We woke to yet another cold, damp, and misty day. This is getting tedious for sure. The weather has been essentially the same for the past ten days or so, and none of the hotels have heat. Consequently, our gear never really dries and it's very difficult to do laundry. We wandered out into the fog and found the one recommended restaurant for breakfast. The so-so food and bad service didn't do much to improve our moods this morning, but we continued on with the walking tour of the sights. Kushinagar is where Buddha died and is the place where he is said to have been cremated.

We started the walk with a visit to the Chinese Linh Son Temple and then to the Burmese Temple complex. We then toured the Mahaparinirvana Temple, which contains a temple surrounded by a huge garden.



Inside the temple is a reclining Buddha from the 5th century. At nearly twenty feet long, it depicts Buddha on his deathbed. Our next stop was at the Mathakuar Temple, which is where Buddha is said to have made his final sermon.



From there, we walked to the Ramabahr Stupa, where Buddha's body is said to have been cremated. There really wasn't much to see here, since the stupa was not much more than a pile of bricks, but it was a very peaceful and moving place to visit. Even though we needed to check out of our room by noon, we sat for twenty minutes or so and talked about life and the future while watching a saffron-robed monk sit in quiet meditation in front of the stupa.

We then hurried back to the room and quickly packed up the bikes. Re is coming down with some sort of cough, and it has steadily been getting worse all morning. Fortunately the ride to Gorakhpur was short and the day had warmed up. Around 1:30 pm we found the recommended hotel across from the train station and checked in. The room was small but very nice, and miracle of miracles, it had a small space heater. The bad news was that while checking in, Re suddenly asked me to finish filling out the paperwork and sat down. She was now feeling nauseated and generally unwell. While she went up to the room and laid down, I unpacked the bikes and got everything locked up. Later in the afternoon I went out to find cough syrup, cold tablets, some paracetamol, and some lunch snacks. Re spent the rest of the day in bed but did get up for room service dinner and to do a bit of laundry. Later in the evening I went out to find the local internet cafe, but the internet service was down everywhere.

35 miles in 1.5 hours. Re is not well.