Wednesday 5th May 2010
3pm
Air conditioned waiting room, Gorakhpur Station
Gorakhpur, India
Back in India! and still keeping up this diary business!
I feel there is a lot to write but I'm sure through laziness or forgetfulness I'll forget or not bother to write one or two things.
I took an early-morning cycle rickshaw from Lumbini to Sunnali which is at the Nepal/India border. It took at least two hours and was a distance of about 30km. It cost 600 Nepali rupees, the bus would have cost 40.
The Maoists in Nepal are still on strike though. No vehicles are on the roads bar military or emergency ones, which in funny way made the journey to the border very peaceful.
...there is a crying baby in the waiting room, it's a little distracting.
Actually this waiting room, with air con, is one of the nicest I've been in in India.
So I arrived at the border around 10am.
I had had one last breakfast at the monastery at 6am and afterwards said goodbye and good luck to Martin from Germany and Lucas from Holland. Rices and vegetables and two cups of tea.
The food at the monastery made me very regular in a very healthy way.
I had thought about walking to the border this morning as rain over the previous few nights had cooled the morning air. The sky did indeed sprinkle cool rain during my trip to the border too. However 30km, even on flat ground with what was only at first a marginally heavy bag would have been too much.
My driver (I've never said that before) gave me a sweet along the way. I gave him all of my water. I wish rickshaw drivers were female, you'd spend all your time and money on staring at their behinds.
I'll miss the temple life and the routine I had, while also fondly remember the people I met there, both those passing through and those working there.
After the usual bureaucracy I passed into India and a took a two hour tin can bus journey to where I am now, Gorakhpur. Due to my luggage, one large blue rucksack, I got a seat at the front so I had a good view. In the event of an accident though I would have been a dead man as I would have gone straight through the windscreen. 70 Indian rupees. My sustenance was a packet of 10 rupee biscuits.
...so now at Gorakhpur station I'm waiting for my 7pm train - the Kushinagar express to take me to Lucknow at around 12.30am tonight, at 2.30am I'll take Akal Takht Express to Amritsar arriving at 5pm tomorrow afternoon. Then off to the Golden Temple! Amritsar is near the border with Pakistan.
I was only in Nepal for two weeks, but it feels like a long time since I first arrived on my initial visit to Lumbini.
Yesterday the ATM and petrol station here were closed and the few open shops were drying up. Still some travellers will ride it out I'm sure...
I went to the library for the last time yesterday for 4 or 5 hours. I got a nice chai and the Dr there showed me some interesting books about the saved monasteries in the Spiti Valley.
I really feel that I learnt a lot and read a lot and gained a lot from my week in the temple and frequent library visits. I came across and got introduced to lots of interesting topics.
In the evening I ate a big dinner, riceless though, and included lots of cooked vegetables. I had some tea, Pepsi and some cheap biscuits. I was in bed by 8.30pm and well underneath my fan brushed mosquito net.
....I've come to realise that I really like drinking tea in Indian train stations. It's reliable. It costs 4 or 5 rupees and is sweet enough to satisfy. Buying a small tea, which incidentally are served in shot like glasses here, was the first thing I did today upon arriving at the station, it was accompanied by a copy of the Times of India.
The computerised voice of the station intercom is slightly distracting me. While in this quiet waiting room there are a few armed soldiers sitting with a large family on the other side of the room.
...it's felt a tad strange taking a cycle-rickshaw rides here. The pace is slow and children, especially in rural areas are not used to foreigners, especially sun burnt, pink and freckly ones, so they often say hello (or ask for money if their parents have raised them well!). It feels like your a monarch on a procession through a city waving to your subjects when you sat on of them. A peculiar feeling.
Time for some sleep.
The trip through the countryside today was very beautiful, though on a bus you get no time to fully appreciate the scenery.
Footnote: The monastery in Lumbini sounded like the Planet of the Apes at night.
4.45pm
Despite the unwanted attention from beggars and the stares it feels good to be back in India. I am considering returning next year via Egypt or a European country. Anyway 4 weeks left here yet.
Buddhism, food, old relics, colonial history, funny people, all reasons to be in India.
...so now at Gorakhpur station I'm waiting for my 7pm train - the Kushinagar express to take me to Lucknow at around 12.30am tonight, at 2.30am I'll take Akal Takht Express to Amritsar arriving at 5pm tomorrow afternoon. Then off to the Golden Temple! Amritsar is near the border with Pakistan.
I was only in Nepal for two weeks, but it feels like a long time since I first arrived on my initial visit to Lumbini.
Yesterday the ATM and petrol station here were closed and the few open shops were drying up. Still some travellers will ride it out I'm sure...
I went to the library for the last time yesterday for 4 or 5 hours. I got a nice chai and the Dr there showed me some interesting books about the saved monasteries in the Spiti Valley.
I really feel that I learnt a lot and read a lot and gained a lot from my week in the temple and frequent library visits. I came across and got introduced to lots of interesting topics.
In the evening I ate a big dinner, riceless though, and included lots of cooked vegetables. I had some tea, Pepsi and some cheap biscuits. I was in bed by 8.30pm and well underneath my fan brushed mosquito net.
....I've come to realise that I really like drinking tea in Indian train stations. It's reliable. It costs 4 or 5 rupees and is sweet enough to satisfy. Buying a small tea, which incidentally are served in shot like glasses here, was the first thing I did today upon arriving at the station, it was accompanied by a copy of the Times of India.
The computerised voice of the station intercom is slightly distracting me. While in this quiet waiting room there are a few armed soldiers sitting with a large family on the other side of the room.
...it's felt a tad strange taking a cycle-rickshaw rides here. The pace is slow and children, especially in rural areas are not used to foreigners, especially sun burnt, pink and freckly ones, so they often say hello (or ask for money if their parents have raised them well!). It feels like your a monarch on a procession through a city waving to your subjects when you sat on of them. A peculiar feeling.
Time for some sleep.
The trip through the countryside today was very beautiful, though on a bus you get no time to fully appreciate the scenery.
Footnote: The monastery in Lumbini sounded like the Planet of the Apes at night.
4.45pm
Despite the unwanted attention from beggars and the stares it feels good to be back in India. I am considering returning next year via Egypt or a European country. Anyway 4 weeks left here yet.
Buddhism, food, old relics, colonial history, funny people, all reasons to be in India.