06.11.2004

Bodhgaya

Posted by justin

After a four-hour bus ride from Darjeeling down to Siliguri we took an overnight train to Patni and on to Gaya. We finally arrived in the poorest state in India just in time for breakfast.

Luckily for us we met two heavy-set German travellers who were also on their way to Bodhgaya.

Now that we were a group of four we were less inclined to hire local police as armed escorts - as recommended by the Lonely Planet.

A recommendation that might be a little overkill, but looking around Gaya with it's abject poverty and serious waste disposal problem it was clear this was a place to be a little more aware.

Our destination was the holy little dusty town of Bodhgaya, a place of pilgrimmage for Buddhists across the world aiming to visit the place where Siddharta Gotama was enlightened and became known as the Buddha.

We managed to visit the temple and surrounds the day we arrived. It really felt like a deeply spiritual place, with Buddhists from Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, and many other countries spread out across the compound practising rituals specific to their own interpretation of Buddhism.

We planned to come back the next day to spend a little more time soaking up the spirituality, but the truckloads of army men spilling out across the town to clear everyone away in anticipation of a visit by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka meant it wasn't to be.

I'm sure there'll be a next time.