Patna and Bohdgaya

As we got off the train there were people asking if we needed a taxi. I told one the name of the hotel we had booked, and that there were 5 of us with our bags, and he said to follow him. We walked up about 40 steps and joined the crowds moving in bote directions towards the main station, down another 40 steps and past the open urinals to the auto-rickshaw and taxi area. We stacked our bags in the boot, had one backpack acroos our knees in the back, and Bridget and Andrew in the front. He drove us through the city to the Chanayka Hotel, which looked pretty upmarket. I went in to check while the bags got unloaded and found out that this was not our hotel. We were staying at the Chanayka Hotel Inn, which was just across the road from the station on the side that ou train had arrived. We had done a round trip to come back to where we had started. Anyway, the hotel let us check in at 6:30 am, and said that breakfast was on from 7:30. It had hot water, so we turned it on, had showers, and rested til we ordered breakfast. After breakfast I went for a walk while the others relaxed. Daniel has brought some homework he has to do over the holidays. The amount of traffic, honking of horns, and people hits you as you walk out the doors of the hotel. You take your life into your own hands as you attempt to cross the road. There are motorcycles and bicycles everywhere, as well as all forms of motorised 3 and 4 wheeled vehicles. The bicycles here look like they are mostly old and have 28" wheels. They all have a carrier on the back, sometimes for passengers, other times for goods, but I feel that they risk their lives on the road as well. They have no lights, or reflectors. I walked a few blocks away from the hotel before turning down a side street. There were deep gutters here that had concrete slabs as little bridges every now and then, or just to cover it in areas. The water was putrid and full of rubbish, but did look like it was flowing somewhere.  Rickshaw ride Patna Museum - Buddah tomb relic Noise Toilets We haven't seen the sun for a few days. As we came down from the mountains we came down out of the clouds into the misty smog that envelops everything. The smoke from fires, cooking and burning rubbish, combined with the fumes from vehicles and generators, and with a lack of any real breeze, leads to this situation. The fumes form the cars in the cities is horrible, especially in Kolkata, where there is so much traffic in the narrow roads and streets. It's not so bad when the streets are wider, or there is some open space, at least you don't feel like you are just breating in carbon monoxide. Patna is much the same, except that there are way more auto rickshaws. Kolkata had way more taxis. narrow cars, removed mirrors. no lights at night people everywhere, and at all hours beggars     Woken up early by what sounded like bands playing music, the honking of horns as the taxis and rickshaws arrived to deliver and pick up passengers. The constant honking of horns  I had arranged with the hotel staff to book a driver for the day to take us to Bodhgaya, which is the most important place in the world for any Buddhist pilgrimage, the place where Buddah was born. The driver was supposed to be there between 8 and 8:30, but didn't arrive until around 9:00 am. We had a Tata Grande which had room for a passenger in the front, a bench seat in the middle for 3, and a seat at each window in the back. Bridget and Andrew decided to travel in the back, but about half way she decided to join Paula and Daniel, and left Andrew in the back, with Daniel getting that position on the way home. Unfortuneately our driver didn't speak any English. The newspaper that was delivered under our door this morning said that many flights in and out of Patna were either delayed, or cancelled yesterday because of the low visibility. It was the same today, with visibility less than 500 meters all day. The drive out of the city was pretty crazy but so is driving anywhere we have been in India so far. Lines on the road don't mean anything, there are very few traffic lights, whoever is the pushiest goes first, unluss it is a large track or bus, passing on either side, going down the opposite side of a median strip or road divider, cutting people off - I think anything goes here. We had agreed to pay the driver a fee, and to pay fo rthe petrol for the day. We dove through lots of small villages where the houses and shops Bodhgaya has lots of temples, but the most important is the the World Heritage listed Mahabodhi (Mahavihara) Temple at the place where Buddah was born