This is a great pilgrimage tale! Their walk lasts three months - judging by the three moon division of the chapters. They walk from Lumbini to Bodhgaya, passing through Rajgir, Kushinagar, and Vaishali. There are lots of descriptions of people and places along the way. I was inspired to pull up satellite imagery, to find the bridge across the Ganges at Patna, for example. Mostly of the trip is in Bihar so it is hardly a comprehensive picture of India but still it is a great armchair travel read. I feel like I was there!

Plus there are wonderful reflections by both authors. The book ping-pongs between the two authors every few pages. The two pilgrims are similar enough - similar age, both English, both long time Dharma students hooked into the Theravada scene - but then one is lay and one monastic. Anyway they reflect on themselves and on each other and on their experience. It's honest and intimate.

Very enjoyable all around and something I will think back on repeatedly. ( )

With an introduction by Stephen Batchelor

Two British friends, a Theravadan monk and a lay Buddhist, take the standard Buddhist pilgrimage in India - but they walk from Lumbini to Bodhgaya. They alternate telling of their adventures, conflicts, and Buddhist teachings in a well-written, sensitive memoir with distinctive voices. ( )