Posts (page 2)

Day 5: Sarnath to Bodhgaya

Jun 8, 2008
Post a comment

We woke up and headed to Golden Temple, one of the main Hindu temples located in Varanasi. We were sick of driving in the hell that is Varanasi traffic so we had a local rickshaw driver who went by Guru drive us there and watch over our bags. We made our way through tiny alleys bypassing pilgrims dressed in colorful attire. We also nearly ran right into a cobra and its snakecharmer. This place is nuts. We got to the front of the temple when Allen and I were told we couldn't enter since we weren't of Hindu faith. So instead we were sat down at a nearby shop and of course, hassled into buying stuff. Sonny arrive awhile later saying it was a crazy experience inside with pilgrims tossing themselves, overcome by the religious experience. I wish I could write more about it, maybe Sonny can give more detail.

After further hassling at our guide's friend's silk shop, we arrived back at our rickshaw much later than we expected. Guru wasn't too happy. He was now accompanied by his brother, nicknamed Rocky. Rocky and Guru offered to drive us to Sarnath and then lead us to the highway. They said it was up to us how much we pay them. I hate being put in this position, and it seems to be a workable tactic for most vendors/drivers/guides here as it forces tourists to be overgenerous. Anyways, they brought us to the Green Temple and deer park, where Buddha gave his first sermon. Like outisde of every religious location we've been to so far, we were touted by people trying to get our money. Kind of kills the religious experience when you have beggars, frauds trying to charge you for watching over your shoes, and people pushing postcards and cheap figurines of Buddha in your hands. But I guess one billion people have to find some way to make money.

We had an engrossing conversation with Rocky and Guru over lunch. They stated over and over that all they had were each other as their other siblings and parents had passed away. Guru had two children with heart conditions. Most of his income as a rickshaw driver went into buying their medicine. Rocky was a graphic designer by day and rickshaw driver by night. From speaking with other people in Varanasi, we've found it common for people here to hold more than one job. Hearing their stories and realizing there were millions of others here that could relate, we couldn't help but feel hopeless about our efforts to help those in need here. Our journey's become quite emotionally exhausting.

By sunset we had reached Bodhgaya, the location of Buddha's enlightenment, and our final pilgrimage site. The town was much more peaceful, very few cars passing through, less street hasslers, and a smatter of Buddhist monks from all parts of Asia walking through the streets. This place is chock full of crickets though, which also brings many frogs. Slowly we're starting to make our peace with insects. We were approached by two teenagers from the village part of town, Anut and Shiva (our second god to guide us!). They showed us to a Tibetan monestary where we would lodge at. None of us had stayed at a monestary before, but I guess it's fitting that it would be here.

We talked with the two boys over dinner and got a glimpse of village life for teenagers. They're both 16, they think. Most people here don't know how old their age or birthday. It's just not something they celebrate here. They were on summer vacation, which is an amazing 18 days long. They play soccer and cricket, enjoy watching professional wrestling, and are seeking girlfriends. Nothing too out of the ordinary here. We promised to send them some American girls. Any takers? In our efforts to leave a mark on the people we meet, we taught them American slang, elaborate high fives, and even some martial arts moves. We finished the night meeting Shiva's dad, a street vendor. He sold us some betel nut, which we've been long in searching for. Betel nut, or khat, is a red juicy nut wrapped in banana leaf. It's chewed on and its juices are absorbed in the tongue and provides a relaxing feeling similar to tobacco. It's also spit out everywhere leaving disgusting red splatters on all the streets and walls. We walked arond a little longer gathering more children followers as we went. Alot of them spoke excellent English and Japanese (many Japanese monks visit here). These kids were way smarter than we were at their age. We passed out early, as we will be waking up tomorrow at 4 AM for morning prayer and hopefully achieving enlightenment.

- Brian

4 - varanassi - along the holy ganga

Jun 8, 2008
2 comments

we left gorakpur pretty early to head south to varanassi. we were able to fix our reverse gear and tighten some bolts with the help of a groundskeeper. the roads were better than usual. we've all crashed into something at least once so far. we stopped in a few small towns to ask for directions along the way. i was served fresh road-side mango lassi, made with local water and ice, and i drank it against my better judgement. delicious. i think now i've broken every piece of advice given.

our auto was making strange noises in the higher gears so we stopped in a town called Mau where we gathered a large crowd. we made a friend our age named Vishnu who helped us out a lot getting it repaired and we talked a lot to him. he has since called sonny's phone a few times and talked to all of us. we are invited to his home to meet his family the next time we are in Mau. we talked to locals about the differences between the US and India and what we liked so far along our journey. the people would beam with pride when we told them we thought their country was beautiful. it was a great experience. our engine was tuned for cheap and then we left for varanassi.

we experienced rain driving for the first time. our wiper only moves along about a 3cm path, not very useful. sonny's stomach was hurting a lot along the way but unfortunately the villages we stopped in did not have toilets. all they could offer was a coke bottle filled with water to wash up with.

we made it to varanassi through more crazy crowded street driving, found a hotel and met a US couple on a vacation. we talked to them and they showed us the local paper where an article featured our race. brian and i went out to a local lassi shop to get some bhang lassi. Saam's lassi it was called and the owner saam was a very cool guy. i got mine very strong, brian got his medium. we drank them and headed back to eat the food. we ordered a pizza that was quite different than in the US, but we were all very satisfied with the attempt. much of our car talk lately has been about fast food we miss.

at around 6 we left with a boatsman down to the ganges river, the most holy river in hinduism. you could see instantly why people would think it was holy, pray to it. there were hundreds of temples (i've heard 365) lining the river with stairs leading down to the water. people were bathing in the river, there were fires at the ghats where bodies were being cremated and there were just tons of people out. we got to see the sunset. it was incredibly beautiful and spiritual. there was awesome live music coming from many of the ghats. we watched the ceremonies from the boat. the three of us probably had unique experiences, but profound realizations were certainly reached. i would recommend visitng this amazing place to everyone, its a shame we couldnt stay longer.

i asked if i could jump into the water and after some conversation the boatsman agreed. they say swimming in the water of the ganga cleanses your body of all sin. if you die in the river you go immediately to heaven. same if you drink water from the river with your last dying breath, which is why many indian people keep vials of the water in their homes. i stayed under the water for a while and felt amazing. i am eternally grateful to have experienced it.

back on land someone gave me a ride to a barber shop where i got a shave andmy face washed for like $2 with tip. it felt great to be clean after so much dirtyness. sonny learned in the barbers he went to that obama won the nomination, and we were all happy about that. i met a guy in the barbershop who gave me a ride back on his motorcycle. back in the hotel the three of us got hour long massages from these two guys. felt great after all the driving. i went immediately to sleep.

i dont think i've achieved enlightenment or anything like that, but i have had certain realizations and new perspectives that will help guide me on the journey that is life. my heart goes out to all the people we've seen in india, and all my loved ones back home. i cant wait to meet with you all again.

-allen

Current State of our rickshaw

Jun 3, 2008
Post a comment

- Main headlight not working

- Extra headlight's wires smoke if turned on

- Can't reverse anymore

- Metal frame's bolts coming undone, zip ties and duct tape can only do so much

- Right rear bumper hit by Sonny

- Left back cage hit by Allen

- Right back cage hit by Brian

Day 2 - Flash Mobs

Jun 3, 2008
Post a comment

We woke up this morning to find that out of the 15 or so rickshaws that were at our apartment, we were the last to leave! We have some major catching up to do. We got on the road and made our way to Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and one of the four major Buddhist pilgrimage sites we hope to visit. Halfway through our rickshaw stalled on a hill in the middle of a forest. We had to push our rickshaw up an incline for about half a kilometer (yea, we've adopted SI units). Nothing says "move your ass!" like the burning noon sun and unsettling wildlife noises from the trees.

We ate lunch at a shady restaurant which would eventually get two of us sick. We did however strike up a conversation with a local there. We talked about hip hop music and he was kind enough to burn us some Nepalese rap! Too bad our stereo doesn't work.

It's amazing how quickly we can draw a crowd here. We stopped in a rural area to take pictures of a statue when before we knew it, children were coming out of all corners of the village. Being an agricultural area, one kid approached us with a giant sickle, creating mixed feelings of "awww" and "AAHHH!" We talked with them for awhile and let them autograph and draw on our rickshaw. Some punk went around tracing his middle finger, much to the delight of the other children. They're names are so difficult. I feel terrible when they have to repeat it twenty times, each repitition causing a more butchered response from us.

By the afternoon we made it to Lumbini, which was a very humble town. I'm glad they didn't glam it up and construct tons of garish monuments and stuff. It looked like the place hadn't changed much since Buddha was born. We stopped by a Japanese giant buddha statue and prayed barefoot on blistering granite. Suffering's the path to enlightenment, right? One site down, three more to go, still no epiphanies. Let's hope they come soon.

We hit the Nepal-India border town of Sanauli where we were again bombarded by locals. We had them sign our rickshaw too. A lot of them are writing stuff in Hindi now. Something tells me theyr'e swear words.As we past into India we noticed a significant change in culture. We met our first scam artist who tried to pass himself off as an immigration officer and told us we didn't have the right paperwork. The solution? A "fine" of course. It would be the first time we had to make a getaway, and with something as reliable as the death trap we're driving, we hope we don't have to make many more of these.

Last night we promised ourselves no more night driving. Well we don't learn too quick apparently. At least we saw an awesome sunset. As the sun left we found out first hand that India has the worst roads in the world. The best way to describe what it's like when you drive on these roads is it's like being the ball in the Price of Right's Plinko game. Couple this with a broken headlight and cargo truck drivers who apparently don't fear death, it;s quite the dangerous game.

Here's the highlight of the day. We made it to Bridjmanganj in hopes there would be a hotel there. We failed to find one and toyed with the option of spending the night there in our rickshaw or going to a town an hour away that may or may not have a hotel. We were going to go with option 1. Sonny left to get us water, and like everytime Sonny leaves us alone in the rickshaw, we created a scene. We experienced our first flash mob. It always begins with one or two curious bystanders. Three minutes later, we had (no exaggeration) 30 people surrounding our rickshaw, old men trying to give us directions, children checking out the strange Americans. Sonny came back with his "I leave you guys alone for thirty seconds and this is what happens" look and tries to speak to some of the adults in Hindi. The three of us in our rickshaw, dozens of hands grabbing inwards, it was like an Indian zombie movie. We needed to get the f*** out of here. I literally mowed through people with children making a game out of running in front of me trying not to get hit. We'd make a getaway, maybe 100 meters, when we'd stall. The mob returns. We're out of gas. Allen performs crowd control, showing them how Americans (or at least Allen) dance, as the two of us fill up. As Allen tries to get the car started again, Sonny and I took over, teaching Cal chants. There's nothing like yelling "Go!" with the hesitant Hindi-English return of "Bears?" Be proud Berkeley, we've brought you to Bridjmanganj. This actually turned out to be a bad idea because now the crowd was as excited and frenzied as ever, and they didn't want their singing and dancing American monkeys to leave. With that, we made our second getaway of the day, hauling ass towards Nagaurh.

We arrived safely in Nagaurh and lodged in by far the crappiest hotel I've seen. The room had all the amenities of a prison cell. Cot beds, a door that only locks on the outside with a huge padlock, a hole in the floor that wouldn't flush, bugs, bugs, bugs, and more bugs. We met some interesting characters there however. It was a family owned hotel and one of the older guys came out of the shower and held a conversation with us outside wearing only a bath towel. The worst was when he'd cross his legs. We took a shower, refreshing after being covered in a thick film of grime all day and hoped to stay clean for at least the night. Wishful thinking of course. The power went out, and our pitch black prison cell became a sauna...with bugs.

Day 2 - Flash Mobs

Jun 3, 2008
Post a comment