Sarnath and Varanasi

Day 15 (1/15)

8am…Rise and shine! Back to the Lotus Cafe to try out their breakfast…and it was so delicious:) My new favorite thing~curd (unpasturized  yogurt) with museli, fresh fruit, and honey, fresh squeezed pineapple juice, and milk tea (chai). They call it a power breakfast:) I had to fuel up for our busy day of touring Sarnath and Varanasi. Our car would be ready for us at 11 and we had high hopes that our driver would speak some english, which we unfortunately forgot to request at the time of booking our tour! We are learning that you really have to be very clear and specific with every little detail of what exactly it is that you want, especially when it comes to the names of cities! So many of the city's here have very similar names so it has been important to write or point out the name of the city you would like to visit or you just might end up somewhere completely different! Our breakfast took longer than we had planned and we still needed to stop by the guesthouse to use the restroom and grab our things for the day…as we came down the many stairs from our room the travel agent was standing in the lobby (or what I considered the living room:) it had a couple couches, coffee table and a TV) looking for us saying that our car is waiting for us. He didn't seem very happy as we said goodbye to Sanju and began to follow him through the alleyways to the car. We came out of the maze into the main road and to a small car which we soon learned would take us to a larger car. Only compact cars are allowed into certain areas and for what ever reason I guess they thought we needed an SUV…seemed a bit much to me but hey, I'm just along for the ride! Once we transferred cars we were on our way to Sarnath…we were assuming…turns out the driver didn't know a lick of english! Alright, this will make for an interesting day:) After about an hour we arrived in Sarnath, the driver motions for us to get out of the car and there is a man there to greet us and tells us for 200 rupees he would be happy to show us around the town and all the different temples. What?! We just paid for a "tour" of Sarnath and the tour guide is not included!!!!? Ok. Deep breath. I start chanting to myself…lemonade, lemonade, lemonade… when you get lemons…! And actually the guide was very nice and knowledgeable. Without him I believe the town would have been a bit of a bore, without knowing where to go, what everything is and symbolizes…he was well worth the extra 200. I wish I would have written down all of the names of the temples and such but my personal favorite part of the tour was the Bodhi Tree where Buddha was said to meditate for many many years and then after reaching enlightenment he delivered his first sermon to his first 5 devotees. It was so cool to be standing under the same tree. There was a shrine built in front of the tree as well a some large statues representing Buddha and the first 5 men to receive his teachings. To be honest, I thought it was a bit much. I feel it would have been best to leave the tree in its natural state instead of surrounding it with a bunch of stuff. But who am I to say? Looking back on it now, I wish I would have taken the time to sit down and meditate for a while. I guess I was so worried about Brenden and the guide waiting for me I didn't allow myself to truly experience that time in space, for me. I suppose that that is some of what this trip really is about for me…learning to listen to myself, to my mind and body. To learn how to practice yoga, this union with the Divine within, off the mat an in the world. And here i am writing about the 15th day of my trip on the 23rd of Feb and its just now sort of hitting me how much I have grown into myself since that day under Buddha's Tree. The strength that I have gained to stand on my own, to let go of the tension created by stepping out of my element, and experience the unfolding of the lotus of my heart. Everyday learning to embrace the vast love and compassion that I have for myself, and for the world. The whole world. The world of India, the world of my home in Colorado, the unknown world still there for me to discover. 

Prayer wheel 

Buddha's Tree:)

As our tour came to an end we said our goodbyes to our new Nepalese friend and we were on our way to…who knows where! Soon we stopped in front of some big palace looking building which turned out to be a museum, I had to pea so bad I didn't care where we were as long as they had a bathroom…or as they say here in India…a toilet. I could hardly walk…and I was seriously afraid I wasn't going to make it! I was about to water a tree when I was finally pointed in the right direction to relieve myself without causing a scene! Its a funny thing here, everywhere you go you can find men peeing on the side of the road, in the middle of a bazaar, next to street food carts, next to busy roads…but I have not once seen an Indian woman doing the same. So just imagine if they saw a white girl squatting down to water the…dirt!? The museum was cool but not something I would have choose to do on my own. It does amaze me how they really don't take care of anything here. This museum was in what used to be this really beautiful palace, and it was filled with displays of all these old paintings and weapons, and things that were just dusty and dirty. I guess I just kept craving to see the beauty of India "back in the day". In the day of the kings, when the palaces were all sparkling and decorated with magnificent rugs and lamps and pillows to sit and eat grapes on. I know, I know, there goes my piciean mind again, day dreaming of a world and a time that I will never know, except in my mind.

As we left the museum we drove down a dirt road toward what you might call a bridge. I mean it was a bridge, but I would say it was a bit more appropriate for the use of pedestrians and bicycles to cross the river…oh no…lets add motorcycles, push carts, auto rickshaws and cars! I took a video of this crazy ride but Im guessing it probably wont load:( The bridge was just barley wider than one lane on a road…but there was traffic moving in 2 directions! At one point we, in an SUV were passing another car and we were so close together I thought we were going to get stuck…pulling in side view mirrors and all! Its so hard to explain the experience of transportation here but let me tell you…there is never a moment of peace. Im guessing that Indians have never even heard of someone falling asleep at the wheel! I don't know how you could!

We headed back towards Varanasi and stopped off at the Monkey Temple. We didn't really know where we were suppose to go or what we were suppose to do. Our driver just kept pointing and telling us stuff in what I am assuming was Hindi but who knows! So we walk in through security(no cameras aloud) and are suddenly on a walk way with a wire fence on both sides of us…keeping the hundreds of monkey's within the boundaries of the park. They had a lot of open space so it wasn't really like a zoo…and the fence was not very well kept so the monkeys were pretty much running around anywhere they wanted! As we were walking I started to think that thats all it was, a place with a highly concentrated amount of monkeys, but then we came around a bend and saw a really long line waiting to get into the actual Monkey Temple! We were both feeling pretty tired and couldn't really decide if we wanted to stand in such a long line…but had convinced ourselves(or it may have been more of me convincing Brenden…) that we should. We were just about to get in line and out of nowhere our driver appears and sort of yells at us to "come". We follow him to the front of the line…looking over peoples heads to see the Hanuman statue inside and then he says "ok!" and motions for us to follow him once again as we walk out of the park. He must have read our minds and it was in that moment that I began to love our driver…I think maybe he had a hot date that night and wanted this tour to be over as much as we did. Although there was one more stop along the way…another temple where, when we got out of the car a plate of flowers were shoved into both of our hands and we were escorted into I believe the Durga Temple, directed to take off our shoes and sort of shoved into a line to the shrine where you can offer your flowers and money of course…if you so choose. They try and make you think that you have to give money but I didn't fall for it and just handed over my offering of flowers…it was all so chaotic and crazy I felt like I didn't really know what was happening! This is not how I imagined a temple to be…in the middle of a crazy ass loud town with people everywhere pushing and shoving their way to the front of the line…like if they get there first their prayers will be answered first or something! I don't know…it was not a very pleasant experience and I surly did not feel any sort of peace or love or serenity as I walked away to get my shoes which I had to pay to get back! Then as we get back in the car the man that pretty much forced us to take the flowers when we arrived stuck his head in the window and started yelling at us for money for the flowers! I tried to argue and say that I wouldn't pay for something that appeared to be free but finally just gave him a 10 note to get him to leave! Get me out of here! I was so done with this tour and was so starving I just wanted to be back in the quiet of the maze of alleyways I had grown to love, winding my way towards somewhere with delicious food to nourish my tired body and mind. We drive for a bit more and then the car just stops, sort of in the middle of the road and we are motioned to get out of the car…and then the car just drives away. So there we are just standing on the side of this road with really no clue of where the hell we are! Thankfully Brenden had a good feeling of what direction we should walk and he got us back to a familiar place with out too much trouble and finally we were back to the guesthouse where we started! I was anxious to run upstairs to wash up and get to the closest place with food! After using the bathroom I came out to find Brenden lying on the bed and after some waiting learned that he wanted to take a nap, even though we were both starving! Ok…Im off on my own! There was no way I could wait any longer to eat…it was after 5pm and we hadn't eaten anything except some chips in the car since 9am. I headed down to the "living room" and asked Sanju if he could recommend somewhere good to eat. We ended up having a really nice conversation and I felt comforted and cared for by him. He directed me towards Keshari…one of his favorite places to eat. It was kind of nice to have some time to myself, although I was a bit scared at first, I felt very lonely and pushed away by my travel companion which caused me to really start missing my family and loved ones back home. Sanju picked up on this right away and was so sweet to offer words of wisdom and courage. Once I found the restaurant and had some food I felt much better and ended up wondering the streets on my own. After a couple of hours I headed back to the guesthouse and hung out with Sanju and another man that worked there. We were just hangin out watching TV, and sharing stories and pictures. It was in these moments that I realized that it was the people I loved most about traveling. I mean don't get me wrong…it is amazing to see this whole new and different world, but to get to know the life within that world. Thats what I love most. The connection with a culture, a way of thinking and seeing the world that is so very different from the one I have learned and lived all these years. It's almost as if I have found what I was looking for, a sense of belonging and understanding of something I have only read about in books. The heart of India. At first this place seems so crazy and unforgiving…but once you get passed all that, you find the heart. It was then, as I sat there with my new friends that I knew everything was going to be just fine.