Day 8

This has been a full week! Three full sessions a day plus meal breaks...and some of us are still trying to fit in rest and practice. Thursday was the day trip to Rajgir and Nalanda. On Friday we had a tender private interview with HHK at his residence at Tergar Monastery. Just the 25 of us in a small room. We sat around, asked questions and laughed...His Holiness was couldn't help but emanate warmth and love. A few of us received direct practice instructions as well. Our group has also had wonderful  interviews with Thrangu Rinpoche, Mingyur Rinpoche, Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche as well as with Gyaltsab Rinpoche. I am finding it hard to find time to update this blog with the hectic schedule and with the spotty Internet connection. Tomorrow begins the Western Teachings and all of us will play integral volunteer roles. More to come, for now a link 

http://monlam.wordpress.com  and some photos....

January 2nd 2009, arrival day...

All but Catherine arrived in Delhi even though the Indian capital was shrouded in a thick blanket of fog. Naomi, Tom and I landed first and spent New Years day in Agra battling the crowds at the Taj Mahal. (As well as the infection that was settling into my lungs).

Catherine was snowed in at the airport in Halifax, and even though she landed in Delhi 24 hours behind schedule, she arrived in Bodhgaya well before the rest of us! It is the fog that would ultimately disrupt our train travel to Gaya and turn our 12 hour ride into 27.

By the morning of Jan 3rd we were all gathered together at Likir house, a small guest house in the southern Delhi neighborhood of Lajpat Nagar....  Alison, Georgia, Amy, Dui, Christine, Leona, Teresa, Ghee, Cliff, Josh, Dixi, Lynne, Norma, Alannah, Jackie, Josephine, Richard and Susan. Still hidden in the fog, we traipsed through the streets taking in urban India waiting for the market to open.

Our real journey began at 2:15pm waiting for our ride to the train station.

The bus, late, takes us as close to the station as he wants to go. Dumped off, bags on the wooden carts pulled by coolies, we venture to find our 1st class waiting area. No seats, full, dirty, cold. Train scheduled to leave at 4:30 or was that 5:00...Delayed until 10:30pm. Ok, after an hour of waiting,negotiating and planning, we decide to transport all the luggage to the opposite side of the station because it has a much nicer waiting area. Mind you, we have over 6 hours to wait at this point. We took turns in our exhaustion, finding food, getting to know one another, taking pictures, looking around...soaking it in. Train is now delayed until 2:30am.

It takes me over an hour of phone calls and waiting to secure us an affordable place to sleep while we wait. It is cold outside and everyone tired. So, we take our bags and 6 taxi's and end up at a slum of a hotel in Pahar Ganj. Forced to share rooms with one big bed, we got horizontal and rested. The train continued to be delayed. First to 3:30 and then to 4:30. Everyone, gathering their strength, headed back to the station, in the cold and fog. At 5:30am the train finally arrived!

Once situated on board, we slept.

Unfortunately a massive train accident and derailment caused our train to alter course and our travel time was doubled.

We left our guest house at 2:15 on January 3rd and arrived in Bodhgaya at 8:00am on January 5th.