North Tour Part Twelve; The Last Post

     Our final stop was Hawra, the city adjacent to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). From Gangtok we drove back down to the same train station we'd arrived at and headed for Hawra overnight. In Hawra we spent the day sight seeing and exploring the main shopping road. At night we went out to celebrate Olivia's 17th birthday which was the next day. We sang for her and gave her a cake at midnight. The next day was sweltering hot and we were supposed to drive hours to visit temple. Instead, we visited only one temple and the Mother Theresa House. Mother Theresa's house was very simple and plain. We visited her tomb and an exhibition on her life. It was truly inspiring to see what one woman had done with her life and at her tomb to see all the people who love her and had left prayers and notes. The top of her tomb was decorated with paper cranes and messages of prayers for Japan. 

     We went out to dinner to celebrate our last night together then spent along time in the hotel until 3 in the morning when we had to go to the train station (at least 8 hours later than scheduled). 

Sam on the train.

These pictures are to give a better idea of what the trains look like. There's an aisle with two bunks on one side (where Sam's sitting) and on the other side of the aisle there's a compartment with six beds (three on each side). The bottom bunk is a seat during the day. The middle bunk folds down to make a back for the seat and at night is held up by chains that loop up on the top bunk during the day.

Olivia on her birthday in the hotel lobby.

North Tour Part Eleven; Gangtok (continued)

     After the Holi celebration we had free time for the rest of the day. A group of us went back to the market in the evening for dinner and found a real Mexican restaurant (well, more like American-Mexican food) that also had wifi. After dinner we walked around for a little bit and happened on a large group of people at the far end of the market holding a candlelit prayer session for Japan which we joined. 

     The next day drove for hours way up into the mountains to the northern most point allowed of foreigners. We were 50 kilometers from the Chinese border and passed several military settlements and stations along the narrow, winding road. There is a lake and little cafe that marked the limit to where foreigners could venture. We walked around on a path by the lake and climbed on boulders that had probably been left by glaciers or rock slides. We took a lot of group photos which are all on someone else's camera. By the way, I plan on getting the majority of the pictures that were taken on the tour and putting them on my laptop and when I do I'll put some favorites here. 

If I were to make a single, one hundred percent factual statement about Amanda it would be that she's an animal lover (except spiders and bugs but i don't think those count as animals).

We crossed a bridged that had prayer wheels on either side. Prayer wheels are a Buddhist concept, they are hollow cylinders with mantras or prayer on the outside and often on paper on the inside. When a prayer wheel is spun in a clockwise direction the prayers on it are released into the universe and the spinner's sins are lessened. This is looking back on the road we came up and one of the military stations.

Franzi (Germany)

Me and Amanda.

Looking towards the lake, and China. Prayer flags (not pictured) are pieces of cloth, either in white or in the five sacred colors of Buddhism, with mantras written on them that are hung outside. Whenever the wind blows a prayer flag, like a prayer wheel, is releases the mantras and good energies into the universe. 

Weather

For those interested, this is the current weather forecast for my city: Weather for Indore, Madhya Pradesh

91°F | °C Thu Fri Sat Sun Current: Partly Cloudy Wind: SE at 16 mph Humidity: 24% 97°F | 68°F 97°F | 70°F 99°F | 70°F 100°F | 72°F

North Tour Part Ten; Derjeeling and Gangtok (Holi)

     From Bodhgaya we took a long, hot, bumpy car ride to the train station in Patna where we boarded a train for New Jalpaigudi, it was about a 12 hour train ride, luckily we were in the air conditioned class this time. Upon arriving, we immediately got into jeeps and drove more that six hours up into the mountains to the city of Darjeeling. Our first stop in Darjeeling was the Himalayan Institute which included an mountaineering museum, with one floor dedicated to Mt. Everest, and a zoo of local species.  From there we proceeded to our hotel in the city. 

     We had plenty of time to explore and shop for Darjeeling's famous tea before dinner. Just as we were leaving our rooms, a few of us were invited up into the home of the owners. The woman whose family owned the hotel happened to be passing as Hannah, Franzi, Amanda, and I were leaving our rooms and invited us up. The family is Tibetan refugees. She showed us their ornate and beautiful prayer room that you could tell had been constructed and decorate with great love and care. In the entire house for the extended family two floors at the top of the hotel and everything, every inch was beautiful. As we sat eating Tibetan cookies, she told us her family's story. Her family left Tibet with a group of 30 people and arrived in India with only 13. After they had lived elsewhere for a while and earned some money, they moved to Darjeeling and bought the property on a loan. The hotel started with six rooms and only two staff, with the family working from 4 in the morning until as late as 2 in the morning doing most of the work. They now have 5 floors of rooms, a library and siting area, restaurant, gift shop, and 23 working staff. The hotel is highly recommended for its service and food by the Lonely Planet guide book of India. They are also the only family to have paid off both the loan and interest on time. Because of this they were invited to tea with the president of the bank. Plus her husband is a Rotarian. Throughout the whole visit we were all totally in awe, it's an inspiring story and makes you realize not only what hard work can bring but also how hard some people have to work in order to earn things. The amazing thing too was that she wasn't bragging or even proud. In fact we had to continue to ask questions in order to get the whole story and many times she was reluctant to compliment herself and her family. However, we were reminded more than once that it all came from hard work and told that the Tibetan Buddhist people are very hard workers. We also discussed why so many countries around the world support and sympathize with Tibet.

     The next morning, we got up painfully early to see the sunrise over Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world. Unfortunately, it was an extremely foggy morning so all we got was the view of clouds surrounding us and free chai. One the way back to the hotel, we stopped at several Buddhist temples and a few cloudy view points. After breakfast we proceeded to pack up the cars and head on another six hour journey to Gangtok.

     Gangtok is in the state of Sikkim. Because Sikkim is on the Chinese border we, as foreigners, needed special permission to enter. As soon as we crossed the border we had to stop to register and get our passports stamped before we could proceed to Gangtok. The first day we were in Gangtok was the Hindu festival of Holi, the festival of colors. We all put on white clothes and clothes we didn't care about, oiled our face and hair to avoid long-lasting stains, braided our hair, and headed out armed with colored power. Holi is a festival I personally think that we should celebrate in the states. Everyone who's playing goes out with powder and water and rubs and throws the powder at other people. A greeting on Holi consists of saying "Happy Holi" while rubbing powder on the other persons face. When we were in the Gangtok market the little kids were very excited to get the chance to play with willing foreigners. As a group, we were sure to give other foreigners we met and especially warm wishing. We met another group of high school aged students from Tennessee. We were each given a bag of powder at the beginning of the morning but very quickly people found that they needed to buy more. The celebrations were winding down by midday when we went back to the hotel and very, very, VERY carefully changed and bathed. The problem with Holi powder is that is stains skin, clothes, anything made of fabric, etc so we had to try really hard not to get it on the hotel's towels or sheets. At one point when I was showering, I looked in the mirror and my face looked like I was a member of the Blue Man Group, the soap had spread the coloring around on my face and the blue was strongest color. It took me five face washes to be presentably clean. I used exfoliating scrub three times and another face wash twice. By the time I was done my face felt raw and my eyebrows and hairline were colorful. I also looked like I had a black left eye. In some places the color was visibly in my pores. I good amount of make-up covered most of the coloring, enough so that I felt like I could go out to look for a wireless cafe with some friends.

Franzi from Germany (she couldn't really see but she wanted to leave the glasses colored for pictures)

Sitting in front of the hotel to take pictures.

Olivia's form Michigan but her family has moved to Switzerland while she's been in India.

Sam form Virginia.

Jordan (Oregon) and Hannah (Germany).

Amanda (Washington)

The whole group. From left to right: Chris Yoder, Nikolas, Anais, Serenity, Olivia, Sam, Me, Nisha, Brii, Jordan, Hannah, Amanda, Franzi.

Me... I kept the shirt and plan on bringing it home as a souvenir.

Anais.

North Tour Part Nine; Sarnath and Bodhgaya

     Once everyone else was up and we'd had breakfast we left Varanasi for Bodhgaya which is where Lord Buddha first became enlightened. On the way we stopped in Sarnath which is the location where Buddha gave his first official sermon. We visited a temple and museum in Sarnath before moving on. We reached Bodhgaya in the evening we there was really only time for dinner before I passed out from a  long day. 

     The next day we got up before breakfast and visited the main temple in Bodhgaya which is built in the sight that Buddha first sat until we received enlightenment, he then returned to that point several times in his life. Bodhgaya is also home to many other temples built by different countries with significant Buddhist populations. Unfortunately all the other temples were on strike due to power cuts so we couldn't visit. When Bodhgaya is probably more important to the Buddhist population as a whole than Dharmsala, it was the latter that felt more spiritual and peaceful. It felt like Bodhgaya had become too much of a tourist destination and that feeling overpowered the feeling of a religious destination.

The temple built for Buddha in Sarnath.

To the right of the temple in Sarnath there is a tree that's a third generation descendant of the original fig tree that Buddha sat under before enlightenment.

The cousin of the tree in Sarnath, this tree is also a third generation descendant but it actually stands in the same place the original fig tree did in Bodhgaya.

The side of the Bodhgaya temple.