Here's the blog. I'm going to be posting haphazardly as time and inspiration dictate. Please check back from time to time, or I think you can subscribe or something and you'll get an email when I post something here. When I figure out how to post pictures, I'll try to do that as well. If you want to get back to me, I think you can post right to this blog in a comments section or something, or you can email me at jcalvindevries@gmail.com. I hope to get a phone one of these days too. I sent an email to my folks just after I got to Bodhgaya with my first impressions. Here it is:
Hi Mom and Dad,
Made it to Bodhgaya yesterday morning and all is well. The plane was late, as you know, so we had no time at all in Paris. They put us on a shuttle bus and took us straight to the plane going to Delhi, which was delayed because of us. It was a 747, and I paid $60 extra for a seat on the upper deck with extra legroom, which was worth it. I actully slept a quite a lot on both flights, which was good. Air France is great. The food was absolutely amazing, pretty different from other airlines. We were still late getting to Delhi, so the taxi driver had to wait a long time for me. He was standing just outside the luggage claim area with a card with my name on it. Delhi was unbelievable. I think if you can handle Delhi, everything else is easy. I was happy to leave. It was a long train ride to the town of Gaya. Left New Delhi station at 2:10 pm, arrived in Gaya about 7:30 am. Slept fairly well on the train and did some reading. Spent the first few hours looking out the window until it got dark. It gets dark early, around 6 pm. I had my backpack chained to the seat, and slept quite well. I was in class 3AC, which means it is a three-tier sleeper with air conditioning. I was in the lower berth, which turned out well. The upper berth is very high and looked hard to climb into. The trip cost about 1000 rupees, which is about $25. Got an autorickshaw to Bodhgaya, about a 25 minute ride. It's a three wheeled thing with the driver in front with a motorcycle handlebar, and I sit in the back with my stuff. It was a very bumpy ride, past all kinds of sights. Lots of cows and goats running all over the place, a few strange looking pig, Vehicles of every possible description, bikes, motorcycles, cars, big trucks, little trucks, three-wheeled trucks, people walking, and of course the cows, goats, and pigs, all the drivers honking pretty much all the time. The ride cost Rs 150, about $4.00. I think he ripped me off. Safely arrived at Rahul Guesthouse, a very nice place, but more expensive than I was hoping for. I thought of looking for a cheaper place but because it's very nice and clean and quiet (especially after the noise of Delhi!!) I think I'll stay. It's 900 rupees a night (about $20), quite expensive for here, but not bad compared to anywhere else in the world. Have been seeing the sights and attending the events here, and it was worth the trip. On the way back I'm going to try to arrange it so I don't have to stay in Delhi. Hopefully find a way to get a train to New Delhi station and then an autorickshaw straight to the airport from the prepaid stand at the train station, and get on the plane and go. One more thing about the autorickshaws: they're sort of triangle shaped, narrow in the front where the driver is, and wide at the back where I am. He sort of wedges himself into very narrow spaces in traffic, inches from other vehicles, constantly on the horn, and sort of squeezes in and makes a space for himself. From the back it looks pretty bad, but I haven't seen any accidents, and they all drive like that. Once I thought we were going to take the side mirror off a car, but we missed it. By couple of inches at most. Also, crossing the street in Delhi is for sure the most dangerous thing I have ever intentionally done. I might have come closer to death in the past through blissful ignorance, but never on purpose. The food here is very good and very cheap. I just had a simple dinner of potato curry and rice with a Coke to drink for Rs 65, about $1.50, and it was really good and I'm full. Am being very careful with food and water and so far, so good. Also very careful about mosquitos, so far only two bites. The mosquito net is my friend. By far the worst danger, even here in Bodhgaya, is the traffic. Walking back this evening, it was getting dark, so I was careful not to be the guy closest to the traffic. I made sure there was always someone a little farther out than me. An hour on the internet costs Rs 30, about 75 cents, but I really have to get back to my room and finish up for tonight. Hope all is well...
Love,
Calvin
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