4 India

Day 5 – Bodh Gaya

I slept until 4.30 and then read. There was a call to prayer and then a power cut. I don’t think they were linked. Despite being very early, I could hear lots of people outside the hotel.

I enjoyed pancakes for breakfast and then we headed off to the temple which marks the site where the Buddha received enlightenment.

We had to remove our shoes when we entered the site, but the ground was covered in a marble floor so was quite pleasant to walk over. Rafeeq paid someone to look after our shoes. My first impression was the bird song, which was quite deafening. I soon spotted sparrows, drongos, mynahs and parrots.

The temple, like many in India, is ornate, not just in its decoration but in its very construction. The pointed tower which forms the roof is covered in circles and arches and the different stages separated by horizontal parallel ridges. The peak is crowned by a very ornate amalaka and topped by a golden finial. The central tower is surrounded by four smaller towers, one on each corner. All this makes for wonderful perching, roosting and nesting sites for birds and the parrots especially were regularly flying in and out.

We walked down towards the temple and were allowed inside. The golden Buddha is the focus of the interior and I did not really notice anything else, because, although small, it dominated the interior. It was crowded inside, so I stayed at the back, but something got to me and I found that I was crying.

After leaving the temple we were led round to the back where there is a descendant of the original bodhi tree which the Buddha sat under for many years until he attained enlightenment. Someone was preaching to a large group of people, so we did not stay for long but continued round the temple.

Here were the seven stations which Buddha followed to achieve enlightenment. The area was full of small stupas and a few images of the Buddha. Devotees were busy praying, whilst repeatedly lowering themselves to a prostrate position and then sitting back up. That would be a huge strain on the knees and apparently they needed to repeat it thousands of times.

Then we continued towards the end of the complex where there was a fish pond, with a statue of the Buddha in the middle.

We then had 30 minutes free time to explore. I spent most of that trying to get good photos of parrots, with some success though only on full zoom. I also snapped a lizard. A young monk came to sit with us. He was studying IT at university. He said that he needed money because he had to look after two younger brothers. Before he could get any money, his mobile phone went off so he had to go off to answer it. I watched him as he walked away chatting on his phone. It was an interesting juxtaposition to the surroundings and his robes.

Before I left, I went back into the temple. It was much less crowded and I just stood for a while and enjoyed the peace.

Once we had all been rounded up and put our shoes back on, we walked back to the hotel where Rafeeq put us on bicycle rickshaws to go and explore other sites in the town.

First stop was the giant 80 foot Buddha, which is apparently 64 foot high. It was consecrated by the Dalai Lama in 1989. I took my shoes off and dashed across some black stone which was very hot. The 10 apostles of Buddha were arranged around the statue so I walked round to look at them. There were some pretty sculptures of white flowers too.

Nippon Japanese Temple

Bhutanese Temple

Then we got back in the rickshaws and went to the Indosan Nippon Japanese Temple where people can learn Zen meditation. It sounds quite a painful process as the teacher carried a wooden instrument to ensure students stayed awake. Though ornate and full of pictures and decorations, this was a dark temple. Our final stop was the Bhutanese temple which was much brighter.

I shared a rickshaw with Chris on the way back to the hotel. He lives halfway between where my parents live in Kent, so we could talk about places which we both knew.

We left the hotel early after a disappointing lunch. There was another frenetic drive, dodging past rickshaws and tuk-tuks and facing off on-coming buses. I shut my eyes several times. We passed a pool by the side of the road with lots of black buffalo cooling off.



Train to Varanasi



The station was very busy. Rafeeq got us to the platform. This time I got my camera out and took photos of people crossing the line and then the train, which arrived without a long wait. It was moving backwards and forwards slightly as I got on, which made it a bit scary as I had my large rucksack on my back. I was in carriage AB1 with Lucy, Chris, Jill, Mark and Ken. The train was very long and included 14 sleeper cars.

I looked out of the window and saw a family seeing their daughter off. First she kissed her father on the lips as she lent through the window. She got a peck on the cheek from her mum. Then she got off the train and touched her father and grandfather’s shoes, kissed her hands and got back on.

This time we were able to look at the scenery. There were several wide nearly dry river beds and we saw some bridges being built across a few of them, implying that the rivers filled up and ran fast and deep during the monsoon. There were a lot of people and animals on the railway. I took a photo of a cow grazing near to the tracks. In the distance we could see brick ovens with high thin chimneys. The fields were either dry earth or lush with green crops, but there were not many people tending the fields during the hot afternoon.

I finished my book and, because it was not very good and no one else wanted it, I left it on the train. When we got off, a man chased after me to return my book. He seemed very grateful when I said he could keep it. I hope he was not too disappointed, but perhaps he was able to make money by selling it.

Then we had a very exciting drive in a Hillman Ambassador, which I think is a wonderful looking car. There were hundreds of bicycles, motorbikes, cycle rickshaws, tuk-tuks, gaudy lorries, cars and an aggressive 4x4. Amazingly there were no accidents as the two lane road carried four lanes of traffic as vehicles passed on every side, cutting front of others and diving for turn offs with no notice. We crossed the Ganges on a very long bridge and reached Varanasi on the other side.

The hotel was quite nice and we were given garlands of marigolds when we arrived. I was now sharing with Jude, so no more streaking in the room or reading at 4.45. I left her in the shower and went down to the lobby.

Dinner was disappointingly bland, so Rafeeq ordered something else which had much more of a kick, perhaps too much as it was not cooked for very long to let the spices sink into the food. Jude went to bed after the meal so I had to as well because there was only one key. I started a new book.

Animal Corner

Parrots perched on the Temple Roof

 

Lizard in the Temple Area



Cow by the Track