Sarnath and Varanasi

I arrived in Varanasi on December 15th after a grueling 14 hour train ride from Calcutta. I spent the last 13 days here helping at Buddah's Smile School and staying at a guesthouse in Sarnath. It was an interesting experience but I have to say it hasn't been my favorite place to be.

It was the first time that I was staying alone since I began this trip, and Sarnath is a very cold and lonely place to be alone. It's a very small town with nothing going on and no other foreigners. The 3 restaurants in town close by 7 pm and traveling around after dark was sort of dicey so I was always back at my guesthouse by 6 pm. I felt sort of trapped.

My room was cold and I was lucky if there was hot water to bath with. But the owners were very nice and the woman made me breakfast each day of toast and jam, hot tea and fruit. As I ate my breakfast in her kitchen she would sit in front of her alter and do her prayers. I loved watching her as she put fresh flowers in Shiva's little alter house and filled the little cups with water and put a new cloak on the Shiva figure each day. She sprinkled some sort of herb in the water cups and put fruit on the alter too while she burned incense around it. She would hum a beautiful tune as she did this each morning and I looked forward to it.

Now I have come to Varnasi which is just about 7 miles from Sarnath to spend a few days and it's been nice. I booked myself into a nice hotel to get a clean bed with no fleas, a hot shower and some yummy food. I feel rejuvenated again.

In a couple of days I'm going by train to Agra to see the Taj Mahal. I'm taking Rajan's 13 year old daughter Daisy with me. She lives here in India and has never seen the Taj. I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun together and it will be memorable for both of us.

On the 4th I'll travel to Bodh Gaya to hear the teachings of the Dalai Lama. After that I'm not sure which direction I'll go. Either way up north to Dharamsala or down south to Kerala or Ponicherry, then a stop in Calcutta and back up to Delhi to fly home, probably around the end of January.

It's been an incredible trip so far and it's strange to think of winding it up...