The Trip 2008-2009: Ragkir/Nalanda

I can’t even remember now how we got to Ragkir.. I think it was by bus… a long bus trip as I recall… well, 3 hours anyway.. to travel 50km!! Last year, or maybe 2007, there were big floods in Bihar and many bridges were destroyed which haven’t been repaired yet so the buses have to take long detours… indeed!! Our first public bus experience and it was… bumpy! The Hindi music blaring and everyone squeezed in like sardines really tested the patience levels, but somehow it was fun!

So from Ragkir we pretty much went straight to Nalanda by bus again. Nalanda was the site of a very old university/monastery, perhaps the oldest in India. When we arrived it was nearing dark and we entered a temple (I think Tibetan) where we asked to stay the night. Firstly though we were sat down with some other people before the boss monk, given a cup of tea… and absolutely ravaged by huge mosquitos!! But really, RAVAGED! I thought it was a test to see if we were really worthy Buddhists who didn’t kill.. well we didn’t kill any but I had to pull out the repellent… I felt silly but my feet were so mauled I could hardly bear it!! And malaria isn’t much fun either!

Somehow we managed to pass the test though and we were given a bed for the night (with mozzie nets… thankyou!)… we got up early and walked the few kilometres to the university grounds where we had some breakfast and afterwards were assailed by a group of teenage students who were keen to practice their English. We weren’t that keen so Marc somehow managed to shake them and we wandered the grounds alone… until we were assailed by a family group who were practically chasing us with a video camera and I ran and hid!!

Then it was the walk back into town and back on the bus again. Then a walk up the hill to find the temple, but at the top we found we’d scaled the wrong hill! Oops! But a lovely view anyway! Back down again, and then, once again back on the bus, where the man behind Marc thought that Marc looked like a good pillow and rested his head on Marc’s shoulders for the rest of the journey and I somehow managed to fall asleep on my knees! Then a loooong wait in the train station. It was due to come at 1am and we got there at 9pm... then after waiting waiting waiting we found out it was delayed.. it didn’t arrive til 4am!! Talk about hysterical!! We were quickly learning how long it takes to get from A to B in India... and how unprepared we were for it!