From Nepal back to India

Hey everybody,

It was a heavy two day’s trip back to India:

• a swinging trip from Kathmandu down to the boarder,

• questionable civil servants keen for our Euro coins, Nepali roepies , mosquito milk,

• a night in hell just beyond Indian boarder (prison hotel, not a trace of a restaurant, so we had chips and bananas for dinner and breakfast, noise of hooting trucks at night, not a square cm of fresh air to breathe)

• crowded third class train though the poorest part of India (lots of ‘cosy’ hours delay)

• last part of the journey in a luxurious ambassador taxi to Bodhgaya.

This is the most important pilgrimage for Buddhists of all countries. Here is the tree where the historical Buddha got enlightened. Next to it you find all kinds of Buddhist temples: Thai, Burmese, Bhutanese, Tibetan, Sri Lankese, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Nepalese,… Asia in a nutshell. As we arrived a very interesting Puja was going on, with 3000 Bhutanese monks, 3000 drums and bells. An impressing performance.

We have found a place to stay in an oasis of peace and wealthy green scenery, a meditation room, library, yoga lessons, delicious food, nice company. And clean! So far we don’t experience India (in the guts).

Obviously we miss the kids. Our last days in Kathmandu were very enjoyable. We took them all on a real tourist trip to the most important historical sites of Kathmandu. We also had the pleasure of meeting our Belgian friends Fany and Nick. During nice evenings we could chat along.

Leaving the orphanage was emotional. They overwhelmed us with snacks and beer. We received shawls, funny caskets, presents, hugs, drawings. We surprised the children with a giant chocolate cake (see on the pictures how delicious this was!).

We have decided to come back in April at the end of our journey, for this orphanage has really stolen our hart.

The train to Madras has been booked Soon we wil be meeting Peter and Veerle (Ulrike’s nephew and his girl friend). They will travel with us for 3 weeks. See also on the map of India: http://steve.ulrike.stivi.be/india.php