India
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Michaela’s Favourite Photographs #13. When We Are The Mystery
Sunderbans, Bengal, India, 2017. Way beyond the end of the road network, far beyond the concept of cars, out into the world’s biggest mangrove swamp where our temporary home was to be a mud hut amongst the wild and mysterious terrain. The only means of transport was small, cramped, low slung boats across the water. Here, in these far off corners, the real mystery was us: what were these two pale skinned people doing right out here where white man is a rarity? As you can see from the faces of our fellow passengers, we were a source of friendly amusement. Elsewhere around the villages, tea sellers like this lady…
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Characters On The Buddha Train – Part 2
Things are taking shape on the Buddha train. Little Miss Selfie has put herself into her self-indulgent limelight and is convinced that everyone loves her as much as she loves herself. The group as a whole is falling into two definable entities, the Punctuals and the Dawdlers, those of us who are always on time and those for whom time seems to be an abstract concept even when the entire group has a schedule to stick to. Bob is a great guy, Ben hugely personable and exceptionally good company, whilst Patrick is emerging as someone who could teach the Buddhists a thing or two about respectful conduct. He can’t pass…
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Characters On The Buddha Train – Part 1
We started our recent journey around South East Asia with what was effectively a “train cruise” visiting some of the most important places in the life of Buddha. During our posts we touched on some of the characters we met on that train. Here we delve a bit deeper into those experiences in a 2-part post about life on the Buddha train…. We’d never done it before, been on an organised trip like this, so we were probably the ones sticking out like sore thumbs as we tried to gauge some sort of assessment of our fellow passengers. Who would be on a “train cruise” through India tracing the story…
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The Chaos And Joys Of Delhi
It feels good to get the backpacks unpacked as we settle back into Delhi – the first time we’ve been able to unpack in the ten days since we left England. Coupled with the sense of freedom now that we are once again independent after the confines of the Buddha Train experience, it feels positively liberating to wander out into the lively streets around Connaught Place. Gulping a first beer in eight days feels pretty good too. Even if it is Kingfisher. After majoring in Buddhism, touching on Hinduism at the Aarti in Varanasi and Islam at the Taj Mahal, our first port of call back in Delhi is the…
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Completing The Buddha Circuit: Balrampur-Sravasti-Taj Mahal
We awake on Day 7 of this 8-day tour with our train silent and stationary at Balrampur station, the sky grey outside and the early morning cup of chai clanking its way down the corridor. Amongst the Punctual group we have bets on how much we’ll miss the 6.30am departure time by: Lovely Malaysian Lady wins with a punt at 7:05 which proves to be out by just one minute. Thirty four minutes late. Here we go again. Of course we have some very decent people with us on this train as well as those who have surprised us with their behaviour: Malaysian Lady and Pretty Girl are just two…
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Birth, Death & Border Horrors: In And Out Of Nepal
The wheels of the Buddha train are still rolling as we finish breakfast and wander back to our compartment: evidently there has been some sort of delay overnight and we finally trundle into Nautanwa station about two hours behind schedule. Nautanwa is the end of India’s railway line, the border with Nepal just a few miles away. In spite of the extra two hours to prepare, and in spite of strict instructions to disembark quickly, about ten of the Dawdlers are late, and finally – finally, after 30 minutes waiting on the coach – Little Miss Selfie, the most incorrigible of the Dawdle group, bowls up as if it’s all…
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Absent Karma On The Buddha Train
The culture shock of India is nowhere near as powerful second time around, it’s that first time in the country which really knocks you sideways and shifts your understanding of what constitutes normality. This being our second time, we knew what to expect. Indian cities are cacophonously noisy, an endlessly discordant soundtrack of car horns, motor bikes, revving engines and raised voices. While the ears get battered, the assault on the eyes comes from the constant chaos and manic overcrowding, but the sense of smell suffers at least as much as any other part, so much so that just inhaling is an occupation fraught with danger. Never mind the putrid…
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In The Footsteps Of Lord Buddha: Bodhgaya-Rajgir-Nalanda
Fittingly, our journey through the life of Buddha starts where it all began, in the revered town of Bodhgaya. It was here that Buddha experienced The Enlightenment, meditated at length to define the principles of a life “free from ignorance, craving and suffering” by attaining a state of nirvana through meditation, and set in motion the path which was to become Buddhism. It was in this modest town that Siddhartha Gautama, Lord Buddha as he was to become, troubled by the direction of his life, sought solace by taking some time out to think things through and rationalise life, the universe and everything. This period of contemplation incorporated abstinence from…
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A Taste Of Delhi, And On To The Buddha Train
“Please wear this for your identification”, he says, handing us a white baseball cap with the Indian Railway Company logo emblazoned on it. “And carry this too”. A bright yellow pouch bag. Classy. Now, we’ve always smirked at people on cruises being shepherded around sites with their colour coded labels or whatever – now here we are setting off on this adventure with uncharacteristic white headgear and an even more uncharacteristic yellow bag, all for the purposes of being in that very type of herd which we thought we’d never be part of. Well, there’s a first time for everything. But before all this, we arrive in India’s capital city…
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Seeing The Light?
When Matt the weatherman peered out of our TV screen and into our living room the other day, we pricked up our ears to pay attention: we’d heard the s-word. Snow. Now that’s a complication we don’t need when we’re heading to Heathrow on Thursday. Matt, though, doesn’t scare us too much, because although it’s going to turn colder everywhere (“Arctic freeze” according to those sections of the media which are incapable of understatement and love the odd shock tactic), the snow is more likely in the North. By Sunday, both the forecast and the messenger have changed. Matt has become Darren and the cold down south has become “mild…
