Beckteria

Bodgayr

We made it to the place where Buddah achieved enlightenment--Bodgayr under the Bodhi tree. So far, this is our favorite place--not as dirty, less crowded, much more relaxed. There are many temples here--Thai, Tibeten, Japanese, ect.--so it is quite nice. We were upset that we couldn't go to the caves where Buddah hung out for 6 years because it's the monsoon season, but what can you do?

This afternoon, we head back to Varanasi for the night and catch a train tomorrow for Dehli. The long part of our stint in India is drawing to an end. We're all excited to go to Nepal and Tibet, we're a bit jaded on this whole India thing.

I guess that India is just so depressing, at least in the cities, because it's just downright dirty, nasty, and disgusting. The holiest river, the Ganges, is gross. It's this brown color and when you hear that 30 sewers dump into it, you just wonder. On the boat ride, we did get to see one dead person float by, that made it worthwhile. I was seriously afraid that I was gonna rock the boat and take a header into the river. But, I didn't! We saw people bathing in the river too. Interesting to see life along the river. It's just so much different than life in the West.

Things you can see from the street:
+ people bathing, usually they're wearing some sort of clothing
+ people getting a shave
+ men pissing (nice!!)
+ sometimes half-naked or naked children
+ note that most of the people on the streets are 99%+ men (are the women at home?)
+ note that I have only seen 2 women driving and both times they were on scooters
+ ad's for places that don't seem to exist
+ people sleeping on the street or on a "bed" on the side of the road
+ cow poop everywhere
+ cows, chickens, and goats hanging out inside houses, on the sidewalk, really almost anywhere you can imagine

Anyways, I'm not sure what else to say. I hope that Nepal and Tibet are more enjoyable, but I really like it here in Bodgayr. It's really chill and peaceful.

posted by Bex @ 4:08 PM