Photos from India

Day 3 & 4

The next morning we packed our day bags and left the bulk of our luggage behind. We got a cab to the airport and took a quick flight to Patna in the Eastern state of Bihar. In the airport in Patna we got ourselves a cab driver / guide. The only problem was that the only guy left didn't speak a word of english. This made Amelia and I both nervious. We had to talk to him through a clerk at the airport in order to tell him where we wanted to go. But eventually we thought we had aranaged for him to take us to Bodhgaya that afternoon, and show us around the next morning.

The road to Bodhgaya is a very long one. It looks more like an obsticle course than a country road. There are kids in the street, dogs everywhere, cattle, camels, people walking everywhere, oncoming traffic, and pot holes the size of my desk...As you can see sometimes there is nothing you can do but hit the brakes and look for a way around.


Dirt roads are very common, and not everyone here speaks english. As it got later and later into our three hour drive we were begining to feel pretty far from home.


India is a third world nation, and the poverty and jobless levels here are just absurd.








I'm not sure, but I think car door might cost extra out here...


This is the Indian version of a Computer Science Department





Adam Rider told me he likes this photo. Hi Adam! :0)


Motorcycle are very common in the cities of India, there is at least 4 times as many in India than in the states.


I think all of the women here are trying to dress like flowers.


This is the local CVS and Coffee Shop





They can pile at least another 20 guys on top of that car...


Eventually we get to Bodhgaya, but by the time that we do its almost 9 at night. We try to explain to your driver that we already have a reservation at the Root Institute. I don't know why exactly, but he just didn't understand us. Maybe he didn't know where the Root Institute was, maybe he could only take us to certain establishments sponsered by the government, I just don't know. Mostly likely it had to do with him not speaking English, and us not speaking Hindi. We never got to the Root Institue. Instead our driver brought us to a place called Sidhartha's Palace. It was a real dump. We tryed talk to the driver, but we never got anywhere. eventually I convinced Amelia that we were not going to get anywhere and that we should just stay there for the night. This was not the best choice I've ever made in my life. Sidhartha's Palace had pad locks on the outside of all the room doors, and two dead bolts on the inside of the door. There was crap on the walls, and a werid smell. The bathroom had a deadbolt on the outside and on the inside. So you could lock someone into the bathroom, or locks someone out of the bathroom. The bathroom window, didn't have a window or even a screan. It was just a hole in the wall! The beds came with two blankets each, but they felt like carpets. We wore them anyway though because the bed sheets were covered in stains (I don't like to think about that too hard). We ended up putting one sheet on the bed to cover the stains, and the other wrapped above us to keep the bugs off. If all that wasn't bad enough, the fact that we couldn't communicate with our driver left us scaried that he didn't understand that he was supposed to stay in Bodhgaya with us and show us around. I was convinced that he he was just going to leave us there stranded. I don't think ethier of us got any sleep that night. we both stayed up, waiting for morning to come and watch the clock slowly tick away.


This is what the beds looked like. I'm just SO happy I thought ahead enough to bring my own water.


don't ask.


This is the boiler at the Sidhartha's Palace


This is the Great Buddha in Bodhgaya. Bodhgaya is a very important Buddhist site and is covered with temples. To be honest, this is my favorite part of the trip. It was definitely on the road less traveled, and worth all the hardship we went through.





It was very awe inspiring to be standing there with amelia in front of this amazing statue. It's size made me think about the larger than life impression that buddha must have given to his followers.





This Mandala is from the Sri Lankan Temple right next door to the Great Buddha.


























This dragon rules...


These guys are located in little alcoves on the outside of the building.


I love how striking thier eyes are.


We also visited the Japanese Temple and had a moment of zen with buddhist monk that was meditating there, but I didn't take any photos of that. It felt really good to be there. Very serene.


This is the Mahabodhi Stupa, and the Enlightnement Tree. I've grabbed a brief history of this from someone else's website (I hope they don't mind) that I think will explain the Bodhi Tree better than I ever could.

The Bodhi Tree - At the western side of the Mahabodhi Stupa in Bodhgaya stands the large and historic Bodhi Tree under which Shakyamuni Buddha, then known as Gautama, attained enlightenment some 2540 years ago. Gautama, had been practicing austerities for six years in the area of the Niranjana River near Bodhgaya. Finally understanding that this could not lead to realisation, he abandoned his austerities and in the nearby village of Senani (now also known as Sujata) the Brahmin girl Sujata offered him milk-rice. Strengthened by this, he took some kusha grass for a mat and sat under the pipal tree facing east. He resolved not to rise until he attained enlightenment. As he sat in deep meditation, Mara, Lord of Illusion, symbolising the delusions of one's own mind, tried tirelessly to distract him from his purpose. Gautama then touched the earth, calling it to bear witness to the countless lifetimes of virtue that led him to this place of enlightenment. The earth shook confirming the truth of his words. Mara unleashed his army of demons to distract and tempt Gautama from his purpose, but Gautama triumphed over the inner obstacles and the power of his compassion transformed the demons' weapons into flowers. His mind was utterly subdued. For seven days after the enlightenment, Buddha continued to meditate under the tree without moving from his seat. Another week passed in walking meditation, and for a third the Buddha contemplated under the Bodhi Tree. The earliest records on the tree are in the 'Kalingabodhi Jataka', which gives a vivid description of the tree and the surrounding area prior to the enlightenment, and the 'Asokavadana', which relates the story of King Ashoka's (3rd century B.C) conversion to Buddhism. His subsequent worship under the sacred tree apparently angered his queen to the point where she ordered the tree to be felled. Ashoka then piled up earth around the stump and poured milk on its roots. The tree miraculously revived and grew to a height of 37-metres. He then surrounded the tree with a stonewall some three-meters high for its protection. Ashoka's daughter Sangamitta, a Buddhist nun, took a shoot of the tree to Sri Lanka where the King, Devanampiyatissa, planted it at the Mahavihara monastery in Anuradhapura. The fourth direct descendant of the original Bodhi Tree still flourishes today and is the oldest continually documented tree in the world. In 600 AD, the tree was again destroyed; this time by the zealous King Sesanka. Hiuen T'sang recorded the event, along with the planting of a new Bodhi Tree sapling (taken from the original) by King Purnavarma in 620 AD. At this time, during the annual celebration of Vaisakha, thousands of people from all over India would gather to anoint the roots of the holy tree with perfumed water and scented milk, and to offer flowers and music. Hiuen T'sang wrote, "The tree stands inside a fort-like structure surrounded on the south, west and north by a brick wall. It has pointed leaves of a bright green colour. Having opened a door, one could see a large trench in the shape of a basin. Devotees worship with curd, milk and perfumes such as sandalwood, camphor and so on." Much later the English archeologist Cunningham records, "In 1862 I found this tree very much decayed; one large stem to the westward with three branches was still green, but the other branches were barkless and rotten. I next saw the tree in 1871 and again in 1875, when it had become completely decayed, and shortly afterwards in 1876 the only remaining portion of the tree fell over the west wall during a storm, and the old pipal tree was gone. Many seeds, however, had been collected and the young scion of the parent tree were already in existence to take its place." The present Bodhi Tree is most probably the fifth descendant of the original tree to be planted at this site. It still performs a very important role to Buddhists of all traditions. Being viewed as the actual Buddha by some, it is a reminder and an inspiration, a symbol of peace, of Buddha's enlightenment and of the ultimate potential that lies within us all. Mahabodhi Temple - The Mahabodhi Temple stands east to the Bodhi Tree. Its architectural effect is superb. Its basement is 48 square feet and it rises in the form of a slender Pyramid, till it reaches its neck, which is cylindrical in shape. The total height of the temple is 170 feet and on the top of the temple are Chatras, which symbolise sovereignty of religion. Four towers on its four corners rise gracefully giving the holy sturcture a poise and balance. This sacred edifice is like a grand banner unfurled by time to proclaim to the world the pious efforts of the Buddha to solve the knots of human miseries to ascend above worldly problems and to attain transcendental peace through wisdom, good conduct and disciplined life. Inside the temple in the main sanctum, on an altar, is a colossal image of Buddha in a sitting posture touching the earth by his right hand. In this posture the Buddha accomplished the supreme enlightenment. The statue is of black stone. The entire courtyard of the temple is studded with a large number of varieties of stupas. These stupas are of all sizes built during the past 2500 years ago. Most of them are extremely elegant in structural beauty.

Many of the Buddhist living here in Bodhgaya are in exile from Tibet.











This is it, The Bodhi Tree





Buddhist from all over the world come here to learn and meditate.





The Bodhi Tree is so beautiful.











On the long road back to Patna we were detained by a passing train. After seeing how over crowded they are I glad we elected not to travel by train.





This guy has a bike rickshaw.

After we got back to Patna and flew back to Delhi we got right back into another cab, this time we were heading west, to Jaipur. Along the way we stopped at this little roadside shack that served fresh Chai. There was a gas power generater there that was hooked up to a tv next to a camp fire. THis way you could warm up by the fire and watch late night bollywood while you waited for your cup of Chai. I'm not sure why, but this memory sticks out in my mind as being one of the more honest and surreal moments of the trip. After that, we were back on the roads again. We were driving at night so we didn't see too much traffic. We got lost briefly, but got found again just as soon and before we knew it we were at the next hotel.

DAY 1 & 2  •  DAY 3 & 4  •  DAY 5, 6, & 7

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