We had decided to go to Sri Lanka and headed to Madurai, where the train leaves from to the ferry terminal. It was too complicated to take the van as it had to be loaded on the train then taken by raft and craned onto the ferry so we decided to leave it on the mainland. When we reached Madurai we visited the Meenakshi temple, which had its own temple elephant inside. We parked at the tourist Bungalow and made arrangements to leave the van there whilst we go to Sri Lanka. Then we had to go to the customs office to get clearance to leave the van. It had taken so long that by the time we reached the station for the night train all the seats had been taken and we had to share the luggage rack, above everyone's head. It was a most uncomfortable journey, and we were glad when we arrived at Ramasweram at 5.30 am, and sat and watched the sun rise over the temple. We went to clear customs and they kept us there 5 hours as we tried to convince them that the radio, binoculars and other items that were written in our passport were all in the van at Madurai. They wanted us to go back and get them but we refused.  Finally we were allowed to board the small boat that would take us out to the ferry. The Sri Lanka customs were cleared on the boat with no problem and we arrived at 10.30pm to find that the first train was not until 4.30am, Someone met the train with a card bearing the name of a "tourist home" who rented rooms to travellers. And we took a double room which was nice and clean and went to sleep. At Anahadapura we visited the site of the ruins where we saw large stupas and the oldest authenticated tree in the world, a Bodi tree 2200years old. We returned to the tourist house exhausted and made sandwiches for our tea. We took a bus the next day to Polanerwa , which took six hours and rented a room with two camp beds in it for 5 rupees a night. The next day we visited the reclining Buddha , and other statues which were very impressive. Sri Lanka was a lovely place and not as crowded as India, but we were finding it very hard travelling long distances in the heat and with Sarah, so we decided to head back to India and the comfort of our van. We followed the same route back to the ferry and again had trouble with the customs trying to claim back our papers that they had made us sign before we left. It was an overnight train ride back to Madurai but this time we managed to get a luggage rack each and catch up on some sleep. The train arrived at 5.00am and we caught a rickshaw back to our van and slept until 1.00pm. We tidied out the van and had showers, by then it was too late to go to the customs so we went to sleep. We managed to clear the customs easily and set off north to the hill station of Kodikanal, where Dave's Uncle Had been born. His parents had been missionaries with a church in Madras and they spent the summer in the hills at Kodikanal. We spent a day exploring the lovely walks around the village and then headed north towards Madras. The roads were very good and we made good time and arrived at a very smart hotel at Mahalbalipuram ,just south of Madras at sunset. The hotel was great, with a swimming pool and showers, as well as a lounge that we were allowed to use, even though we were only camping in the van. We walked to the beach to see the beach temple, and all the carved elephants and gods around the beach, then we went to a cave temple which was quite good before finishing off at Anjuna's Penance a whole rock wall covered in carving, said to be the largest Bass relief in the world. It was really impressive. We then carried north to Madras where we parked at the YWCA. For the night. The next few days were spent driving on some of the worse roads that we have seen, and at times we could only so 25 miles per hour. When we stopped at the tourist bungalow in Puri, we met up with a French van and a Swiss van that we had seen at the ferry to Sri Lanka We all parked here for the night. Our next stop was at Karnak, so that we could visit the temple and when we arrived at the tourist bungalow the French and Swiss vans were here. It is good for Sarah as the French people have a 4 year old daughter for her to play with. We visited the temple, which was built to look like a chariot with big wheels. It is covered in erotic carvings. The workmanship was really fantastic and it must have taken a long time to complete. We decided to go to Calcutta to get visas for Nepal, and as we drove north we were hit by a tremendous wind and rainstorm, we had to stop driving as visibility was so bad we thought the van might blow over, then we had Hailstones raining down on us and they made a terrible noise as they hit the van roof, After the storm we continued driving and had to ask directions to the Howrah bridge, into Calcutta from two police officers. Calcutta was very busy with lots of traffic and trams and people. We parked at the Cathedral were the French and Swiss vans had already arrived, and spent the evening socialising. The following morning we and the French family travelled in the Swiss van with Heinz and Beart to the Nepalese embassy where we all applied for visas. They will not be ready for a couple of days . In the afternoon we visited the Planetarium, which is next to the Cathedral, and as the lecture was in English we really enjoyed it. Whilst we were waiting for our visas we visited the Victoria Memorial and a lovely Jain temple, which really stood out amongst the surrounding buildings. Sarah again lost her bunny and we thought that she had left it at the Victoria memorial but when we went to collect our Nepalese visas, one of the guards brought it out of the office and gave her it back. She was delighted. We had trouble finding our way out of Calcutta, as it was so busy, but finally we drove to Bodh Gaya, where Buddha, received his enlightenment and camped for the night near the temple. We walked around the temple the next morning and it had a lot of priests reading scrolls , and turning prayer wheels. It was very interesting. We drove to the tourist bungalow for the night and met up with the French and Swiss vans. We had a very tiring drive in the heat and dust to Varanasi, where we parked at a Dak bungalow along side the French and German vans again. We got up at 5.00am to visit the Burning Ghats, where the hindus cremate their dead, and we took a ride on a river boat which was great. as we saw all the temples and buildings from the water. All three vans headed off the next morning going north towards Kathmandu. As we neared Nepal the scenery became very hilly and the roads were smaller ,and very bumpy. The Swiss and French vans made us drive in front of them, as there were lots of Check points on the road and we spoke English and therefore could understand the Nepalese accents better than them and tell them what they had to do. We arrived at Pokhara at 3.00pm and all parked in a field beside the lake where we were told we could camp for free. It is very cloudy and we cannot see the mountains. In the morning we had a fantastic view of the mountains especially Annapurna, We hired a dugout canoe on the lake to get a great view of the area and take some photos. Some Nepalese came to the field today and brought a goat with them, Sarah and the French girl were feeding it and then the Nepalese people killed it and skinned it then had a barbeque. The girls seemed to take it for granted. ( NEXT )


To be enlightened by all things is to be freed from one's body and mind and those of others.


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