Buddhists and an Idiot Who Doesn't Read the Guidebook

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Afternoon all,

Well it's been an interesting few days; in which I have managed to cover a huge part of the country on some long and boring train journeys.

During my last day in Varanasi i decided to have a peek at the Hindu University; the university itself was actually fairly standard, the exciting part came when the cycle rickshaw driver let me have a go. All was going well until the guy I was hanging around with decided to take a photo; this led to the inevitable stupid pose at the camera which unfortunately also led to me veering off the road and almost crashing into a fence (pictures to follow!)

Moving swiftly on...

Following on from Varanasi I decided to visit the town of Bodhgaya which is where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. Subsequnetly the town is filled with Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world during the winter creating a wash of brightly covered robes across the town. The town surrounds the relatively impressive temple which holds and offshoot from the original Bodhi tree under which the Buddha reached nirvana. The rest of the town is dotted with a host of temples; one for each of the Buddhist countries around the world. Making it an odd sight to see East Asian architecture surrounded by Indian squalor!

One of the great culinary delights of Bodhgaya is the array of tent restaurants that spring up around the town during the pilgrim season. It just so happened the original one sat opposit my guesthouse; the place is run by an Indian fellow who literally spends his days smoking his chillum and cooking food. He took a shine to myself and Alan (Irish guy I was with) and decided to spend his evening telling us stories of the glory days. This culminated in him imparting some great wisdom on us...

"good life, good heart, no worry"

It may have been the 8% beer I was drinking at the time but I thought this quote was great and I would therefore share it with you all!

Moving on from Bodhgaya I was intending to cover the 1500km to the town of Jalgaon near Mumbai to visit the Ajanta caves. I arrived yesterday after a 22 hour train journey to find out the caves are closed on Mondays... Bollocks.

I have therefore decided to cut my losses and head to Mumbai this evening for a few days before hitting a beach in Goa for a week!

I hope the winter isn't getting you down too much and you are all getting ready for christmas!

Jack x

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Photos

The Bodhi Tree
Myself beneath the very same tree the Buddha achieved enlightenment