Day 4/5: Bodhgaya

Bodhgaya is the holiest spot in the Buddhist world, the place where the Buddha achieved enlightenment. The nearest comparison I can make is to St. Peter’s in Rome. Devotees from around the world flock to both places, exuding the same sort of crazy religious fervor. The shrine there is Mahabodhi Temple, which marks the spot where the Buddha attained enlightenment while seated under a Bodhi tree. In back of the temple is an actual Bodhi tree, not the original one which if legend is correct was killed a few hundred years after Buddha’s death. The latest incarnation of the Bodhi tree is only a couple of hundred years old, but supposedly the spot has been continuously marked for 2,500 years.

It is a five hour drive from Varnasi to Bodhgaya, which is grueling under any conditions and was especially so given the condition I found myself in the morning we were to leave. Miraculously it was my first case of diarrhea since coming to India. It is not surprising it happened in Varanasi. One gets diarrhea in Varanasi the way one gets wet in Seattle. I submit that Varanasi qualifies as the dirtiest city that people flock to and not flee from.

That morning I was uncertain I would survive the five hour ride to Bodhgaya.  It was probably the fact that I decided to start the antibiotic treatment that was responsible for me making it through. In retrospect, it was the most miserable car ride of my life. The only saving grace was that I slept through much of it, for Jane told me as bad as I felt being asleep for most of the trip, it was much worse being awake. It was like the tuk-tuks in Varanasi, only about five times as fast.

But we made it. Our hotel in Bodhgaya was a very simple affair, a two star place called the Sakura hotel run by a Japanese woman and her Indian husband. (see review below). It is definitely the barest bones place we have stayed in in all of our journeys, but except for the pillows was perfectly adequate. From our window we could view the sunrise.

It wasn’t until the next morning that we made it to Mahabodhi temple, following the hoards of devotees that flock to the temple, worship at the Buddha statue inside, and circumambulate the temple. We spend most of our time there with many others simply finding a place to sit under the Bodhi tree planted on that magical spot. It was amazing just to sit there and watch Buddhists from around the world circle around and around the temple.