We’re in Bodhgaya, where Buddha attained enlightenment 26 centuries ago.  The descendant of the Bodhi tree where he meditated is still here.

We arrived from Varanasi on an overnight train this morning.  We had to complete the journey with 5kms on a cycle rickshaw pedaled by a man who must’ve been a hundred years old.  And the last 20 kms were on an auto-rickshaw driven by an Indian with a death wish.

At 5am we arrived in Bodhgaya where we had the experience of a lifetime.  Only Buddhists monks were about, since tourists were sleeping, and it was the annual Tibetan pilgrimage to Bodhgaya.  The temple marking the place of enlightenment was brimming with Tibetan monks.  It was only them, and us.  We sat cross legged in the temple, drowning in their chants: an exhilirating experience.

Afterwards we had breakfast in a makeshift tent restaurant with half a dozen Tibetan monks.  We had Tibetan tea with them– frankly it tasted like crap (tea with salty bad milk) but it was a memorable experience.  I drank it all; Yano left 3/4 of it: wuss.  We tried to order similar food to them, and they laughed.  But it’s ok, because they were watching violent martial arts movies, and one of them was wearing Crocs.

Tomorrow night we leave for the Himalayas to freeze our behinds off and hopefully see a few of the tallest peaks of the world.  Mount Everest might be visible.

Oh yeah, virtually all the pictures have been uploaded.  We’re usually a day behind the posts.

Ta-ta, I have Tibetans looking over my shoulder at the internet cafe.  Surreal…

Merry Christmas y’all.

The Indian railway system employs a whoping 1.5 million people.  It’s the 2nd greatest employer in the world.  At a glance, it looks like a chaotic excuse to trample passangers, but behind the scenes things are surprisingly well run.

The 12 hour journey to Varanasi was surreal to say the least.  I can honestly say it’s the closest (I hope) I’ll ever be to sleeping in jail (without all the raping and with slightly worse bathrooms).  There are various classes:

• First come, first served, concentration camp style, cargo, get out or get stampeeded– literally.  This option is not available to foreigners as far as I can tell, and is hardly different than hitchiking on an empty trailer with 200 other people.
• 2nd class/sleeper.  95% of people travel here.  Six dirty bunk beds to a few square feet.  No bedding.  No AC.  No heater.  We used this option.
• 3 A/C.  The middle class of traveling options.  Clean sheets, actual padding on the beds.
• 2 A/C. Upper middle class.
• First class.  Posers.

A few hours into our journey I was having serious regrets about submitting Yano to this, but she seemed to be taking it in stride– smiling throughout, and falling asleep within 4.5 minutes of departure.  We met a Kuwaiti immigrant, an Afghani who I had to help find his seat, and a million staring Indians.  Needless to say, we didn’t see any tourists.

Dheeraj had warned me that not even he traveled in sleeper class.  I wanted to see it for myself.  He was right.  We should’ve booked 3AC.

When we got to Varanasi we met a couple Aussie backpacker girls who had taken a 16 hour similar journey and were doing back-to-back 12 hour over night trains: sleeper class.  I felt like a wuss, having thought of signing up for 1st class for our next leg.  In my defense, I thought the odds of getting sick were highly in our favor… that is, until we saw the Ganges river, and realized what a treat the train ride had been… but I’ll leave that story for our next post.  In the meantime, I’ve uploaded more pictures at the same address, and will continue to do so throughout.

Time for some curried pancakes.

Unfortunately, the upload is still not done, and we have to leave on an overnight train.  We’ll finish later.  Here are the pictures so far.

http://quesejoda.com/autopic.php?cmd=album,2009-india-baby

Thanks for all the great comments.  We’re still alive, but have been too busy (read “lazy”) to update the blog.  We have a boatload of awesome pictures, which we still haven’t been able to finish uploading.  We’ll make them available when the Mayaguez like internet speeds allow.

We’re still in Delhi.  We’ve had a great time with Dheeraj and family.  They’re spoiling us with home-made North Indian food every day.   Tomorrow we expect to finally get some exercise besides running to catch rickshaws, walking through bazaars, and getting out of the way of cows.

Tonight we take a train to Varanasi, one of the holiest places for Hindus.  It is where they go to submerge themselves in the Ganghes.  We’ve opted for the local sleeper car instead of the touristy and pricier options.  $6 each person, for a 12 hour overnight train (uncomfortable bed included).  Tourist option is about $20 pp, and only has sheets, and slightly more padding on the mattress.  Bah!  Travel cheaper; travel for longer.  Bring on the sleeping bags!

(Hadji/Sager, you’d love the steel bikes here.  They kick some serious ass: they have metal poles instead of break cables.)

Screaming “India Baby” (ala Joey on Friends in their London trip)  at the top of my lungs every few hours is getting really annoying (not to me, to Yano).  “New Delhi baby”, on the other hand, doesn’t have such a nice ring to it.

We arrived this morning, and took a taxi to our Couch Surfing friend Dheeraj’s place.  The drive there was exhilirating– everything I expected– crazy driving, kamikazee motorcycles, cows in the middle of the street, you name it.

Dheeraj’s family has been wonderfully hospitable.  We’ve had the best food, and a 30 minute nap that turned into 5 hours.  Obviously we haven’t done anything but walk to the internet cafe.  I suppose we can start our day tomorrow.

Ok, we must go.  My brain isn’t really working and Yano insists on going with Dheeraj to the gym.  I, OTOH, am going to drink some tea and take a nap.

We are major jetlagged.