Agra, Varanasi and Bodhagaya

Agra
The day after I wrote my last blog post we went to the Taj Mahal in Agra in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Despite being located in an incredibly touristy area with many hagglers, the Taj does not disappoint! It was actually a mausoleum that Shah Jahan (the emperor of the ancient Muslim Mughal Empire) built for the favorite of his three wives. After a guide took us around the Taj we hung out on the grounds for a while taking in the scenery. As we were walking around I commented to Mike "you know, we haven't had any Indians come up asking to get their picture taken in a while. Within the next two minutes we had a crowd of 10 Indians coming up to us asking for pictures! My favorite has to be one which captures the whole scene perfectly. A few Indians have their cell phones out looking at their pictures they took of us as if they are all, for lack of a better word, badass.

Right about the same time as we were taking pictures with the Indians, a monsoon hit. Conveniently we left our rain jackets back at the Sheela Hotel where we were staying for the night. After a few minutes we were drenched! This included my Lonely Planet travel guide which was in the backpack. But what's a travel guide if it doesn't look traveled anyway.

We ended up hanging out at the Taj for a while and met many more Indians who wanted to have their pictures taken. One of them actually came up to us and said what a nice smile I have and that I should go work for Bollywood (India's version of Hollywood). Apparently there's a character I look like in one of the movies called Chocolate Boy (whoever that is). Its not easy being celebrities!

After the monsoon finally stopped we headed back to Hotel Sheela for a while to dry off, pack up, and head out. Earlier in the day we made friends with two Indian shopkeepers and bought gifts from them. They wanted to say goodbye so we went back to their shop for some tea before catching an auto-rickshaw (auto for short) out of Agra. An auto essentially is a three-wheeled taxi without doors! I was excited when I found out that in India the autos all run off CNG or compressed natural gas instead of gasoline. I'm kind of a nerd like that (thank you Breakthrough Fuel).

Mike and I took the auto to a place called Tundla which isn't the nicest of Indian towns. Actually to be blunt, its a dump. Luckily the only reason we were going there is to catch an overnight train to the next destination, Varanasi. This train was packed with people, so much so that there really isn't any room for luggage. We were in a sleeper car and conveniently both had upper bunks so my backpacking bag became my sleeping buddy for the night as I slept just below the ceiling of the train.

Varanasi
We got to Varanasi early in the morning and were lucky enough to find a taxi cab driver who knew where our place was. He even got out out of the taxi cab and took us back through the narrow, mid-evil streets of Varanasi. If not for him I could have seen it taking hours!

Varanasi is considered one of the holiest cities for the Hindu people (by far the largest religious population in India). It is located right next to the Ganges River, so this was a nice point of reference for navigation around the city!

My favorite part of Varanasi was most definitely the boat ride on the Ganges. We woke up, walked down to the river, did a little haggling and cut the price by over 50% for what was suppose to be a two hour boat ride on the Ganges. For the first hour we checked out various Hindi temples on the water and saw the burning ghats (which is the Hindi form of cremation near their sacred river, the Ganges). Our guide then took us to the opposite side of the river when a mass of black clouds came in on the horizon. Another monsoon! Don't worry, this time we learned and brought our rain jackets. Monsoons usually come slowly, without much wind, but steadily increase in precipitation. We knew we had a little time before it hit so we shot a little footage on Mike's camcorder (he's making a video journal after the trip). Then it was just waiting for the inevitable! We put on our rain jackets just in time and enjoyed a warm monsoon for the next hour and a half before heading back in to the docks! We gave the guide a little tip, then headed back to our "hotel" to dry off.

Bodhagaya
The next day we had to wake up at 4am to catch a four hour train out of Varanasi to Gaya, then on to Bodhagaya, which is the place where Buddha supposedly gained enlightenment under the bodi tree. We met a few travelers on the train ride to Gaya and shared an auto into the city. Surprise, surprise, while we were riding in the auto another monsoon hit. Luckily, our luggage was only a little damp this time (the auto had a cloth roof).

Bodhagaya is a little town of 30,000 people, however traveling into the city still somehow boasts the same traffic problems and traffic jams as the rest of the country. Being an engineering student, its painful to watch as everything is incredibly inefficient! Bikes, walkers, taxis, buses, and India's version of semis all use the same roads.

We decided to stay at a Bhutanese Buddhist Monastery to have a little peace and relaxation before volunteering in Kolcutta. The whole complex is paid for by the Bhutanese government and consists of roughly two acres of fenced-in peaceful land seemingly miles away from an otherwise chaotic India. We have been here for three days, two nights, and besides relaxing spent some time at the Mahabodhi, which houses the Bodi tree. Since we were staying in a Bhutanese monastery, we ran into a few Buddhist monks! It was nice to talk to them and exchange cultural experiences. I asked one of them what he eats back in his home country of Bhutan, and the reply in broken English was "breakfast...rice...lunch...rice...dinner...rice." No wonder he's in India!

We'll head back to Gaya a little later on this afternoon so we can catch our train to Kolcutta tomorrow!

Take it easy and God Bless,
Kyle