I re-arranged our schedule with the guide so we could have a lazy morning, instead of up and out at 6 am. Thanks to mother’s little helper, I slept for 9 hours and feel like myself again. I head to the rooftop at 8 :30 for yoga, and join an Englishman for an hour of breathing exercised and what I would call easy to moderate stretching. No actual positions and a little disappointing. But the view from the rooftop terrace is splendid, and I can gaze over at the activity alongside and on the Ganges whenever I like.
Breakfast in the open courtyard, including a sampling of the traditional Indian breakfast food, and we are ready to head our with our guide at 11:30. On the way, we see people living on the side of the road in tiny, make-shift huts as well as the usual traffic hubbub:
We drive out about 40 minutes to sarnoth, where the Buddha gave his first sermon, making it the birthplace of Buddhism. This is one of four holy sites for Buddhists. The others are his birthplace, the spot where he received enlightenment and where he died. There is a museum that houses statues and discoveries made onsite, as well as a giant statue of the Buddha and the large wheel that was once attached…the very same wheel that is now an icon on the Indian flag. Interesting.
We walk about the ruins, and visit the stupa built on the site of this first sermon. There are monks and pilgrims chanting and walking around the stupa with their necklaces of 108 beads in their hands.
If they have time, they actually do walk the stupa that number of times. I will check out the significance of 108 and get back to you.
It’s a beautiful day – I’m so happy we’ve arrived somewhere I don’t have to wear my thermal tops and bottoms every day! That’s not usually within my definition of vacation. We visit the adjoining Temple:
and then back in the car. On the way back to Varanasi, we drive through a small village. We see women turning cow pies into fuel, all the chips arranged in clever patterns and towers to dry for two weeks in the sun.
Children are playing and we can even peer in the small living abodes (could be a room only 10×12) as we drive down the single road.
These guys were laughing and asking for candy. If I had known, I would have brought some!
Most families have land and we see a lot to tomato and cabbage plants. A woven cot sits in the middle of a field for a family member to sleep and watch their crop through the night.
Evidently quite a problem with thieves in the night.
We head back to town..random road shot #1:
and #2 shows a truckload of women coming back from bathing in the local pond (or the Ganges when we get closer to town):
and the quacking of the diesel ducks and stop and go traffic has given Matt a headache. We decide to forego dinner. He rests in the room and I head out to walk along the ghat steps down the the newer area of town. It’s about 20 minutes to get there, and as I wind up the lane from riverside, small shops and street food vendors are all busy. People are walking everywhere, and as always, there are groups of people crowded around the chai stand or any number of food vendors, scooping up gravy from little foil bowls with freshly fried bread or sipping tea while watching the world go by. And dogs are cruising everywhere – fending for themselves by feasting on trash treasure. And yes, be on the lookout for cows and bulls, who wander freely and may be found blocking a narrow alley, laying on the sidewalk, or cruising down the road in the middle of traffic.
I head back to our room, hop into bed, watch a movie and turn out the light. Up early tomorrow!