The train that was 3 hours and 40 minutes late, ended up being 10 hours late. That's right, 10 hours. It was 12 hours late arriving in Gaya. Let me tell you how fun it was.
Fun.
The train stations in India are not exactly clean or peaceful. There are countless people, from elders to babies, begging. Sidewalks covered with shit, though that is everywhere in India. People spitting and yelling. And of course the hoards of people starring like crazy at us really strange people with white skin. There is no room for concentration on something like reading a book.
It was a very trying 10 hours.
We ended up getting into Gaya at 2:00am, unsure if we could find anywhere to sleep, or if we would be sleeping at the train station. With any luck there was someone from a hotel in Bodhgaya, 13km away, who had a room "just for us".
At first we were considering changing our tickets to leave Gaya the next day. That meant though, that we would have to change our class to General. General class is where no one is guarenteed a seat and there are people fighting (slapping and beating eachother) to get one. Also, the fears I have of being gropped on the train would become a reality. We decided against that.
Kinda strange to arrive in one place and leave the same day, while checking into a hotel...
We got to our guest house at 3:00am, making waking up at 9:00 really hard.
Our train left Gaya at 1:05, so we had to get a move on.
It was so nice, after all of that chaos, to be in such a serene and powerful place.
To be at the tree and the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, and medidtated for over 3 weeks after being enlightened was...there are no words.
There were hundreds of monks and devotees praying in the fields of gompas around the temple, and walking the temple area.
Ahhhhhhh....how lovely.
We are killing time again waiting in between trains. If our train is on time, we will leave at 10:45pm and arrive in Darjeeling area at 11:45am...but they are usually off schedule, so we will probably get in around 2.
Wish us luck.
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Dearest Jessika & TJ, Wehave caught upwith your blog (Dec. 19th). What a fantastic time you are having!! It's really wonderful to read your descriptions of your adventures. It does take us back to our days in India, albeit a little less adventurous. Have a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. We're thinking of you. Oh yes, we got your card showing the Thorong Pas. Pretty impressive that you hiked up that high. We're sending you another check through Mhari.
Love you, Mima and Gramps
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