The Jap Meets Thai: Trip to Bodh Gaya & Rajgir


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  • Car: My Baby Suzuki aka Alto LX
  • No. Of Days: 2
  • Places Visited: BodhGaya, Rajgir
  • Team Leader (behind the Wheel): Myself
  • Members: 2 Seniors of mine
  • Odo increased by: 492kms
  • Overall Fuel Efficiency: 19kmpl
 
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Thread Starter #2
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First Set of Pictures

Logged into the nearest Fuel station to top up the fuel tank.

PS: Looking at the PP, you all can well imagine the condition of interior areas of Jharkhand state. Please note that this is the largest pump in the area.
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And the drive began. Sorry for some hazy pictures. They were taken by my senior in some wierd mode[lol].
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Stone crushing is one of the most popular business amongst the locals in this State. One of them spotted. The place had no fencing or boundary wall which shocked me to the core. Having no barricading of the establishment, and that too in a Naxal area, sounds fishy, doesnt it? After hearing the reply from my seniors, with a deeper shock, i continued driving:eek:.
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And soon i found myself tackling the ghat section. This was the same stretch which i drove on, a few months back on my Trip to Varanasi. We stopped for a while to click some snaps for the FB cover pic!
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This road has been repaired and was much more better to drive than during our last trip.
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The same location was chosen for the photoshoot a few months back.
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Again the same bridge.
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And ofcourse that broken bridge has been abandoned and the Govt has no plans to bring it back to life. It was still lying lifeless.
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Inside the car, some serious discussions going on between the 2 seniors of mine. I preferred clicking the pics though[;)].
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PGCIL!
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Thread Starter #3
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This is the entry gate of Bodh Gaya. Gaya city is about 17kms from this place.
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Bodh Gaya[glasses]
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It was lunch time already, so we stopped at Niranjana Restaurant. We confused this place for the resort which we had earlier booked, but later cancelled. Theres a resort named Niranjana at the outskirts of BodhGaya. The place looks good on booking sites, but in reality, it isnt as good.

However this Niranjana Restaurant is a good place to eat. Excellent ambience accompanied by prompt service.
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Soon after the lunch my other senior had to leave due to urgent work(was it really urgent, the entire story is hilarious[lol]). Before leaving him, we checked in at The Royal Residency hotel. More about the hotel in the next post.
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Unloading the luggage
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The setup of Royal Residency
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Parked the car to check the room and get freshen up.
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The corridor which lead to our room.
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Thread Starter #4
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Thread Now LIVE from TIP section. The updates would follow shortly[;)].
 
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Been to both places with the Xylo when it was brand new. Bodh Gaya is really nice place. When I went first time, it was not soo crowded and manageable. Second time, i went there it was deadly crowded because the great Dalai Lama was there and hence thats when I saw him too. Car was not allowed within 3-4 kms of MahoBodhi temple because of the crowd. Had to walk the last bit through.

Rajgir is also fantastic place. Will let Akash share the story.
 
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Been to both places with the Xylo when it was brand new. Bodh Gaya is really nice place. When I went first time, it was not soo crowded and manageable. Second time, i went there it was deadly crowded because the great Dalai Lama was there and hence thats when I saw him too. Car was not allowed within 3-4 kms of MahoBodhi temple because of the crowd. Had to walk the last bit through.

Rajgir is also fantastic place. Will let Akash share the story.
I too visited both places last year March in Spark. BTW, Rajgir is the place from where I belong to. I have been to Rajgir at least 30-40 times.
 
Thread Starter #9
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@Akash,

Fantastic Pics Buddy,

Waiting for the remaining story with more Pics[;)]
Thanks buddy, will resume with the remaining part in a short while.

Been to both places with the Xylo when it was brand new. Bodh Gaya is really nice place. When I went first time, it was not soo crowded and manageable. Second time, i went there it was deadly crowded because the great Dalai Lama was there and hence thats when I saw him too. Car was not allowed within 3-4 kms of MahoBodhi temple because of the crowd. Had to walk the last bit through.

Rajgir is also fantastic place. Will let Akash share the story.
Yeah Archit. I never expected Bodh Gaya to be so good. The place was clean, well managed with security personnel at all the important locations. A must visit for people living in 500km radius.

Nice pics !! Are you still having the sunfilms ?

Are the photo's edited, color looks good.
Yes, Varun ji, i havent removed the Sunfilms yet. I have adjusted the contrast of some of the pics, added watermarks and resized, nothing else has been done.
 
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Stay at the Hotel Royal Residency: A review

A typical double AC room costs around 7k bucks, however we managed to get a good discount (corporate and some relations).

IMO this is the best place to stay at Bodh Gaya. We had booked the hotel just a day before our visit. The staff was helpful and the service, top notch. We were made to swap the rooms once, however the entire thing was done very smoothly while we enjoyed our dinner.
The food too was excellent. If you visit the Bodh gaya, dont forget to have the Egg noodles at their restuarant, it tastes exceptionally good.

This was our room
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The Corridor
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Our room 223
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Baby Suzuki resting in open parking[:)]
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After a brief pause at the Hotel, we resumed exploring the sacred town!

The streets look clean enough. This is considering the fact that numerous tourists visit this place each day.
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Baby Suzuki got enlightenment under this tree[lol]!
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The Great Buddha Statue: Details in the pic below
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The first glance of the 80Ft statue of Lord Buddha.
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A close up shot.
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Yet another!
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The statue appears so magnificient that one cant resist from clicking!
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What if that "BINDI" falls off? A flying question that arose in my seniors mind? Imagination has no boundaries[lol]
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The Offering box: Very known as "Daan Peti" at Hindu temples.
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Hey Akash, So you were back on the road.

Nice clicks of Bodh Gaya. It reminds me of my recent drive to the place.

I missed Rajgir due to time constraints but i know the road is very scenic.

Waiting for more..
 
Thread Starter #13
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Hey Akash, So you were back on the road.

Nice clicks of Bodh Gaya. It reminds me of my recent drive to the place.

I missed Rajgir due to time constraints but i know the road is very scenic.

Waiting for more..
Haha, yes sir. I am ready for more[;)]. I was expecting you in this thread and to be honest, your Bodhgaya-Varanasi thread only made me visit this place[clap]. About Rajgir, yes i would definitely recommend the place. BTW i am planning a trip to Digha beach, so would be requiring your assistance. A separate thread to come up in the 'The Travel Itinerary' section soon.

Next part of the story to come up soon[;)]
 
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Daijokyo Temple
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The garden was extremely well maintained. Pardon the picture quality.
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Something written in language 'Alien' for me[lol]
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The Buddhist temples impressedme a lot with their housekeeping.
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The inside of the temple was aptly lit and the ambience felt very pure.
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We skipped a few temples on the way in order to reach the Mahabodhi temple on time.
 
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Haha, yes sir. I am ready for more[;)]. I was expecting you in this thread and to be honest, your Bodhgaya-Varanasi thread only made me visit this place[clap]. About Rajgir, yes i would definitely recommend the place. BTW i am planning a trip to Digha beach, so would be requiring your assistance. A separate thread to come up in the 'The Travel Itinerary' section soon.

Next part of the story to come up soon[;)]
Oh yes.. Come over to Digha beach. Will guide you.

Digha / Shankarpur / Mondarmani / Tajpur all 4 beaches lined up together in a span of 20 km are ready to welcome you.
 

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