My original travel plan was completely turned upside down by Dalai
Lama. He was exactly at that time in Bodhgaya, when I also wanted to go.
Dalai Lama in Bodhgaya – this means that there are 300,000 people, who
want to see him. Well, all that in a place with 30,000 inhabitants!
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| Pilgrims tents, Bodhgaya |
First, I was rather hesitating – where should I stay, when there are
already so many people there? I called some hotels in Bodhgaya and also
in neighboring Gaya – everything full at ridiculous prices. What to do?
Finally, I just went and trusted my luck! I was even double lucky with
the journey there – first, I got to know Tanya from the USA. She joined
in to this rather crazy idea. Then, there were two Japanese, who
wanted to go for a day trip to Bodhgaya. So, we rented a car, which
brought us 4 there (just 5-hour journey), Tanya and I remained there.
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| Our little hut |
Okay, lodging was a problem, which needed to be solved first.
Everywhere in town were tents, all the monasteries were packed with
people sleeping on mattresses. Looked like huge dormitories with several
hundred beds in each monastery. So, we went to the tourist information.
There, we got to know a young man, whose father is renting out some
huts. Perfect – a nice little hut with some cloths on the walls and a
double bed. There was even sometimes power and hot water.
Moreover: our direct neighbor was an elephant! Moti, the elephant,
became our friend, after we fed him some handfuls of tasty rice.
I never had an elephant as a neighbor!
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| Mono, Bodhgaya |
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| Pilgrims listening to Dalai Lama |
Well, lodging was organized, so, off we went into the mass of people.
It is hard to describe – there were people just anywhere. Dalai Lama
did his "lectures" from a monastery, and people could watch it outside
on a screen. Via loudspeakers you could hear it in the whole town. And
everywhere, there were people listening. People, who travelled thousands
of kilometers to see him, Thai, Vietnamese, people from Sri Lanka and
Bhutan and of course many exile Tibetans. And many people from the west.
A really colorful mixture.
Because of these masses of people, everybody had to queue everywhere
for everything. In the restaurant no place, for a bottle of water long
queues, also for the main temple. But the atmosphere was relaxed, the
people relaxed as well and content to be here. And of course once again
an Eldorado for photographers! All these people from everywhere, the
religious rituals, the big joy of the people and their satisfaction to
be here – all that made this event so special!
The first night in our hut, we were literally eaten up by mosquitos.
During the whole trip no single mosquito, and now, when being here only
with small luggage and without spray or net, these beasts showed up in
crowds! Because it was so cold, the mosquitoes did not have a lot of
choice – up to our faces everything was in the sleeping-bag…. But in the
morning, we found out, that our faces just looked horrible with bites
all over. For the second night our family organized a mosquito net,
then, we heard only the bad sums outside, but this could not affect our
sleep anymore.
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| Dalai Lama live on the screen |
In Bodhgaya there are many monasteries, but the one of Karmapa is
especially great. (Karmapa is a high lama from Tibet, who has fled as a
youngster to India). This monastery reminded me instantly of my trip to
Tibet in 1998. In the monastery was also a big mattress camp for the
pilgrims.
In the afternoon the 17-year-old son of the owner took us to a temple
outside of Bodhgaya. The temple was not that great, but the scenery was
very nice. Seeing farmers doing their work, the full green of young
plants and on top the curious, and at the same time shy people.
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| Bodhi Tree, Bodhgaya |
Bodhgaya as well as Rajgir, our next aim, are both cities in Bihar.
Bihar is the poorest state of India. Few tourists travel around the area
(apart from Bodhgaya). So, locals are usually rather surprised to find
tourists sitting in their bus. Quite a few of them apparently, have
never seen white people before – this was clear by their stares towards
us. But everybody very friendly and helpful, nowhere a dollar sign in
the eyes. That happens rather often in more touristy areas. One has the
feeling that the people are proud to sit in the same vehicle – even if
it is over packed rickshaw with 12 (!) people it. When the last two
people got in, Tanya and I could not stop laughing anymore, so all the
others joined in. Probably, none of them including us had such an
amusing journey before…..
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| Pilgrim |
Bihar has many problems – a high illiterate rate, gigantic families,
and the biggest poverty under the rural population (few land lords with
gigantic possession) and many poor completely without any land, dryness,
bad streets, completely littered dilapidated towns and a left rebel's
group which makes the area unsafe. Once a while there are kidnappings
and gunfights.
This does not affect tourists usually, but of course one can be theoretically by mistake in the way….
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| Farmer |
Our train journey back from Gaya to Varanasi was also a classic –
waiting list 86 and 87. The seats were confirmed by the station manager
before our departure – and the places were not free of course.
But – we got in the middle of a group of young sportsmen, who travelled
from Calcutta back to Delhi. Well, just think about the fact, that two
blond women enter this train – for sure, these young men were very happy
to create some room for these two ladies… You can be sure, that the
entertainment program was set for the next 5 hours….
So, now am again in Varanasi and will take an evening the night train to Calcutta.
