don't try to fall asleep here

photos from bodhgaya (in bihar):

the mahabodhi temple (behind it is the bodhi tree):


there are monasteries in bodhgaya for most countries with significant buddhist populations. this is the bhutanese one, where we also stayed:inside bhutan:


japan:
tibet (one of 3 or 4 in bodhgaya):
big buddha in the park:

outside nepal:
china:
street fruit market outside the mahabodhi temple:
street barber shop:
kids heading for school as i walk to myanmar:
creative way to ride a bicycle:
thailand:
the new karmapa monastery (tibet):
what happens when you give kid monks musical instruments during recess:
on the walk to tibet and vietnam:
vietnam:

we met a wonderfully friendly monk from Ho Chi Minh City living in the vietnamese monastery by himself for the last 6 months:

down the ganga

photos from varanasi, uttar pradesh

preparing for the evening aarti:aarti:
sunrise on the ganga:
morning puja:




these guys look ready for a day at the office:wandering the ghats in the morning:


cricket game on the ghats:
9-yard saris drying:
laundry drying in the hot morning sun:




dung patties slapped on walls to dry:
wandering back alleys:


vegetable market:
street temple:


varanasi traffic:a thickness to the air:


overlooking the ghats and the ganga:
more laundry:


wandering around the campus of benares hindu university with new friends carson, melissa, and runphet, a monk from thailand (after eating breakfast at the thai monk dormitory on campus...yum!)
crossing the ganga:
on the ghats:
streetside tea stall, drinking tea out of disposable clay cups:
at the train station