, we must have seen Varanasi's only two off days our first two days here. On this,our third day in Varanasi, we decided to try to find a Temple that M. Ghandi had sponsored years ago, strange for a temple but it featured a huge relief map, in granite, of the Indian subcontinent, plus a bit. It sounded good to me, esp given my love of maps, so off we went into the newer part of Varanasi, lots of hotels, stores, small shopping centers and traffic. After a while I began to despair that we would ever find the Temple and began being, according to Adam, a bit of a grouch. It just seemed we were walking in circles and not getting any closer, despite the fact that everyone told us that it was just down the street. Finally, we took up one of the rickshaw drivers on his offer to take us there and in a few minutes we were there. It was really a neat map and it was amazing to see how straight up the Himalayas went, with this my irritability went away. Strange the effect of maps on me. After seeing the map we walked back to the guest house and I took a nap, guess I needed it. We then hung around the guest house for a while, I had a great conversation with a young Chinese student from Chengdu and also headed back to the bookstore for a little book shopping. Just a note, most book stores will ship back to the states for you, so no I am not carrying all the books I have bought, I'd probably need a caravan of yucks to do that. For dinner we went back to the Pizza place we had gone to for breakfast, they had quite good pizza, the best I've had in India, baked in a brick oven, and great apple pie a la mode.
On our last day in Varanasi we were up early, 5:30AM for a hour and a half dawn boat ride up the ghats. It wasn't a spectacular sunrise but it was fascinating to see all the activity from the river, it actually seemed that a lot more was going on from that perspective and maybe there was since we had never gotten out this early before. After a while Adam asked the boatman if he could row for awhile, he rowed crew in college, and he rowed us part of the way back, perhaps not on quite as straight a course as the boatman. After our boat ride we had breakfast and then split up for a while; Adam went back to the guest house to work out and I went for what I thought would be a short walk. Well, as is often true on my walks I got lost and found a lot of interesting places including ending up near a pontoon bridge across the river. On the other side of the bridge I remembered was the fort of the Raja of Varanasi which the guide books said had an interesting museum, so I headed there. The museum was interesting, if in need of a little dusting. There were old cars, palanquins, arms, including swords pistols and elephant guns, and some fabrics which were in pretty sad shape. On the way back I ran into Adam on his way there and then continued on my way. We had agreed to meet back at the guest house about lunch time. While walking back a guy on a bicycle, out of the blue stopped to chat with me, he turned out to be working on his doctorate in philosophy at a local university, and we had a very animated and interesting 45 minute talk. Then it was back toward the guest house, as I approached it, from the opposite direction that we usually took I walked right by a book store we had been looking for the previous day but were unable to find. The guide book had said it was the best in town, so I went in and did a little damage to my credit card. By this time we had checked out of our room, we were leaving for Delhi by train that night to meet Adam's mom, Sheila, at the Delhi airport, so I hung out in the guest house lobby and had some food. When Adam got back he decided that a trip to Varanasi wasn't complete without a dip in the river but he had no place to take a shower afterward, as we had given up our room. Some people from Oregon that I had been talking to in the lobby offered their shower if he really wanted to take his plunge. All of us trooped down to the river and Adam took the plunge, which I recorded with his camera. Adam took his shower, and no longer glows in the dark, and a bit later we had an early dinner at a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant, before leaving at about 6PM for the railroad station. We had to catch our overnight train to Delhi at 8PM - which was scheduled to arrive in Delhi at 9AM. This would give us plenty of time to get to our hotel and get cleaned up before we had to meet her plane, which was due in at 9PM. This, however, wasn't the way it worked out, the train left a little late but overnight it must have stopped, both of us were asleep, because when we got up in the morning we began to realize that we were running late, real late. We finally arrived in Delhi about 2:30PM.
Gaya to Varanasi
So as I was the only one awake during this whole trip I'm obligated to be the one writing about it. Jim being the more responsible studious blogger has already written all about our time and Varanasi and our trip back to Delhi and has only been waiting for me to post our little journey before he puts up the other post, so here goes. Our trip to the train station was basically without incidence, in true Bihar fashion we wound through numerous dirt roads seemingly headed to the middle of nowhere only to suddenly emerge at the train station which was festively decorated with palm trees made of xmas lights. We made our way to the train station to learn that our train was right on time, but we still had an hour to wait so we hunkered down on the nearest concrete bench. While waiting we talked to a retired merchant marine who's train was running at least 5 hours behind schedule and probably more since no one seemed to know where his train was. After saying goodbye to the mariner we boarded our timely train and quickly went to sleep since our train was arriving at 2:30am and we wanted to get as much sleep as possible. Despite past indicators of just about every train running late our train got in exactly on time which meant we had a 4.5 hour wait in the train station before our guesthouse opened. We had hopped to secure a retiring room (small rooms with beds in train stations) for this time, but they were all full so we once again pulled up a nice piece of concrete and hunkered down for the long haul. I quickly realized I wasn't going to be going to sleep so Jim tried and was quickly sound asleep. I tried reading but I didn' t have quite enough sleep to concentrate on the words so I took to playing solitaire (which drew a few watchers). This was going well till Jim got splashed with some water. We both thought it was someone emptying their water bottle from above until I too got splashed and we realized that it was workers cleaning the stairs above us. So we moved to a new spot and I continued playing solitaire. This whole time people would come up to me and try to get me to go to their hotel or take me somewhere in their taxi. So I took to ignoring these people. After awhile there was one who came up as per custom I ignored him (I had headphones in so I couldn't hear him), when he walked away I noticed he was a station worker and I wondered what he wanted. A few minutes later I saw him a short distance down the platform with a hose, I quickly woke Jim and we made a hasty retreat from the on coming water. Our new home was short lived as the man with the hose came to where we had retreated to, so we moved into the crowed station hall. We now had about an hour and a half left so I continued playing solitaire. After a short time someone came up to me and grabbed all my cards, I grabbed them back and put them safely in my pocked. The card thief proceeded to squat down in front of me and lecture me in Hindi. I kept saying I didn't understand but he kept talking, drawing more onlookers as he went. Eventually a station worker came over and shooed him away for which I was grateful. After all of this it seemed like 7am would never come but it finally did and we called our hotel only to find out it would be another half hour before they sent a rickshaw to fetch us. We decided to get a taxi and finally got to the guesthouse at around 7:30.
Adam McCurdy
1/3/2009
Happy New Year
Adam McCurdy
1/3/2009
Happy New Year
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Three More Days in Bodhgaya, 12/23/08 - 12/25/08 - jim
Tuesday morning we woke up and decided to go across the street to one of the two recommended restaurants, they had similar names and both claimed to be the original. The first one we walked into the staff was still asleep on the tables so we quietly moved on to the next one, where the staff was slightly more awake. After breakfast we walked down the street to an Internet cafe to catch up on email and to update this blog. After a while Adam left to go out to Root Institute for morning Yoga. I was feeling a lot better but not quite up to 1 1/2 hrs of yoga so I stayed behind to work on the Blog. About noon I walked out toward Root to meet Adam for lunch at a new place we had heard about, good lunch.
At this point we had still not seen the main event in Bodhgaya, the Mahabodhi Temple with it's descendant Pipal tree at the sight of Siddartha's enlightenment. The previous day we had decided not to go until we had sufficient time and weren't so tired. So, after lunch, after a swing through a park next door which had a beautiful rose garden and a metal stairway that allowed you to view a statue of an unnamed person from above????, we entered the beautiful Temple grounds. Considering all the people who moved through the Temple area in a day and the general difficulty of keeping anything clean in India it was a miracle of some large degree that the grounds were clean and serene. We spent a good part of the afternoon simply enjoying the Temple grounds and seeing all the different sites and sights within. There were hundreds, if no thousands of Tibetan monks chanting, monks and others doing full prostrations toward the Enlightenment tree and just a lot of people enjoying the grounds in many different ways. It had the feel of a sacred site but it also had a definite feel of a community, friends and neighbors, and complete strangers enjoying each other company while walking or sitting on the grass. We spent a serene afternoon there before going back to our guest house for a little nap, my idea, and then dinner. After dinner we went back to the temple complex to get some nigh time pictures, to compliment all the daytime pictures we had taken earlier. They look like they turned out well, so you will all have plenty of travel photos to look at. We are getting close to filling up the 2 Gig card that Adam has in his camera. After the photography it was back to the hotel and to bed for a good nights sleep.
We had nearly two more full days in Bodhgaya, our train to Varanasi, left Thursday night, Christmas Day from a train station about 8 K away. During these days we stopped to look at some of the numerous monasteries in town, from many different countries and sects of Buddhism. One of the places we stopped, the Bodhgaya monastery of the Tibetan Kagyu school was hosting the head of that school, he is called the Karmapa, some of may remember reading the news stories about his escape from China 6 or 7 years ago when he was a teenager. We also tried to go to the Root Institute for Yoga again but it was cancelled due to the holidays and their preparations for a huge group they were expecting right after Christmas. I haven't mentioned it yet but winter is the really busy season in Bodhgaya, it gets cold in the foothills where many of the Tibetans, monks and lay people, live and they flood into town for the relative warmth. The summers, on the other hand, are very quiet, Bodhgaya is on the Gangiatic plain and the temperature can reach well over 100, a very nice time to remain in the foothills. Though warmer than the foothills, it is quite cool this time of the year, lows in the 40's and 50's F - highs sometimes in the low 70's, it is also quite damp which makes the weather feel colder than it is. This is probably more true for me than for Adam since I've been bothered by sinus and respiratory problems for part of the trip. During these two days we also visited the Temple area many more times, I went both days to meditate and Adam and I spent some time hanging out and talking there. We ran into our Sikkimese friends from the train several times and had some nice talks with them and Adam somehow attracted a slightly crazy Korean guy who told him that he had to leave Korea or be killed by some people associated with King Arthur, that's right, the mythical English King. I don't remember the story clearly but ask Adam when you see him. Bodhgaya was a great place to celebrate Christmas, quiet and laid back, at least in the Temple area. We also made our way out the the nicest hotel in town to celebrate the holiday with a good lunch.
At this point we had still not seen the main event in Bodhgaya, the Mahabodhi Temple with it's descendant Pipal tree at the sight of Siddartha's enlightenment. The previous day we had decided not to go until we had sufficient time and weren't so tired. So, after lunch, after a swing through a park next door which had a beautiful rose garden and a metal stairway that allowed you to view a statue of an unnamed person from above????, we entered the beautiful Temple grounds. Considering all the people who moved through the Temple area in a day and the general difficulty of keeping anything clean in India it was a miracle of some large degree that the grounds were clean and serene. We spent a good part of the afternoon simply enjoying the Temple grounds and seeing all the different sites and sights within. There were hundreds, if no thousands of Tibetan monks chanting, monks and others doing full prostrations toward the Enlightenment tree and just a lot of people enjoying the grounds in many different ways. It had the feel of a sacred site but it also had a definite feel of a community, friends and neighbors, and complete strangers enjoying each other company while walking or sitting on the grass. We spent a serene afternoon there before going back to our guest house for a little nap, my idea, and then dinner. After dinner we went back to the temple complex to get some nigh time pictures, to compliment all the daytime pictures we had taken earlier. They look like they turned out well, so you will all have plenty of travel photos to look at. We are getting close to filling up the 2 Gig card that Adam has in his camera. After the photography it was back to the hotel and to bed for a good nights sleep.
We had nearly two more full days in Bodhgaya, our train to Varanasi, left Thursday night, Christmas Day from a train station about 8 K away. During these days we stopped to look at some of the numerous monasteries in town, from many different countries and sects of Buddhism. One of the places we stopped, the Bodhgaya monastery of the Tibetan Kagyu school was hosting the head of that school, he is called the Karmapa, some of may remember reading the news stories about his escape from China 6 or 7 years ago when he was a teenager. We also tried to go to the Root Institute for Yoga again but it was cancelled due to the holidays and their preparations for a huge group they were expecting right after Christmas. I haven't mentioned it yet but winter is the really busy season in Bodhgaya, it gets cold in the foothills where many of the Tibetans, monks and lay people, live and they flood into town for the relative warmth. The summers, on the other hand, are very quiet, Bodhgaya is on the Gangiatic plain and the temperature can reach well over 100, a very nice time to remain in the foothills. Though warmer than the foothills, it is quite cool this time of the year, lows in the 40's and 50's F - highs sometimes in the low 70's, it is also quite damp which makes the weather feel colder than it is. This is probably more true for me than for Adam since I've been bothered by sinus and respiratory problems for part of the trip. During these two days we also visited the Temple area many more times, I went both days to meditate and Adam and I spent some time hanging out and talking there. We ran into our Sikkimese friends from the train several times and had some nice talks with them and Adam somehow attracted a slightly crazy Korean guy who told him that he had to leave Korea or be killed by some people associated with King Arthur, that's right, the mythical English King. I don't remember the story clearly but ask Adam when you see him. Bodhgaya was a great place to celebrate Christmas, quiet and laid back, at least in the Temple area. We also made our way out the the nicest hotel in town to celebrate the holiday with a good lunch.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Moving On From Darjeeling - 12/21/08 = Jim
Feeling pretty good today, and it's a good thing, it is time to move on from Darjeeling, we have train tickets from a station about 4 or 5 hours away. We packed last night so we were pretty much ready to move out early in the morning. We had some breakfast, food we bought last night so we didn't have to go out this AM, checked out of our guest house and went to the area where the share jeeps congregate before leaving for various locations. We were going to the NJP railway station near the city of Siliguri. After a while we began to despair that a jeep going our way was going to fill up in time to get us to NJP in time to catch our train and worked out a deal with a driver where we each paid to two seats instead of one, it gave us more room, a real plus in these overcrowded vehicles, and the driver agreed to leave right away. The ride down the hill was pretty uneventful but quite beautiful, we were at about 7000' in Darjeeling and we were going down to the norther Indian plain, probably between 300' and 500'. Once again the jeep made the trip in far less than the advertised time and we were at the NJP Railroad station in about 2 1/2 hours. This gave us plenty of time before the train, which in a train station can be a negative because it exposes you the the various touts for a longer time than usual. We decided to find a little use track and camp out there for a while. This worked pretty well, only a few people begged from us and/or tried to sell us something, one of the beggars however confirmed one of my suspicions about some of the beggars. She came by begging for money for food to feed herself and her family and as it happened we had some food with us which we offered to her, she rejected it insisting on money, which we did not give her. Now, I believe that many beggars are truly in need but I also know, from experiences in the Philippines, that some of them are organized by gangs which use them to raise money, giving very little back to the individual beggar - a shame because it makes it hard to give to the truly needy. Another person came by and struck up a conversation with us while we were waiting, at first we thought he might be trying to sell us something but he just wanted to talk. He seemed to be pretty well educated, his English was above average, and he had an inquiring mind, asking us a lot of good questions about other places and life outside India. It was obvious, though, from the clothes he wore and other things he said that he was jobless and that without some kind of inside track he wasn't going to be able to use his inquiring mind to earn a living. A sad fact of life for many in India.
Finally, it was 2:30PM and we boarded the train to Patna, in Bihar State, from where we would make our way south to Bodhgaya, the village where tradition tell us that Siddartha Gautama became enlightened under a Pipal tree and became the Buddha. We settled in on the train, had a bit to eat from the vendors and about nine I crawled into my top bunk for a bit of sleep, a bit because the train arrived in Patna at around 3:30AM. As I pulled myself into the bunk I heard a voice say "welcome to the attic". It was the guy in the next bunk, separated from me by a partial wall and some grating, who turned out to be a friendly guy about my age from Sikkim who was, together with his family, also headed to Bodhgaya. We talked for a while about life, travel, education, the usual; he had been educated by European priests in Darjeeling which explained his really good English. By the time we finished talking we had agreed to go together in renting a jeep to Bodhgaya the next day, he had a total of five people and there were the two of us, enough to afford to rent the whole jeep. This saved us at least two bus rides and probably more, and a whole lot of hastle. On arrival in Patna we rested for a short while, Sonam, our new friend, had his 83 year old mother in law with him, and then he went outside to negotiate with the jeep drivers. We had agreed earlier that it was best for Adam and I to keep out of sight, the sight of foreigners has an inflationary effect on all prices in India. The deal was cut and we started out in the early hours of the AM for Bodhgaya. However, we were no sooner out of the parking lot of the train station when our driver was pulled over by a local Patna policeman who, quite blatantly, demanded a pay off in lieu of a ticket for some imagined offense. Bihar is known as one of the more wild and lawless parts of India and it was living up to its reputation. After only one more pay off, in the town of Gaya, about 10K from our destination, we arrived in Bodhgaya and incredibly just after entering town I spotted our hotel and we were there. Even more amazing, though it was only about 8 AM, they had a room for us. We moved in, ate a bit, cleaned up and because we really weren't really ready to sleep went out for a walk. Our walk took us to the Root Institute, a Buddhist meditation center and school, were we wanted to check out programs we might take while we were in town. It turned out that there were no two and three day programs while we were there, because of Christmas probably, but there was a talk that evening by a Tibetan Monk, so we arranged to have dinner there and then attend the talk. We then headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way for a good Thai lunch. Now we were tired and we spent part of the afternoon resting before heading back to the Root Institute for dinner and the talk. It was a beautiful cool evening and the walk was pleasant as was the simple dinner. Unfortunately, the speakers command of English was not so pleasant and his talk wandered quite a bit, to bad. We left a little early, walked back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep.
Finally, it was 2:30PM and we boarded the train to Patna, in Bihar State, from where we would make our way south to Bodhgaya, the village where tradition tell us that Siddartha Gautama became enlightened under a Pipal tree and became the Buddha. We settled in on the train, had a bit to eat from the vendors and about nine I crawled into my top bunk for a bit of sleep, a bit because the train arrived in Patna at around 3:30AM. As I pulled myself into the bunk I heard a voice say "welcome to the attic". It was the guy in the next bunk, separated from me by a partial wall and some grating, who turned out to be a friendly guy about my age from Sikkim who was, together with his family, also headed to Bodhgaya. We talked for a while about life, travel, education, the usual; he had been educated by European priests in Darjeeling which explained his really good English. By the time we finished talking we had agreed to go together in renting a jeep to Bodhgaya the next day, he had a total of five people and there were the two of us, enough to afford to rent the whole jeep. This saved us at least two bus rides and probably more, and a whole lot of hastle. On arrival in Patna we rested for a short while, Sonam, our new friend, had his 83 year old mother in law with him, and then he went outside to negotiate with the jeep drivers. We had agreed earlier that it was best for Adam and I to keep out of sight, the sight of foreigners has an inflationary effect on all prices in India. The deal was cut and we started out in the early hours of the AM for Bodhgaya. However, we were no sooner out of the parking lot of the train station when our driver was pulled over by a local Patna policeman who, quite blatantly, demanded a pay off in lieu of a ticket for some imagined offense. Bihar is known as one of the more wild and lawless parts of India and it was living up to its reputation. After only one more pay off, in the town of Gaya, about 10K from our destination, we arrived in Bodhgaya and incredibly just after entering town I spotted our hotel and we were there. Even more amazing, though it was only about 8 AM, they had a room for us. We moved in, ate a bit, cleaned up and because we really weren't really ready to sleep went out for a walk. Our walk took us to the Root Institute, a Buddhist meditation center and school, were we wanted to check out programs we might take while we were in town. It turned out that there were no two and three day programs while we were there, because of Christmas probably, but there was a talk that evening by a Tibetan Monk, so we arranged to have dinner there and then attend the talk. We then headed back to our hotel, stopping along the way for a good Thai lunch. Now we were tired and we spent part of the afternoon resting before heading back to the Root Institute for dinner and the talk. It was a beautiful cool evening and the walk was pleasant as was the simple dinner. Unfortunately, the speakers command of English was not so pleasant and his talk wandered quite a bit, to bad. We left a little early, walked back to our hotel and quickly fell asleep.
Darjeeling Part 2
So when we last left off I had gone to the movies. I got back to our hostel and found the common room full of people so I decided to sit down join in. Turns out I was joining a French couple who were on their sixth trip to India and preparing to go up to Sikkim, a French bus driver who had been to India at least as many times as the french couple, and young Japanese guy who didn't talk much, our in keeper, a young lady from Nepal, and the young lady's husband Mark. Out of this rather random group Mark is the most interesting mainly because hes a little mysterious. He's an Australian who has been living in India for some time now. As far as we were able to determine he doesn't ever work. He married an Indian woman from NE India had a daughter got divorced married the young Nepali woman and basically just travels about. He travels on his motor cycle and has visited every state in India (no easy task). He also made references to connections he had in Delhi. So whether he had money from family or was involved in some illicit business we'll never know but he did not appear to do anything but travel.
The next day I woke up to Jim saying that we weren't going to Kalimpong. Turns out Jim had come down with a case of Vertigo. According to him it had happened a few other times in his life and usually gets better with rest. So rest he did. I spent the first part of the day writing some emails and working on finding lodging at future destinations. After wards I ventured down into the market to buy some fresh Darjeeling tea. After smelling a bunch of teas I came to the conclusion that I couldn't tell the difference in various qualities...so I bought some of each. When all was said and done we ended up with a lot more tea than originally intended...oh well. That afternoon I decided to see what was playing in the theater again. I had visited everywhere I wanted to in Darjeeling proper and couldn't justify paying for a jeep to take me out of town so I could see the other tourist sights none of which I was horribly interested in. Turns out the only other English movie playing was "In the Name of the King". I had never heard of it so I went to an Internet cafe to investigate. Turns out "In the Name of the King" was directed by Uwe Bol, commonly thought to be one of the worst directors who manages to get big name actors and studio backing...I had to see it. It wasn't quite as bad as I was hoping but it was pretty bad. After the movie I went to fetch Jim so he could stumble off to dinner. Dinner was actually one of the Darjeeling highlights. We ate in a little restaurant called Sonam's Kitchen. It was only Sonam cooking so you had to place your order early in the day. The food and the service turned out to be so stellar we went back the next night.
The next day was pretty uneventful. I returned to the market to to pick up our tea, and when I got back Jim was doing a little better so he decided to venture out. We went to the bookstore where Jim had a bunch of books shipped back to the states (he does it everywhere these days), and I bought some post cards. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing postcards and reading in a pleasant cafe while Jim updated our blog (good thing somebody does). The next morning Jim was feeling a little better which was a good thing because it was time for us to head down the hill.
The next day I woke up to Jim saying that we weren't going to Kalimpong. Turns out Jim had come down with a case of Vertigo. According to him it had happened a few other times in his life and usually gets better with rest. So rest he did. I spent the first part of the day writing some emails and working on finding lodging at future destinations. After wards I ventured down into the market to buy some fresh Darjeeling tea. After smelling a bunch of teas I came to the conclusion that I couldn't tell the difference in various qualities...so I bought some of each. When all was said and done we ended up with a lot more tea than originally intended...oh well. That afternoon I decided to see what was playing in the theater again. I had visited everywhere I wanted to in Darjeeling proper and couldn't justify paying for a jeep to take me out of town so I could see the other tourist sights none of which I was horribly interested in. Turns out the only other English movie playing was "In the Name of the King". I had never heard of it so I went to an Internet cafe to investigate. Turns out "In the Name of the King" was directed by Uwe Bol, commonly thought to be one of the worst directors who manages to get big name actors and studio backing...I had to see it. It wasn't quite as bad as I was hoping but it was pretty bad. After the movie I went to fetch Jim so he could stumble off to dinner. Dinner was actually one of the Darjeeling highlights. We ate in a little restaurant called Sonam's Kitchen. It was only Sonam cooking so you had to place your order early in the day. The food and the service turned out to be so stellar we went back the next night.
The next day was pretty uneventful. I returned to the market to to pick up our tea, and when I got back Jim was doing a little better so he decided to venture out. We went to the bookstore where Jim had a bunch of books shipped back to the states (he does it everywhere these days), and I bought some post cards. I spent the rest of the afternoon writing postcards and reading in a pleasant cafe while Jim updated our blog (good thing somebody does). The next morning Jim was feeling a little better which was a good thing because it was time for us to head down the hill.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Darjeeling Part 1
Adam 12/25/2008
Darjeeling, a little bit of background first. Darjeeling was a British Hill station (where they went when it got too hot in the low lands) which became popular for its proximity to Calcutta, and its potential to grow amazing tea. Due to its elevation and its cold winters Darjeeling is well suited to growing tea. Our stay in Darjeeling was pretty quite (which isn't a bad thing), December is a part of Darjeeling off season due to a hiatus in tea growing and cool weather. The day after we arrived we went out for breakfast only to discover that the town really doesn't wake up until 9am. We did end up finding a place to have breakfast but it wasn't where we originally intended. Following breakfast we proceeded to explore around the town. After lunch we made a visit to one of the local tea plantations only to discover that it was shut down for the winter. A couple had set up shop near the factory inviting tourist in for tea and giving them and explanation of the tea growing and processing in Darjeeling. After an animated explanation they proceeded to sell us black market tea smuggled out of the factory. We of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to obtain some black market goods so we purchase we did. The next day our tea buying juices had started flowing and we went in search of Radhika & Son a reputable local tea merchant who operated in the heart of the local market. This was no easy task since any local Indian market consist of a labyrinth of stalls buildings and anything else you can think of. Eventually we did find Radhika & Son only to discover that they were closed on Thursdays, well something to do on Friday then. After our trip to the market we visited the Botanical Gardens. The gardens started during late 1800s was actually quite impressive. They had a pretty good garden of medicinal plants which were well labeled (Including one labeled Cannabis which had no leaves on it???). The garden also had several closed green house which contained an impressive array of plants. All in all it was an enjoyable visit. After the gardens we trekked back in to town and decided that we would leave the next day. We had done all we wanted in Darjeeling, but our train wasn't leaving until Sunday so we decided to visit a near by town called Kalimpong. There was a cinema near our guesthouse and they happened to be showing one Hollywood movie...The Transporter 3, not exactly my top choice but for less than $2 I decided a movie would be enjoyable. Jim and I went to an early dinner and he went home while I went to the movies. Alright that's going to be all for now since I'm about to call the family. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope everyone will join us next time to learn why we didn't leave Darjeeling the next day...or the day after.
Darjeeling, a little bit of background first. Darjeeling was a British Hill station (where they went when it got too hot in the low lands) which became popular for its proximity to Calcutta, and its potential to grow amazing tea. Due to its elevation and its cold winters Darjeeling is well suited to growing tea. Our stay in Darjeeling was pretty quite (which isn't a bad thing), December is a part of Darjeeling off season due to a hiatus in tea growing and cool weather. The day after we arrived we went out for breakfast only to discover that the town really doesn't wake up until 9am. We did end up finding a place to have breakfast but it wasn't where we originally intended. Following breakfast we proceeded to explore around the town. After lunch we made a visit to one of the local tea plantations only to discover that it was shut down for the winter. A couple had set up shop near the factory inviting tourist in for tea and giving them and explanation of the tea growing and processing in Darjeeling. After an animated explanation they proceeded to sell us black market tea smuggled out of the factory. We of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to obtain some black market goods so we purchase we did. The next day our tea buying juices had started flowing and we went in search of Radhika & Son a reputable local tea merchant who operated in the heart of the local market. This was no easy task since any local Indian market consist of a labyrinth of stalls buildings and anything else you can think of. Eventually we did find Radhika & Son only to discover that they were closed on Thursdays, well something to do on Friday then. After our trip to the market we visited the Botanical Gardens. The gardens started during late 1800s was actually quite impressive. They had a pretty good garden of medicinal plants which were well labeled (Including one labeled Cannabis which had no leaves on it???). The garden also had several closed green house which contained an impressive array of plants. All in all it was an enjoyable visit. After the gardens we trekked back in to town and decided that we would leave the next day. We had done all we wanted in Darjeeling, but our train wasn't leaving until Sunday so we decided to visit a near by town called Kalimpong. There was a cinema near our guesthouse and they happened to be showing one Hollywood movie...The Transporter 3, not exactly my top choice but for less than $2 I decided a movie would be enjoyable. Jim and I went to an early dinner and he went home while I went to the movies. Alright that's going to be all for now since I'm about to call the family. Merry Christmas everyone. Hope everyone will join us next time to learn why we didn't leave Darjeeling the next day...or the day after.
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