A Trip to India Part 2 Bodhgaya, Varanasi, Sarnath, Bhopal. Sanschi, Udaigiri

The state of Bihar has a large population considering the land area with lots of agriculture and, apparently, coal mining - and many very old Buddhist sites.  We visited a few very old rock cut caves in a seemingly remote area.

It took awhile to get there. They were interesting for their age and a few very nice images on the outside but there was not much to see inside except to admire to tremendous amount of work it took to carve the caves out of hard rock!  There were few other people there. It is clear that quite an effort was once made to make these caves accessible and to control large crowds but today the stairs and iron railings and gates are pretty well worn out.
We also visited a very nice Buddha sculpture pretty much in the middle of nowhere. It is clear that there was once a monastery here but today there are just some ruins visible amidst the farm land.  We were told that the Buddha sculpture probably dates from around 1100 and is probably a template from which many others were copied. It is quite beautiful, though a bit hard to really appreciate in the dark little shrine.  We were told that in that previous millennium Hinduism adopted Buddha as one of the incarnations of Vishnu and this sculpture is probably in such good condition today because it has been appreciated by Vishnu followers over the centuries.
We went on to Bodhgaya and visited the shrine that has the Bodhi tree under which the Buddha sat when he achieved enlightenment. There are apparently some records indicating that the big Bodhi tree here has been here for the 2500 years required for the story to be completely true.  Some say that parts were taken to Sri Lanka a very long time ago and cuttings were brought back to this site when the original tree had died.  In any case, the site is recognized by Buddhists around the world as a critical place for them to visit.  The place is set up to handle HUGE numbers of visitors, but fortunately, this was not a particularly big occasion, so we did not have to be crushed by hoards of people as can sometimes happen during festivals or at big religious sites. One picture below is the Bodhi tree.

We were able to walk around somewhat comfortably.  There were still very large numbers of Buddhists from all over the world visiting this site.    There are hundreds of small stupas around with small Buddha sculptures- on the grounds and on the main structure- many with some gilding.    Outside the main religious structures is a small museum that is quite nice with lots of archaeological finds from the site and nearby.  Our MET guide contacted the national Indian Archeological Institute office and learned that it was now permissible to take photos inside their numerous museums across the country.  This word had not reached the lower level people in these many museums, so more often than not there was a hoopla about how photos were not permitted, but, ultimately, a few phone calls later we got permission to take photos.   A couple of the many museums actually did have signs stating that photos are now permitted.
From Bodhgaya we had a flight to Varanasi.  Early the next morning a big bus took us from our hotel to near the Ganges.  It was dark but there were lots of people out and going to the river.  We walked along the built up area near the water for awhile and saw many people worshipping and many people selling trinkets- as someone said- it was an example of the best and worst of India.  As the sun started to rise we all got in a wooden boat and went out further on the river.  The boat cruised slowly up and down the river so we got to see all the built up shore line with lots of boats and people bathing.  We also saw the two areas where bodies are cremated.

 Wood fires are nearly always used as that is the tradition, but wood is somewhat scarce and expensive so this is a big expensive for a family.  The local Indian guide pointed out a newer crematorium with electric furnaces that was built to save wood, but he said its is hardly ever used.  We had a tabla player and flutist on the boat who played awhile as the sun rose higher. It was a pleasant addition.   We returned to shore- it was probably only 8:30AM or so and the shore was very crowded then- with lots more people selling stuff. We returned to the hotel for breakfast and then around 7 or 8 of us wanted to visit a Benares silk weaver.  Varanasi used to be called Benares and silk from here - when well made- is highly prized.  We visited a weaving shop with 7 looms- 6 are

Jacquard looms which are newer and easy to set up to make the same patterns over and over again, but the 7th is an older style that uses knotted ropes to set the pattern to be made. It takes more skill.
The afternoon was spent visiting a couple of museums- the guides wisely decided not to try to go back to our hotel for lunch as the traffic was horrible!  After lunch away from the hotel but near the university we visited a smaller new and somewhat private museum with a nice collection of textiles, paintings and sculptures collected by an industrialist.  The place and lands are by the river and quite beautiful.  That evening some people went back on the river while a few of us went to an old home that is now run as a small artists colony. This is near the river - with some pleasant views.
The next morning had us check out of our hotel and visit Sarnath outside Varanasi.
This was a very old Buddhist center with lots of stupa remains and monks quarters in ruins.

There are remnants of an Ashoka Pillar and a very large stupa- typical of the type built at major sites and with remains of the Buddha - like a piece of bone or a tooth- inside somewhere.  There was also a nice museum, where, once again, we were told we could not take photos until after some consultations with higher ups. Sarnath is one place where the Buddha did much teaching of the path he followed.
We flew from Varanasi to Delhi, then to Bhopal and arrived at a very nice resort hotel in Bhopal early evening. The rooms were modern and very comfortable with A/C, an indoor shower, and outdoor shower and a semi-private patio outside.  The possibility of getting Dengue Fever, Chikun Gunya or Malaria made the pleasure or sitting outside less enticing.

 The Hotel has both indoor and outdoor seating for meals.  Jim sat outside as many times as practical since that option was gone on Nov. 4 in New York!

We road awhile from Bhopal to Sanchi the next morning.

Sanchi is the site of an old Buddhist monastery with lots of smaller stupas and one very large one that is believed to hold a remain of the Buddha. It is said to be the best preserved such site left in India.  The site is beautifully located on the top of a hill with great long distance views and lots of ruins of shines, stupas and monks quarters all around and it was not terribly crowded.  On return to Bhopal we visited the Bhopal museum and found it to be very nice. the building was interesting and with good light in most areas.

They have a very large stone sculpture collection as well as textiles and painted art and some musical instruments and it was not crowded.
The next morning we road to Udaigiri caves. These were also early Buddhist caves for monks  from the Gupta period- ca 400 CE but later  hindu carvings abound in high quality including a Shiva temple with very nice lingum.

One of the cave has an inscription that apparently dates it to the Gupta period.  The guides pointed out that some of the sculptures that look Egyptian or Ethiopian and they say it is possible that travelers came this route and spread information about other places.  We made short visit to a small village on the way back toward Bhopal. There is supposed to be an old temple there with remain underground, but we did not see much except a nice stone column and a lot of curious villagers who probably wondered why we wre there!
We had an early evening flight from Bhopal to Mumbai where we stayed at the Taj Santa Cruz by the airport. This was a great place!

We rested here in the morning the next day and headed to the airport for an afternoon flight to Aurangabad.   The new airport is very nice and there are many finely carved doors and panels to see in the area where we waited for our flight.  Most people had a large suitcase plus a smaller carry-on bag with valuables and a change of clothes and the recommendation was to leave the big bag and just bring a couple changes of clothes and essentials to Aurangabad as we were coming back to the same hotel after 2 nights.  Off to Ajanta and Ellora!

A Trip to India Part 1 -Kolkata- Patna

Earlier in 2017 we found two trips with the Metropolitan Museum of Art that appealed to us.  One to India that went to several places we had made plans to visit and the other to Japan where we both have been wanting to go.  We considered doing both of these but thought it would be too long away from Ziggy and Zoe. The two trips were separated by about 3 days so it seemed possible- indeed, as it turned out the same travel guide was to cover both ot these! However we finally decided that Janet would go to Japan- mid to late Oct. and Jim would go to India Late Oct. to Mid Nov. with the MET group and then spend another 2 weeks In Gujarat and Delhi.  As it worked out we were both able to use frequent flyer miles in business class for our flights.  This has been difficult to do in the past.  As it worked out Janet arrived back in the USA just about the time Jim headed to the airport!  We passed somewhere on the road, but it would have been nice to spend a few days catching up before Jim went off for 4 weeks.  What follows are Jim's reports on India- maybe we can have Janet add some on Japan. The good thing about these arrangements was that Ziggy and Zoe got to stay home and did not have to be boarded!  They would be very happy about that if they understood!
Jim's trip started with the trip to JFK airport. The first leg of the flight was on Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong in first class (all that could be gotten with miles)- and it was fabulously comfortable.  He got to sleep and watch movies and walk around a bit too! The second leg from Hong Kong to Kolkata was not such a good experience on Cathay Dragon. The flight ended up leaving 3.5 hours late!  It started as an electrical problem that took awhile to fix, but turned out NOT to be fixed and by the time it was fixed, apparently, they concluded that the flight crew would have been on duty too long so we had to wait while a second crew boarded who would take over the plane in Kolkata! so, around 2 hours for 2 fixes of the electronics and another hour plus for the second crew to arrive.  As Jim was in Business class this was not horrible, but the folks in economy must have been suffering!
On arrival in Kolkata (Calcutta is still how it is often pronounced) was, of course late but the driver Jim had booked was there and took him to the Oberoi Hotel.  This is a fine hotel. Janet and Jim had lunch there in Sept. 2010 when we spent 2 days in Kolkata and then went on to Darjeeling and Sikkim.  Jim Slept a bit and then got up for breakfast later in the morning.  He wondered who else might have been there for the upcoming tour of Buddhist sites and art?  (probably no one until a day or so later.)
Jim tried to see a couple sites we missed in 2010 like the train museum, Tagore's House and Ashutosh Museum on a couple days but kept finding them unexpectedly closed despite the Hotel and driver thinking they would be open! Finally got to the train museum but was disappointed in it.  Tagore's house was finally open on the day that others from the group were to arrive.

 This was worth the visit though the fees just to take pictures on the grounds but not inside seemed silly since there is not that much to see outside anyway.  Tagore had a large international network and many of the displays in the house are connected to the rest of the world.  Jim found it interesting that Tagore sent his son to the University of Illinois to study agriculture.
The next day Jim joined the MET group to start the next 12 days of touring.  In Kolkata we visited the India Museum which was started long ago by the British.  Calcutta was the British India Capitol for a long time until New Delhi was built and occupied around 1911.  There are lots of colonial era

buildings all around Kolkata today- most in various states of dis-repair, but some in good condition. The picture above is of the building in which Bourne and Shepard had their business- they were early photographers in India- in the mid- late 1800's.
The India Museum is an old style museum but with many very nice displays.  We spent awhile viewing the partial stone railings that were once around an early Buddhist  stupa.  These early Stupas were buily over some remain of the Buddha who was creamated, but some ashes, bits of bone and teeth probably remained. The point of seeing this was that we will see other similar ones later.  This rail is curved to go around the large stupa, but all carved out of stones carefully fit together- huge amount of work and careful planning and execution!

Another popular place to visit in Kolkata is the Victoria Memorial. This is quite a magnificent structure that we also saw in 2010.

The sky was a bit gray this time as well as in 2010, so the cream/white marble was a bit dull compared to what it may look like on a sunny day.  It is a beautiful building but it was built to celebrate a foreign ruler, and so, seems a little out of place... and time.
In the morning of our last day in Kolkata we visited a neighborhood where they specialize in constructing (mainly) inexpensive sculptures of gods, goddesses, and supporting characters for use at festivals.

These are not intended to exist for very long and are usually made of materials that dissolve in water to a large extent as many of these are put into rivers or lakes at the end of the festival.  They are made with a lot of care to make them look good and many copies might be made.
We also visited the Ashutosh Museum that Jim was not able to get into earlier. This is also an old style museum and felt a bit sterile but had many fine stone carvings from 1000-2000 years ago!
We visited the Mahabodhi Society in Kolkata- they are partly responsible for keeping Buddhist history in India alive.
We went to the airport and suffered through long lines at security and boarded our plane immediately. It was a short flight to Patna and they were able to get Jim an exit row seat with more leg room.
Sleep was a problem most nights up to this point- and most later for that matter, but Jim was able to get enough hours in one time or another!
In Patna we arrived at the planned time at the Patna Museum but the staff had not been told to expect us so we were not let in until the keys arrived an hour later!

The museum is another old one- rather dark and dreary but we soon learned that much of the collection was being moved to the new Bihar Museum where went then went.
The Bihar Museum is a beautiful new complex - very well done with large galleries- somewhat sparsely populated and well lit. It was clear that many areas are still to be occupied, but it offered real hope that it could be a great display of the many ancient artifacts in the state of Bihar.

We left Bihar with a plan to make a stop or two on the way to Bodhgaya. However, this plan was foiled when our big bus of people was stopped in a HUGE traffic jam on top of a dike that extends many miles across low lands.  The dike was too narrow for the bus to turn around so we waited. Our overall Indian guide hitched a ride on a motor bike to go ahead to see what the problem was.  He came back after awhile and said that he did not get to the end but was told that earlier in the day a child was killed by a state run bus in a village so the people closed the road. (For India this is quite believable but may not be true.)   Our guides decided to rent 5-6 SUV's and have us take our overnight bags and a change of clothes and get into the SUV's to take another road to a different hotel for the night and hope the bus would catch up to us the next day.  The 5-6 cars came in on the wrong side of the road (typical in India- and they were able to turn around and point in the correct direction) and we all got in and took a rough ride over to back roads to an acceptable hotel with a Buddhist shrine at its center.   The bus arrived later that night and we were told that traffic started to move a little while after we left in the SUV's.    It was probably good we did not have to sit longer and crawl in traffic and it was good that our hosts were so resourceful!

A Trip to Alaska

We had to put Ziggy and Zoe in jail for 3 weeks while took a trip to Minnesota, Alaska, and Canada in July, 2017.  Zoe gets pills every day and not everyone can get her to take them so he had to board them.

Last year we considered a cruise that started in Alaska and wend to Russia and Japan, but decided against it, but the idea for an Alaska visit stayed with us and in May or early June we booked a cruise starting from Anchorage and ending in Vancouver.  Because flights were a little messy anyway we decided to pay a visit to our friend from India who lived down a floor below us in Bangalore. This meant a stopover of a couple days in Minneapolis- St. Paul. She gave us a nice tour of the cities, its restaurants and museums!  Here is one picture from grounds near one museum where outdoor sculptures are placed.   After that very pleasant visit we flew on to Anchorage and stayed overnight at the Captain Cook Hotel- which was very nice. We took a little walk around town but did not have much time there. In the morning, after breakfast, we boarded a bus to go to Seward where the ships are docked. We boarded the ship but had plenty of time to get off and visit the town.  The highway was quite scenic and we caught only a glimpse of some Dahl sheep on the cliffs along the road.  The main sight for us in Seward was the marine animal facility where they have fish, seals and sea birds.

It was a good photo-op and we got some animals that are less common in the east. We went back to the ship and departed Seward for some fjords, glaciers and bays not too far away that we saw the next day.

 If you look closely at the glacier picture you can see some kayaks- they give you an idea of the scale!  After seeing our first glaciers the shipped headed east for a day to near Juneau.  The weather was rather dreary- rainy and chilly and overcast when not rainy, but all the locals reminded us that southeast Alaska is a big rainforest where 100" of rain a year is common.

 We saw our first humpback whale  not far from Juneau.  We often saw mist in the air where one exhaled but never got a really exciting view of any. The most we saw of them is a tail sticking out of the water.  Janet got sick about this time and was not able to do much for a few days, but the weather was not so great - as mentioned - for a bit either.   In Juneau she stayed on the ship and Jim went off once or twice and walked around. He took the tram to Mt. Roberts which offered some views of the area and also had a small center housing a rescued Bald Eagle,

so it was the first one seen up close.
The ship moved to Haines overnight- this is a bit further in amongst the fjords.  Janet was still under the weather, but the the sun was out in Haines.   Jim took a boat trip on a river where more bald eagles were seen but no bear or moose.

He got one picture of an eagle with its catch. We went on on better weather to Sitka, Wrangell and Ketchikan. At Sitka they have quite a nice Raptor center where they take in injured birds and if they heal then release them again.  The little owl below is one that is a permanent resident. It is less than 6" tall and very cute.

 The sunset was one of several we saw that were quite nice- with a bit different cloud cover they would have been spectacular.

 The bald eagle nest is one seen in the back country near a river- that is probably one of the parents with its head up. They told us that the young were probably too small to put their heads up yet.

The iceberg is in a lake below a glacier in wilderness again. The glacier itself is further up toward the peak in the background.  The boat used here was fairly small and shallow draught so it could get into the lake from its exit stream.  The captain has a depth gauge that routinely showed depths of 600' and we saw as must as 800'. He said he has seen 1000' in this lake. The depth near the glacier was around 300'- so he said there could be huge chunks of ice suddenly popping up from far below- with disastrous consequences for a small boat! So he does not spend much time close to the glacier itself. Danger from pieces falling from above or poping up from below. The iceberg here was about 30' tall above the water line.

There are some nice museums and shops that have fine examples of native Americn arts and crafts. We learned that the Canadian people prefer the term "first nations people".  It does make sense- there was nothing called America when their ancestors first came to the area and they formed to first nations.
At Prince Rupert, Canada  , Jim signed up for a larger boat trip into a wilderness area that is a reserve for brown or grizzly bears.  We had not seen any bears on our other stops so he was hopeful about this one and it turned out to be good.  On the way to the reserve we passed some rocky islands where lots of seals were sunning themselves.

 In the reserve area we ended up seeing 5 bears- 3 were by themselves but toward the end we saw the two in the picture. Mostly that eat grass in this area in July, later it may be Salmon. One went in the water and walked and looked but went back to the grass in the end.

 On leaving the resevere we saw a number of Bald Eagles.

 We also saw some humpback whale sprays and humps- not that exciting and we saw this group of 3 or 4 Orcas.   We learned that Orcas (killer whales) are very intelligent and they will hunt together to get pray that one by itself might not get. They eat mostly seals but it sounds like they will eat other things too- like sharks if they feel their young might be in danger.

So, the Prince Rupert trip was to most fruitful for seeing wild life in the wild!   Jim did see moose track in an earlier excursion up a river when they stopped at an outhouse- but no moose.
We stopped at a First Nations village at Klemtu, Canada  where the village came out to the town meeting house and did some simple dances and played some music.  They dressed in traditional costumes and it was quite nice- the little kids especially.  The ship brought food, tables and chairs to shore to feed everyone from the ship. It was a nice outing but we felt out of place even though the people were welcoming.  There is a small newer hotel in town by the water which looked very nice.
Our next stop was Alert Bay, Canada.  This is another small town on an island.  We go off and walked around awhile. We came to the "totem park" shown in the picture. They had a sign asking people not to enter out of respect for the local people but it was easy to see from the path nearby since they keep it mowed.

We learned that the totem have various purposes and meanings. Some are memorials, some are where ashes of ancestors are placed, some tell stories, some tell about bad things other people have done to them.  Some are fairly new and some can be more than 100 years old- they are allowed to rot and return to nature.  Some in this area have fallen down and are left there.   There was a trail some woods and a swamp at the top of the hill on the island that was nice, but the sky turned overcast to make it less pleasant.
Our last stop was Vancouver. We left the ship fairly early and transferred to our Hotel for 2 nights. We walked to an area called Gastown  after a stop at a very good small museum- the Bill Reid Gallery.  Reid was a top notch artist and the gallery has works by lots of other artists and crafts people.  In Gatown we had to stop to see and hear the "steam clock". The clock itself is electric but it has steam whistles that play the Westminster Chimes every 15 min, then it counts the hour with toots from the larger whistle in top.  It was not that loud and it was fun to see. Lots of people come to see it.  Gastown has lots of arts and crafts shops, some are just trinkets while others are high quality.

We walked a lot this day and had a good dinner at the hotel where we saw another couple we had met on the ship.  The next day we went to the Museum of Anthropology that was very much worthwhile.

They have all sort of decorative arts from around the world- with a concentration on "first nations" arts and crafts.  It was overwhelming with room after room of very high quality works every where. We spent most of the time looking at the first nations carvings and masks.   This was fairly tiring so when we took a taxi to Granville Island we were pretty tired already but we walked more and saw more there - mostly it was trinkets- but there were a few shops with higher quality items.  We took the "aquabus" - a little ferry - to the main part of Vancouver and our restaurant- "Anacore" for fairly early dinner. We were tired so it was nice to sit and it was warm so we sat outside overlooking the water. The food was excellent- a mixed of Peruvian and Japanese- we think.   We then returned to our hotel and mostly packed up for early departure in the morning.
Sunday morning we had a good ride to the airport, went through customs and immigration at the Vancouver airport and flew Air Canada to Newark airport- around a 5 hour flight.  We had not been to Newark for probably 10 years so, we were unpleasantly surprised by how rundown our terminal was.
In any case we got home safely and got Ziggy and Zoe out of jail the next day.  They were happy the see us and be back home and seem to have forgiven us for their ordeal.