Surreal. The journey to Bodhgaya completely seems like a dream... that also could be because I was stoned off my ass! hahaha.. Now you're probably thinking... Dan.. a guy who never smokes.. what the hell happened? Mind you, I didn't do it purposefully, and I definitely would not go through that again.. but here is the story =p
We got off the 45 minute airplane ride and checked in at a beautiful hotel at the edge of Varanasi (the major holy city of India). Sonam and I went off to look around and we found a Burger King! hahaha. It wasn't a real Burger King, just using it's name. No meat dishes, all vegetarian.. and sooo ghetto Indian =P After that we went back and found Buchong who offered to take us out and about town since he's been around the city quite a number of times.
We grabbed a tempo (3 wheeled motorized rickshaws) and headed off 1 hour into the city. Here was India! Lots and lots of crazy people driving like they're insane, lots and lots of exotic colors, and lots and lots of pollution from the cars >.<. We walked around a bit and arrived at a huge pier. Turns out we came to the Ganges River! Everyone was chilling by the pier and the many steps leading down to it. This scene looked like what the Final Fantasy guys used as inspiration =P Green, orange, brown, and many other different colored buildings lined the hill as huge steps lead upwards towards the market. The Indians are really curious and friendly towards English speakers. We got lots of people introducing themselves to us and asking "Sir, what is your good name?" hahaha. As if I had a "bad" name =P
On our way back, we stopped by a Lassi maker's shop. He made milkshakes! =) We had one and it was pretty tasty. So off we went to try more Lassis. Turns out this one had "Baang Lassis." Us being uncultured bastards decided to try a few. Buchong said it was supposed to be like alcohol and that we'd feel something. We didn't feel anything, so 2 cups more went down our stomachs! Hah! Later on we found a Baang Ice Cream maker. Basically he made some pretty good Indian ice cream and put some black powder in the center. Since we were being adventurous and trying out like, all the snacks from the snack sellers on the road... we had to try this one too. When we found our ticket home (another tempo) and asked the tempo driver about "Baang..." he said a little bit is enough to make you very happy o.O We told him how much we had, and he proceeded to laugh his head off. Then we told him we had to wake up at 3am to catch a train.. he laughed even harder x.x
We finally got back to the hotel and had a little dinner. Funny thing was.. my head seemed heavier and I started getting quite tired. I asked Jerry who I saw at the restaurant what was this "Baang." "Baang? You mean hasheesh? Pot?" o.O So we ended up getting Marijuana in an edible form >.< Yup. After dinner, we went up to our room and things got pretty funny. I decided to stay up in case we couldn't wake up at 3 =p what an idiot I was hahaha. So how did I feel? First I felt like hiccuping quite a bit as my digestive system didn't seem to be working anymore. So then it was sort of getting hard to breath. Did I have too much? Probably. I was feeling pretty bad after the initial effect (when you form a smile on your face, it wouldn't go away =P). Suffice to say... I was pretty dead the next morning, eyes bloodshot. Luckily I had the excuse of not sleeping at all =P We somehow found ourselves on the train towards Bodhgaya. It was a pretty ghetto train, no seats really. Just mini-platforms set up 3 on each wall so it made 3 mini cramped beds. Ugh, not that I cared by now. I just got on one and plopped into sleep mode for the next however many hours it took us to get to Bodhgaya. At least that night we arrived we had a delicious Indian food dinner at the Mahayama Hotel. =p
posted by Dan @ 11/04/2002 10:22:00 AM
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