City of Monks - Bodh Gaya, Bihar

Year 2018 Month February, I went to attend a wedding of my friend in Patna. When I booked a rail ticket for Patna, I planned a visit of Gaya town in my mind, either pre-wedding or post-wedding but I will go. I Board a train on 20th Feb and in my whole train journey I was thinking of where should I go first, in marriage ceremony or Gaya. train reached Patna station at 9 PM and in villages most of the things are close by 8 PM in night. So I decided to take a room in Patna and spend night here only. Next day in the morning I woke up at 5 AM in the morning and decided, Let's go to Bodh Gaya. I took my bag and reached Patna station, I missed first passenger train which is going to Gaya and We have second passenger train at 6 AM, so I took that and reached Gaya Station at 9 AM. Now I was very happy that I reached Gaya. but I was not knowing that Bodhgaya is 1 Hour Drive from Gaya station. So I asked 2-3 random people how far is Bodhgaya from here, some are saying 20 KM someone is 25 KM than I took sharing Tam-Tam without wasting time. it took me exact one hour to reach Bodhgaya but tam-tam left me outside of the Bodhgaya Entrance. because of security purpose they don't allow tam-tam from outside. Bodhgaya is place like a city, there are many places to visit here, so if you can not walk much than you need to take e-rickshaw. . It's winter season so climate is very good, I started walking and Noticed that they have big market inside with hotels, ATM, continental restaurants. First I went to Mahabodhi Temple, main temple or attraction of Bodhgaya. they don't allow camera and phone inside. temple was filled with monks, everywhere you will see monks are reading some books. These monks came from different parts of the world, some are from Vietnam some from Indonesia, one large group of monks I saw they came from Thailand. Mahabodhi temple is big structural building you will love the structure of main temple. Bodhgaya is holiest city for them who follow Buddhism. you can see bodhi tree under which Gautam Buddha gained enlightenment. they also have a little pond inside the temple premises. People do yoga and some dhyan here in temple. you will feel a different kind of peace or energy here. after 2 hour I left the main temple and started searching other attractions, Than one by one I went to Thai Monastery, Bangladesh Buddhist Monastery, Chinese Monastery, Vietnam Monastery. and after all this I started searching for Great Buddha Statue and after walking 10-15 Minutes finally I got it and I rushed towards it. This is not a Great Buddha statue this is Giant Buddha statue it is so big. Statue is in Dhyan mudra and 20~22 meter tall. very good place to visit (paisa vasool). Near this statue there is another temple called palyul namdroling temple. it is very different temple, they have some colorful stupa's here. by this time I was so hungry and tired so went to one restaurant called nirvana, had lunch there and Now the main task is that I have to catch last passenger train for Patna and to reach in haldi ceremony of my friends wedding. I reached Patna by 5 PM but unable to reach in friends haldi ceremony. When i reached friends house it was again 9 PM there and haldi was over. but i have attended wedding. Guys it was superb experience as solo trip, You must go to Bodhgaya.