Bodhgaya

Bodhgaya is the most amazing place I have ever been so far. It is the place where the Buddha is supposed to have been enlightened. Most people coming here are asian buddhists, half of them being monks, so the atmosphere is very different from other touristic places. Local people don't try too much to cheat me, which is very relaxing. And above all, they forbid the access to the center of the village to all vehicules, which creates a calm I never found anywhere else, since it's almost totally free of the deafening and annoying noise of the horns. My camera broke down when was in Chitrakoot. I put inside of it L6 cells, which look exactly like LR6 cells, and I'm afraid it spoiled a part of the system. So the upcoming pictures are not mine.


Mahabodhi temple



Inside Mahabodhi temple. The exact place of the enlightment is just behind the left monk. We don't see it. Entering this room, one can feel a very strong psychic energy. I could stay there sitting for days.



Behind the temple, the tree whose ancester whose the one under which the buddha was enlightened. Also a place of very strong power.



Diversity of people in the streets

I am currently working as a volunteer in a camp where local people (the state of Bihar is the poorest in India) who can't afford any medication come to get surgery to treat cataract. Last year, in one month, they operated more than 20 000 people. I will work there until the first of December.

Chitrakoot

Golu



Amit



Amit and Golu. We were like three brothers.

I met Golu and Amit in Khajuraho. They live there. They wanted to travel with me. I met their parents, who allowed them to come with me for three days. We went together to Chitrakoot, 'mini Varanasi'. It's a pilgrim place for Hindu people. Inhabitants : 15 000. Pilgrimers : 15 000. Monkeys : 30 000. Lord Ram, the incarnation of Vishnu whose life has been written in the Ramayana, which could be compared to the evangile, with more miracles, demons, monsters and human drama, is supposed to have spent 12 years in exile in the area. Many places are related to a particular episode of the Ramayana, and often you can even see, colored in orange on the stones, the exact place where the feet of Lord Ram were while he was sending an arrow on a monster ! All the more impressing that the Ramayana is supposed to have been written between 1000 and 500 BC...



Early morning at the ghat


Hindu people come there to worship the gods. Very few people speak english in Chitrakoot, so there are no foreign tourists. That means, I wasn't asked all the time to buy something. Golu and Amit spoke to the people, and I was generally standing apart. Thanks to their patience (well, mostly Amit's patience. Golu is very young - only 13), they helped me to sgnifically improve my hindi. We visited many of the temples in the area. In some of them, Brahmans wait for the people and if they think they are rich, they ask them for money. Many of them asked me or demanded quite a lot of money. They put the pressure on me, using their supposed religious powers to get money from visitors...





Most of the worships are made 'for good luck', and one can find in the boats white rabbits, also 'for good luck'. There are also many saddhus. Saddhus are supposed to dedicate their life to God and abandon all their belongings. They live of gifts given by people, who respect them. Some of them look serious, but a lot of them are cheaters that benefit from the situation to live without working. We even met a 12 years old boy begging for money. He told us that he had to do this because his father wants him to get money at home. But he confessed afterwards that he didn't want to go to school at all, and that he prefered this life.

The batteries of my camera emptied while I was there, and it was impossible to find cells. So many of the places where we went won't be showed here. And no pictures of the thousands of monkeys. They can jump on you if they think you have some seeds in the hand.









Huge statue of the god-ape and friend of Rama, Hanuman



Albino rabbit, 'for good luck'







After the cells emptied, I managed to take a few pictures, without flash, like this one. It's probably difficult to see, but we are in a cave, walking in the water until a small temple dedicated to Shiva.

Khajuraho - problems of water

It seems that India is a very dry country. The problem of water is becoming more and more important here.


This used to be a lake. The kids used to dive from that big tree in the top right corner

Alex in south America

Alex is a good friend living in French Guiana. I first met him through hospitalityclub. He's on the verge of the longuest trip of his life : three to four years in the Americas.


This is Alex, last time I saw him in Saint Georges de l'Oyapock, French Guiana.


This is his route planning, for the next two years (follow the red line) :

Khajuharo - the village and its inhabitants

Golu






With Amit



People from the village respect this guy as a holy man.



Ok... I can also do it... well, almost









This one is too difficult for me :)

Khajuraho

The temples have been built during the XIth century. They were left by their owners in a period of war, and then remained forgotten until an English man found them surrounded by jungle during the XIXth century. That's how they escaped to the systematic destructions of the muslims.

Above 18 section.

Ces photos ne sont pas pour les enfants



There are many sexual representations on the temples

They are very suggestive

Unless you are a good yogi this one is difficult

Beware !

Bhopal - Vinod and Chunno

I was hosted in Bhopal by Vinod and his wife Chunno. Vinod works for a bank and Chunno is a teacher. She has 62 pupils in her classroom ! They made me meet their friends for Diwali, and they showed me around. They were very kind. I was feeling like being the third son of the family.



Vinod and Chunno in Bhimbetka



Vinod at work

Bhopal - Islamnagar

Bhimbetka

The first signs of human activity in Bhimbetka date back to 100 000 years !














Some paintings date back to 10 000 years