Pokhara is amazing when you want to psychologically recover - a month or even two are perfect. I stayed for 4 months, and it was too, too much - super boring. Although 3 months of healthy self-cooked food and clean air were priceless.
Moved to India and got infected on the way. I felt scratching throat in the train Gorakhpur to Sarnath, and thought "Am I sick? Please no" I was sort of okay for 2 days, but then fever started, and it lasted for 6 days. Tough considering "+33 feeling like +42" (quoting Google) and no AC in the dormitory.
At last, yesterday was the first day without high body temperature, but headache poisoned my mood all day.
Nevertheless, around 4 p.m. I wobbled to my favorite place in Sarnath:
A Tibetan restaurant (map) at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery.
Chicken momo with chili sauce (130 rupees, 1,3$) - gorgeous! In Northern India, it's often difficult to find a place where they cook chicken deliciously and normally you have to pay 3$ for an awfully cooked dish. After sickness, I especially needed some meat, and, thanks God, I found this Tibetan restaurant. Exceptional momos, even better than in Nepal, with much chicken in it!
What's cool: many visitors are Tibetans, so no doubt the recipes are authentic.
And that's the monastery:
The yard is plain-looking but the decoration of the altar's interior is gorgeous:
I told you about the headache but chicken momos with a glass of hot black tea fixed me up enough to feel okay for a walk. I decided that would help my recovery more than wallowing in bed again.
So what is Sarnath?
Sarnath is a place where Buddha delivered his first sermon. Thus, that's where Buddhism as a teaching was born. For that reason, many foreign and local Navayana Buddhists visit this small town, and crowds of Indian onlookers come to see exotic constructions.
There are many foreign Buddhist temples in Sarnath. However, only Tibetan ones look pretty alive, while the rest serve more as monuments. Some of these monuments are beautiful, like this Japanese temple:
Look at the floor - the natural stone!
Amazing wood carving, many great artifacts there.
At the moment of my visit, there was a drum ceremony of some kind, and the whole temple was immersed in the meditative vibrations.
Vishwa Shanti Stupa, quite modern and replica-like, but not without charm.
Some sort of modern installation on the station road, with kids playing.
An abandoned Chinese structure. But they have another one nearby:
And that's Mulagandha Kuty Vihara (1931) built by Maha Bodhi Society, aiming to preserve and recover Buddhism in India:
There are Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese structures in Sarnath... and hordes of Indian visitors with phones taking selfies. I love certain places in Sarnath but the town, in general, looks more like a theme park than a religious center, with much Buddhist-themed art (on each brick wall) of the lowest taste... It is what it is, but that's great that this place exists as a reminder for such a great teaching as Buddhism.
What a lovely story! I hope you are feeling much, much better after those delicious momos and super cheap too! Wow, they were located in the monastery as well. They must have been a lovely treat while recovering, a peaceful place and delicious food. The walk probably helped get your energy back and made you feel stronger again.
The place looks very interesting, and I like the history and how Sarnath has become a meeting point for different Buddhist traditions. I think there is something very special about visiting the place where Buddha gave his first sermon. I wonder if the people around that area are more peaceful because of its spiritual history. Enjoy the rest of your stay there!
Thank you!! Yes, chicken momos were a remedy. Indian restaurants here serve only beans with turmeric, flour with fat and potato (selling potatoes as a main dish...what a joke). Pseudo cheese paneer, cooked with super predictable spices, is sold as a crown of the menu. The end of menu. Selling a spoon of lentils for the price of chicken - that's the meaning of "100% pure veg restaurant"... Thanks Buddha, Tibetans appeared on my way when I needed to recover from this terrible virus.
Yum, I just looked at the chicken momo recipe, and I am surely going to make some. It looks easy to knock one up. 😀
Choose a Tibetan version! The Nepalese version is good but Tibetan is better. Look at a Tibetan recipe of chicken momo jhol - momos in a sort of sauce - so good! Avoid Indian recipes of momos - they are as authentic as an Indian (Thai, Vietnamese, etc) pizza.
Oh my golly gosh! Yes, I just looked and I can already imagine the taste. The dip also looks amazing! So it’s kind of a mixture of Chinese dumplings with some Indian spices. Hmmm, that’s really interesting. Thank you! :)
Sarnath is absolutely beautiful; I think it’s amazing that the religious sites there have become tourist attractions. Many people can enjoy the beautifully carved statues in the temples.
I hope you get well soon, and we look forward to your next trip.
This is actually true. Mass tourism makes things look shallow, but it brings money and media attention - two things that allow Sarnath to grow as a spiritual site.
Thank you! Today was free of headache, and I even visited a train station to buy a ticket to the next destination: Kolkata 🙂 I was there in January 2026 but I want more, and I really miss big cities with its diverse life, art, and street cats 🙂
You're right—historic sites that attract tourists will gain recognition more quickly and are sure to thrive.
I can't wait to read your post about your trip to Kolkata.
😀📷🫵✍️ Dear @x-rain Friend, I hope you're fully recovered!... Thank you for this post, I needed to see your photos, as always, very good!... I've seen a bit of Buddhism in all its variations, very interesting!... I read a lot, I've been reading since I was very young, it's a kind of addiction... I don't learn much from what I read, I don't memorize complete sentences or chapter numbers or things like that, but the essence of what I read stays with me and I usually learn from it... The first time I read about Buddha, I think it was a compendium of his 53 sutras, and long before that I had read the Bible, the Mahabharata, the Tao Te Ching, the Ramayana, some Soro-Astrism, and I don't remember what else of that type of book that I call "wisdom books," including some related to Advaita Vedanta, which I think are my favorites, but reading those sutras of Buddha, I was fascinated to see how "everything fits together" when one dedicates oneself to exploring the world of... Different human beliefs... Perhaps I ended up being a little "uncomfortable" for many, because I like to say that "everything is one," but it can be said in so many different ways that we tend to get confused... Anyway, I'm glad to hear from you, about your journey, and I hope you don't get sick again! I wish you good health! Thank you for this post!
!discovery
!PIZZA
I believe Buddhism is the wisest religious teaching. 2500 or so years ago, they reached the level of understanding our modern civilization is at. Though, they only raised the right questions as for the answers we still need to find them.... Sounds unclear and I don't mind :D Thank you for your praising words, yes, hope my journey will be fine... Having the last coffee cup before finishing my bags, having shower and leaving the room. Exciting.... Wanted to return to Kolkata for so long.
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