Blogs from Rajasthan, India, Asia - page 367

This is one of the places I've always wanted to visit, having read about it several times in different books. This is the spot where 2500 ish years ago the Buddha attained enlightenment after fasting and meditating under the Bodhi tree for 40 days and nights. I guess you could compare it with Bethlehem or Jerusalem for Christians, but this is a place of peace and tranquility even now in the 21st century. Modern day Bodhgaya is a sleepy little town in Bihar, one of the poorest and most crime ridden parts of India. But it is peppered with monasteries of Buddhist monks from around Asia...Burmese, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Tibetan, Bangladeshi, Nepali, Bhutanese etc. The local beggars here are on to a right winner, as you can imagine, with tourists and monks giving alms. The Mahabodhi ... read more

Well, well, well. How to describe Varanasi at Diwali? It's a pretty difficult task, as so much is going on that the brain can hardly process the information fast enough to register it properly. It's one big, colour-filled stream of experience into which you slip in and crawl out. It also makes you realise that you are not some independant little island, but part of a seething, breathing, ever-evolving, evr-changing universe filled with differnt people, animals and types of existence. Kind of. Ish. If only it was as simple as that, even though it really is... We settled into a place on the banks of the holy Ganges in Varanasi a couple of days before Diwali, then went for a stroll in a shopping street filled with thousands of people buying brightly coulored things to festoon ... read more

Ok people you need to understand that I'm slightly inebriated at the moment, (on account of being out and having too many beers at a fantastic local restaurant). so you'll have to forgive any odd spellings, or owt that just has no logic whatsoever. It was an early start from Bombay Monday morning, (5.30am), and a quick taxi drive to VT, (The central station). The scene there was straight out of your typical boys own adventure type annual when preparing for an overland excursion in a remote land. The station was abject pandemonium, a mixture of travelers, porters, and people trying to sell you stuff. That early in the morning the floor was also littered with numerous local travelers trying to sleep and the general hustle and bustle was all very exciting. We are now complete ... read more

Just a quick one to let you all know we are safe if not well in Kerela, Kochi to be exact. We both thought we had got used to the food and water here and that we had been pretty careful with what we had been putting into our bodies. Alas we both got struck down with a major lurgy of which only I am mostly recovered. After my last message we moved down the coast from Goa to Gokarn in Karnataka and from there we went to Managalore on our first local passenger train. It was rammed full of people for the most part but we did get seats after some kind people moved up for us. As we were in the need for some pampering we stayed in a rather nice hotel in which ... read more

Point Calimere, in Tamil Nadu was my hometown in INDIA before my parents migrated to Singapore when I was five years old. This place is also known to the locals as kodiakkarai. It is a small fishing village and is also famous for its Wildlife Sanctuaries which has a variety of wild deer, horses, birds and turles. Kodiakkarai also produces salt for tamil nadu. On the outskirts of the village you will find white slopes of salt. Most local people are employed in the salt factory over there. It is a very sleepy village and a very clean one compared to other villages in INDIA. There is also an ancient Lighthouse built 1000 years ago by the sea of Point Calimere. Point Calimere is about 420km by road from Chennai. The journey by road will take ... read more