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Published: January 9th 2006
Long time no see...
Hello everybody, as you can guess we are right now in India, to be precise in Varanasi. Before we were in Bodhgaya and Puri. So I'll tell you abit about them.
Puri is a very small town, around 79.000 people which to Indian standards is ridiculously small. It is very laid back and our hotel room is amazingly spotless, I think I could have stayed there for a long time, food was great!!! the only inconvinience were the rickshaw men who are completely stoned pestering us. I mean, COME ON, Man!! Do you really think that I am going to get a ride on your rickshaw or even worse auto rickshaw with those huge red eyeballs, really? Well to be honest we did. We decided to go to a Dance Festival and we took this rickshaw and to be honest the driver was bananas!!! Kept laughing for no reason looking at us and talking in Hindi and drooling, really, what the hell were we thinking of? The guy instead of taking us to the Festival took us to a dance school which , of course, at 8 o'clock at night was closed. we decided to jump off the rickshaw and walk (much more safe)
As you can gather almost everybody here smokes bhang or hash, is the norm. We have been offered some just an hour ago, and let me tell you what the guy was offering was the real McCoy, not what they offer you in Cambodia.
You will be asking yourself, what is this all about? all this hash an' all? Well Puri is one of the 4 holiest Hindu cities in India and this holiness is related to Shiva. Now hash or bhang is somehow associated with this Holy God, so therefore is everywhere, you can even buy it in a chocolate bar style from the government shops located in the town.
You can even get a Bhang Lassi, a yougurthy drink with bhang on it. I don't think I'll go for it but it is there to try.
After Puri, where Ade bought me a great sari, hand made in Orissa, and some pearls from a fisherman, we went to Bodhgaya. Bodhgaya is even smaller than Puri and is full of Buddhist pilgrims, there is a big community of tibetan refugees, all this is because here in Bodhgaya is were the Prince (who I struggle to remember how to write his name) became enlightened under a Bodhi tree (I think you spell it like this). He would be the firt Buddha so therefore is call Lord Buddha, to distinguish.
There is a great temple where the tree was and the gardens around it are very peaceful and quite, the only time that the silence is broken is when there is a puja, buty it bring a very mystic atmosphere. It brings you peace.
We also visited the caves where Lord Buddha before becoming enlightened spent 6 years meditating in very extreme conditions, without much food, etc. The trip there was something else, I don't think I can write about it right now, maybe one day when I feel ready I will write an entry about poverty in India.
Also another day I'll write about Varanasi, hopefully soon.
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Aarón
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Idioma
Si escrius en angles unicament, pues como aquel que crida a casa d'un altre i pregunta "nene esta ton pare en casa? i el xiquet respon "si pero esta bufat". Au