Walking Bangkok

Today I went out without any predefined itinerary. I took the metro and went down at the last station and began to walk. The first thing I saw was a small temple where a gold Buddha is placed.

Is a 5 ton gold Buddha, discovered by luck. Then I entered Chinatown, full of street business, not only food and crafts, but massages, facial cleaning, repairing, etc.

After some streets only for repairing old cars I arrived to something called the golden mountain. A temple on top of a mountain with beautiful Buddha and great city view.

Some blocks ahead was a Muay Thai fights stadium, but there were no fights today :(


This is my last post of the trip. Tomorrow I’ll travel to Chiang Mai, to begin my meditation retreat, so no Internet, and no tourism. I hope you liked what I wrote. Till the next one!!

Bangkok

Amazing vibrant city, a strange mixture of Buddhism, fashion and delicious food. Hordes of American tourists (even more than local Thais in some places), food in every street and every corner, people praying in the streets and temples, and a hot and humid weather.

As my flight from Mumbai was cancelled I arrived today at 5am, and after some small difficulties to get trough migration control, I arrived to the hotel to have some sleep.

At noon, was lost for some time trying to get the metro and the ship that would take me to the Wat Pho temple which holds the 46m reclining Buddha.

Finally I found my way, and after the Buddha I went across the street to one of the main attractions in the city, The Grand Palace.

Beautiful and perfectly maintained palace, which includes the monastery of the emerald Buddha.

Namaste India

An amazing and unknown country that exceeds all expectations. I came to India looking for a different points of view. I wanted to try to understand how people in the “same world” live different lives, with different priorities, interests and common sense, and one of the best places was in the continent where humanity was born. It all began here. A country full of resources, history, marvels, good people, a recurrent terrorist threat, cows, spices, beaches, mountains, rivers, deserts, food, hunger, gods, temples, garbage, ceremonies, elephants, karma, cultures, languages, entrepreneurs, monkeys, rickshaws, and many more. Not only was able to get to know a little of the Hinduism mentality, but understood why Indian people say they are rich (although hunger exists). For western countries India is a poor country, but we need lenses to see how really wealthy Indians are. India was a surprise, a great surprise. Resourceful, hard workers and creative people, Indians are creating growth to western eyes while maintaining their beautiful culture, something other countries haven’t been able to do. I bow with respect to India and its people, and for sure, if I have the opportunity, will be back. A month is not enough for India’s history, culture and land.

Arriving to sunrise ceremony Varanasi


Taj Mahal


Carved caves in Aurangabad

Sailing in south India’s rivers

After a nice elephant half hour ride in the mountains and a visit to a spices crop, we went to Alleppey to take a houseboat to the Vembanad lake. Cruising through small villages, canals, christian and orthodox churches into the sunset in the lake was an amazing experience. The peace, calmness and colors of the river and it’s life make it an unforgettable day.

Madurai

In the city we went to the famous Meenakshi Temple dedicated to the wedding of Shiva and his wife.

Huge temple recently painted full of life. Daily receives at least 10.000 and some times 25.000 in special occasions.

The temple has an internal market, lots of pilgrims, tourists, even an elephant bramin we found.

In the afternoon we drove 4 hours to Periyar, crossing lots of rice crops and small villages.

The Chola Kings

Tanjore was the ancient capital of the Chola Kings. To show the power of their reign, built huge temples to Shiva, specially the Brihadeshwara temple, World Heritage list.

Mid morning we drove to Trichy, to see the Sri Ranganathanswami temple built in an island in the river Cauvery. It is a huge temple, 2,5 square km, 21 towers, looks like a city inside.

People eat, sleep, buy, pray, the center has a 80kg gold top but not Hindus are not allowed.
In the afternoon we drove to Madurai to spend the night there.

Mahabalipuram

Beautiful coast city full of beach resorts and 7th century temples, carvings, boulders and caves near the sea.

We went to see first a boulder, raw material of several carvings in the city, and then the end result: 5 temples, an elephant and a lion.

Then we went to see one of the most tourist temples in India, the Shore Temple. Build between the 7th and 8th centuries, is world heritage from UNESCO not only for its carvings, but for the beauty in the proximity of the sea.

In the afternoon we drove by car 200kg to Tanjore, stopping to see some small temples on the way.

South India

Although the majority of tourism is in the north of India, we arrived in Madras, the renamed Chennai, to discover some of the differences inside the same country. Clothes, food, religion, architecture, temples even transit have small changes in the hottest part of India.

In early morning we went to the biggest Hidu temple in the city, Kapaleeswara temple dedicated to Shiva. It is a colorful place, where lots of people pray for having children.

As one of the 3 ports of East India Company, the British had the impressive St George Fort as the main structure in the city, near the Marina Beach, second longest beach in the world after Copacabana.

In the afternoon we drove 40km to Kanchipuram the thousand temple city, to visit Ekambaswara temple, one of the biggest in the country and dedicated to Shiva.

Jaipur

It was a day to know a little history about the main city in the Rajasthan, Jaipur.
In the morning we went to the pink city, the central part of the city where the City Palace Complex is located.

Here the last maharaja lives. Its family ruled until the indepence, and now just lives like a king but with no role in the government.

In the afternoon we visited Amber Fort and it’s luxurious palaces. In the way back we couldn’t resist an elephant ride.

Rajasthan

The state of Rajasthan although rich in palaces, forts and temples, surprises for the adherence to old traditions in the country.

Arriving in the desert is like changing boundaries and entering another place. With clothes full of animated and mixed colors, long mustaches, 9m turbans, and camels, the cities are something new to discover.
Last night we had a typical dinner from Rajasthan and a camel ride.

In the morning we went to Pushkar, city famous for being the main world marketplace for camels but for the lake where Gandhi’s and Nehru’s ashes were thrown.

First we went into the only Brahma temple to receive some flowers, and then went to the lake to wash our sins with a prayer from the Brahmin priest by performing a Pushkar Puja, valued by the guy in Euro 300 lol.

After walking in the market, we went to another city, Ajmer, where we walked in the streets too, and although there’s a very known mosque, we were not in the mood to negotiate every thing they want charge tourists for in India.

The Taj Mahal

We wanted to see the Taj Mahal at sunrise, as people say it changes colors during sunrise, sunset and at night with full moon. At 6:30 we were in the line waiting for the gates to be open.

When finally we began to enter, after the security check, there’s a garden and a huge gate, from where we can see the astonishing building far in front. Even with high expectations, the Taj delivers.

As the morning is foggy, the Taj looks like an appearance over no scenario, just over fog or clouds, and as we walk closer, the magnificence and wonder of all its details and its size takes our breath away.

After realizing we are in from of the most beautiful building in the world, we begin to explore it from every side, every corner, then we go in to see every detail of its decorated marble. It is so beautiful that we could sit there and stare at it the whole day.

After the wonderful experience, we took the road to Jaipur, making a small stop at Fatehpur Sikri, a palace where the mughals governed some years.

In the entrance to Jaipur, we stopped at the monkeys temples, some hinduist temples where 5.000 monkeys live.

Orchha and Agra

We traveled 150Km to Orchha were there´s the great preserved ruin of the Raj Mahal palace, home of the Bundela dynasty beaten by the Mughals.

After the palaces, we went to Jhansi to catch a train to Agra.

In Agra, as Friday the Taj Mahal is closed, we went to the amazing Agra fort, that dominates the Yamuna river.

The fort was the base of the Mughal empire for several generations.

Khajuraho

The most beautiful and conserved temples are in te small Khajuraho village.

With no train station, the place receives a lot of European tourists for the calmness of its streets and the wonder of its attractions.

There are two sets of temples, Hindu and Jan. The Hindu complex has a lot of well maintained and restored temples full of beautiful detailed images and statues of gods, women, battles, stories and so on.

Sacred Varanasi

“Older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together” Mark Twain

The sacred city founded by Shiva, and one of the oldest cities in the world, where millions of pilgrims go to the Ganges river every year to wash their sins, could be the easiest way to begin to understand India and Hinduism. With a lack of importance for money, material goods, hygiene and space, it’s a shock t to western values and knowledge.

For Hindus is great luck to die in Varanasi, as they’ll be burnt in the public crematories and their ashes will be thrown into the river, gaining direct track to heaven.

In the morning we went very early to see the sacred bath during the sunrise in the river Ganges, one of the main attractions in the country.

After that we went to the old city and main Hindu and Buddhist temples.
In the late afternoon went back to the river to see the crematories at night and the sunset ceremonies.