S2E5 - Journey to India: Vulture Peak - Final Thoughts

A mountain named for a bird without a single feather in sight became the place where awe, fear, and faith collided. We pick up after Nalanda and head to Vulture Peak, where a cable cart straight out of a carnival ride dangles us over the valley, monkeys tax our snacks, and a sudden swarm of bees turns daylight into shadow. The hike asks for patience, the descent takes a toll, and the experience leaves us sorting meaning from the ache in our knees.

Back in Bodh Gaya, the mood shifts. Rumors about harassment ripple through the crowd around a revered figure, and we sit with the messy truth that a holy message doesn’t always protect the people around it. The National Museum stuns for a different reason: world-class artifacts within arm’s reach, weathered stone and thin security exposing a heritage that deserves better. Then the airport seals the lesson with a rule that traps travelers and locks away tax refunds behind a door you’re not allowed to cross.

Through it all, one presence stands steady. Meeting the Dalai Lama—again—cuts through the noise with warmth you can feel across a room. No demands, no politics, just a call to live with more compassion than fear. We end with a story about commissioning thangkas: a cash deal, a long silence, and a late promise kept that reveals how fragile and honest survival can be.

If you’re drawn to real travel—sacred sites, human systems, hard truths, and unexpected grace—press play. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves honest road stories, and leave a quick review telling us the moment that challenged your faith the most.

Please contact me at theunclewong@gmail.com

Transcript

Welcome Back And Trip Context

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Yo, what's up everyone? Welcome back to Asian Uncle, and I'm your host Uncle Wong. So today we continue with part two of my travel to uh Bhutkaya or Bahir, India. Now the reason why we split it up into two parts is because the one before, the episode just before Nalanda, it had such a special meaning to me. Historical value to me that I had to separate into an entire episode. Now the next part is about Vulture Peak. It's about a separate type of experience and a culmination of the entire India experience. And now Vulture Peak it's not a historical center like Nalanda. It didn't it's not as rich in history because it's just Buddha's favorite retreat where he made public sermons. Again, it's a place of pilgrimage for us Buddhists. Now, this vulture peak is a little different from the burial ritual that we talked about before, where there were vultures all around the mountains. This one's different because it had no vultures. The peak was in the shape of a vulture, that's it. Well, you see, I never regret going to Nalanda. The historical value, the educational value, all the things that I learned made that journey worth it. But I couldn't say the same about vulture peak. I did not have a good experience there. The driver dropped us off pretty far from the mountain. You had to kind of walk up. So we're at the bottom. It was maybe like a 15-minute drive from the Landa. Again, it was actually close, but the dirt roads made it hard for us to travel. And we were supposed to take this lift, sort of like a ski lift, like a cable cart, up halfway to the mountain, and then walk up to Balter's Peak. It all sounded good until I saw India's version of a cable cart. So you know at the amusement park, that spinning ride where you sit in this metal plate. It's like a metal seat with your legs dangling. It's in midair. It's held together by four chains connected to the top of the machine. And the machine starts, you starts spinning, and then you're sitting in the chair spinning around, right? You all know that. I'm sure you've been on those rides. Well, the cable cart was the exact same way. Except it was just one chain, metal stick. It wasn't a chain. You weren't like you weren't swerving around ridiculously, thank God. But it was connected to the same type of seat. And you were a lot further away from the ground, too. Which made it terrifying, man. Like, if I fell off that, I don't think I would have made it. And there was no safety bars or wraps or any seatbelts. You're out in the open, your legs dangling down. If you felt like jumping, you could have jumped easily. There was nothing to hold you there at all. So there's many times in my travel of all these years that I thought I would die. This would definitely be one of them. So after about 15, 20 grueling minutes, we thankfully made it up safely. And on this platform, there was no permanent structure. It was little huts, there were some vendors and merchants selling local things and snacks. So I brought some snacks, had a bottle of water with me, and there were many paths too. There were some down the mountain, across the mountain, and then there was one obviously a clear path up to Vultures Peak. That was the route we're supposed to take. And so that walk was around, it was pretty damn long. It took us maybe like an hour to reach the peak. But um the walk was quite nice. It was sunny, uh, ample shade. There's plenty of fucking monkeys. I swear to God, a monkey came up to me on my way while I was hiking and snatched my chips while I was eating. I swear to God. Left me with only a bottle of water. And I know I've mentioned I've seen many monkeys in India, but never have I seen so many different species of monkeys than on that mountain. There were hairy ones, hairless ones, big ones, small ones, skinny ones. It was ridiculous. They just run wild. And pretty much we just followed us up the mountain. Nice walk. But nothing out of the ordinary. It was like your everyday hike, even in the US. Uh, there were some special things you could see. Like there was a like a Japanese pagoda uh at the summit, and then there's also a cave. It's called the Sardama Cave, which is the name of Buddha, and it is said that Buddha meditated there for long periods of time. And once we reached the peak, like I said, there was nothing special. There was a statue of Buddha in the middle, a gold statue, and the platform that you see in the picture of this episode. But that's when things turned dark in the most literal sense. A swarm of bees came out of absolutely nowhere. And I don't know if it attacked us. I don't think it did, but I didn't know what it was doing there. I called out, everybody took cover, and I held my wife underneath me, and I didn't have time to pull anything over my head. So I got stung. But miraculously, I was the only person to got stung. There were maybe like 20 people on the platform. Everybody was okay except me. That was kind of weird. But the beast cleared out almost as fast as they came. I was stung in my hand and on my neck. That was it. People were making fun of me too, saying that I must have done something wrong and this is just karma and I'm paying it back. Which makes sense, and I and I wouldn't mind that, but it just that happened while I was on Vultures Peak was a rather unique experience, I would say. By then we were already very tired, and it was our time to go back, right? It was getting dark. And the walk down the mountain was uh was worse than coming up. You know, all the steps were very uneven. Uh I was I ran out of water and there was no more vendors. I just felt like my knees were gonna snap off. So if you're gonna be walking there, even if you're not of age, bring a cane, bring crutches with you, something. Just these trips um that you take in India, sometimes you don't you just don't have access to um anything. And once we reached the peak, like I said before, it was nothing too special. It was what you see in the picture of this episode, and then there's a gold Buddha, a gold statue of Buddha in the middle. And we walked around, did a little bit of prayer, and all of a sudden, things turned dark in the most literal sense. A swarm of bees came out of nowhere and just covered the entire area. It blanketed out the sun. That's how much, that's how many bees were in the area out of nowhere. Everybody panicked. Um, I called out, take cover, right? Pull your jacket over your head, so whatever. And so I held my wife underneath me, and I didn't have time to pull anything over my head, so I got stung. I got stung on my neck and um my pinky, ooh, that one hurt. But something unique came out of that experience because the bees disappeared as fast as they came. And out of the maybe 15, 20 people that were on the peak, I was the only one to have gotten stung. And so afterwards, some tourists were making fun of me saying that because Buddhists believe in karma, right? And they said I must have done some something bad. And so this is kind of repaying karma in the most spiritual place, which makes sense. But nonetheless, it was it was it was it was really weird. Um, very unique experience that made that trip worthwhile and also made it sort of dark. But walking down the mountain was was worse, much worse than walking up. All the steps were uneven, the vendors are already off work or somewhere else, I don't even know. And it was time for us to go home. So the walk down, I think, took me probably two hours. My knees felt like it was gonna snap. It hurt so bad. I said, if any of you are ever gonna hike, uh walking walking down the mountain, you gotta be prepared for that, for that pressure on your knee. And while I ached, those monkeys still followed me. They were walking down the mountain with me. It was crazy. It was just monkeys everywhere. What I remember from that trip was just animals, bees, monkeys, and my knee. That's pretty much it. When we got down, we uh went back to the temple. And this was already towards the end of our trip in Budgaya. And the last couple of days there were quite unsettling. Because there had been rumors that the Dalai Lama security had been harassing women. And these rumors were leaning towards the truth because many people also came forward. Okay, just because I think everybody has to remember that uh just because one man is holy, it doesn't mean that the people around them are. The Dalai Lama preaches this, my mentor preaches this, and that's how I think the way the world works. So imagine the stress of a Dalai Lama having to manage all this. And what would happen to these exile Tibetans once he's gone? China would never ever recognize anybody that they appoint, um, that any outsiders appoint as a that as the next Dalai Lama. So the future of the people in these exile zones is quite bleak. This year the dialama turns 90. And how many years does he honestly have? And once he passes, that's when you'll see the change. And that is for sure to happen. And perhaps just a sheer amount of people there just made things so much worse, so much harder to manage. So it's hard to blame anybody. But wherever you go, just be careful, especially if you're traveling to places that are traditionally unsafe or poverty stricken. And the days were long after that. Um sitting in those with thousands of people in an open square wears you out. Um, the first days were lot even longer. Um it gradually got better, but towards the end, it's just the fatigue, right? And it was just at that point I realized I never wanted to come back. It didn't leave a really good impression. Uh nonetheless, it was a worthwhile trip. And so on the way back to uh the capital, um, we stayed there overnight and uh we went to visit the National Museum. It's quite unique. But, but, so here it is. Everything in in India, I believe, is quite unique, even this museum. Okay, it's nothing like any, it's even though it's a national museum, it's nothing like a respectable museum that you would see, right? The Met in the in New York or the one in UK, right? This was just there was barely any security. Okay, there was barely any blockade. Okay, you can you you can see and touch century-old statues. You could rub up against it if you wanted to. Okay, the only two places where there were security guards where there was a relic uh of Buddha's bone that had security guard, and the second was the jewelry section. Talk about a lack of resources. I saw a picture, um I saw a picture, I saw uh a Buddha statue from the Gupta period. A beautiful statue that you could easily sell for millions on Zolder B auction. It was out in the open for the rain and sun, no cover, nothing to block the Taurus off either. It was quite sad to see. And visiting anywhere in India seems just seems like a battle against heat and traffic, especially if you go that time of the year. And just when you thought just when I thought it was over, we ended up at the airport. That was probably the most worst experience that you can have. And so take this as a warning before we leave this episode. Once you enter the departure building, you are not allowed to leave. Otherwise, you won't be able to come back that day. Okay, so let me repeat that. If you leave the departure building, once you enter, you will not be able to return that same day. What kind of stupid fucking rule is that? And you know what's worse? We brought a bunch of stuff, right? Like souvenirs, and there's a tax return at the airport, right? If you're not a citizen there, they give you your tax back if you're a tourist. Everybody knows that. Well, guess what? The tax return counter is at the arrival hall. And there's no way to get to the arrival hall from the departure hall unless you exit. So guess what? Gotcha. That was the most corrupt moment that I've personally experienced. And it was funny because my buddy was with me and he was like he's been just pissy the entire trip. From the moment we landed, he hated it. And from the moment we left after that experience, because he bought the most stuff, he wanted that tax return. Like he was so pissed that he rented a hotel room inside the airport. He plugged up the bottom of the um the entrance door with uh with towels. He opened up the uh showers and he just started smoking. He must have smoked like a pack or two of cigarettes in that room. Just stank up the entire room and just left it nasty and left. He was so pissed, he was just like, I'm never gonna come back here, fuck this, fuck that, and just threw a fit. And to be honest, I can't blame him. And while I was leaving the country, I knew that would probably be the last time I visit India. And that will probably be the last time I've ever seen Dalai Lama. I've maybe seen him eight or so times, I believe. I'm not gonna post a picture up of me with him because I just, you know, I need to return to China one of these days. But I really learned a lot from him. I really enjoyed my time being in the sanctuary, um, experiencing that culture. However, like I said before, I do worry about, it's not my place to worry, but I do worry about the future of that sanctuary, given that Dalai Lama is 90 years old, like I said before. And also had another bad experience while I was there. Um when the Dalai Lama left Tibet, he brought a bunch of artists with him. And these artists, they're known for their thonkas. And so what a thonka is, it is a um, it is sort of uh it's a painting, it's a traditional Tibetan painting, but it doesn't use paint. Instead, it uses um natural resources like rocks and stones to make certain colors. So everything has to be all natural. And they follow a certain procedure when they're drawing. And normally these pictures would not be of you know mountains and landscapes, it would be of be it would be of Buddha or other deities that you see in Tibetan culture. So if you look up the word Thanka, T-H-A-N-G-K-A online, you would see what the art looks like. It's absolutely beautiful. And so they these artists are from this castle in Lhasa called Robalinka. And then they also have this um downgraded version, much downgraded version of it in the sanctuary. And it's open to tourists. You can also go there and buy these specially made dunkas hand-drawn. But it takes time for them to make it, right? So I ordered a bunch. I ordered muscle, I think I ordered around$10,000 worth. Okay, and then the store owner said, uh, it'll take us maybe two months to do it. Please leave your address here and I'll mail it to you after we're done. I was like, okay. And how do I pay? They don't take credit cards and stuff, right? I had an only Chinese credit card. That would not work. So I paid cash. And uh he wrote me a ticket, and uh that was it. But two months later, when I called him, when I texted him, he didn't answer. And months later, he answered with a sorry. And I asked him where my tanka is, and he said, uh I'll get it to you soon. I'm like, where's my money? And he told me, he's like, sorry, I had to use it for my business. I spent it. And in the back of my head, I'm just like, wow. You know, it's you know, truly that was very disappointing. And uh but what was good was that a year later, all the stuff that he owed me, it was mailed to me. And so I do appreciate his honesty. Now, of course, I do understand that uh he needed the money, and obviously I definitely appreciate the fact that he still lived up to his word two years later. But nonetheless, you can see you you can kind of feel how the people are struggling there, right? And once the dai lama is gone, how many tourists would still go there? Right, how much money can they still make, and how would these people survive? Also, despite all these maybe negative experiences and even meeting bad people, I didn't regret going. Not one bit. I mean, I wouldn't go back for vacation, but nonetheless, I met the Dalai Lama. Despite him being a holy man, very famous, Nobel Peace Prize winner, I wanted to really feel the type of person he is. Or does he really live up to the expectation of the person I think he is? And he does. If you've ever met him before, you'll you'll feel his energy once he comes into the room. That energy you feel is unmistakable. You know how when you sit next to somebody and you just don't like them, they just give you that bad vibe? Well, this is the opposite. The vibe of compassion, his acceptance, his understanding. And let me tell you, his laughter is just contagious. And what he preaches was never about politics. What he preaches was about you, your feelings, how you're coping with this life in this world. He doesn't ask you to convert, doesn't need you to do anything, doesn't even ask you for money. So that was a very good experience for me in terms of it set my faith and it made me a better person. But although I didn't practice um meditation or any Buddhism at that point, it left a good um what you called in Buddhism a good seed in my heart, where eventually, gradually, I became better and better. So what more can you ask for, right? So that's all the time we have for today. But next episode, I want to walk back on this route a bit. And what route am I talking about? Uh the route where India is actually the destination. The beginning of the route is in China. So you probably guessed it. It's the Silk Road. There's the reason why people know of Nalanda. The reason why people could travel from China, Tibet, and Persia to Nalanda was not because it was TikTok, right? It was because of the Silk Road. Well, we've all read textbooks. Um, we all know about the Silk Road. I read a lot about it too, but I didn't know until I traveled there. So uh join us next time as we retrace those steps and take a glimpse back into history. Thanks again for tuning in. Uncle Wong signing off.