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'The supreme moments of travel are born of beauty and strangeness in equal parts," Robert Byron wrote. In Gyantse, Tibet, he found beauty, strangeness -- and pleasure.

Bihar's decision not to display the Buddha's ashes at their religion's birthplace has disappointed thousands of Buddhist pilgrims.

From above, it looks like waves of saffron around a splash of maroon and yellow. Get closer and you walk into a mini "southeast" Asia where more than 50 stalls are dishing out Thai, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Malaysian and Chinese cuisine.

testing

In 1959, China invaded and occupied the resource-rich Buddhist homeland of Tibet, and they continue to operate a brutal domination of the once peaceful land. In spite of this, Western leaders have refused to cut ties to China, for fear of alienating a huge trading partner.

The Dalai Lama leads Kalachakra prayers during a ceremony to purify the ground where religious festivities will be held in the town of Bodh Gaya, believed to be the place where Buddha attained enlightenment, during the Kalachakra Buddhist festival in the Indian state of Bihar Friday Jan. 10, 2003. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

The three-day preliminary teachings of the Kalachakra puja by His Holiness the Dalai Lama begins tomorrow at one in the afternoon. His Holiness will teach on the 37 Practices of Bodhisattva and Lamp of the Path to Enlightenment.

Security has been tightened in the pilgrim town of Bodhgaya in Bihar for the nine-day Kalchakra puja beginning today. Devotees of Lord Buddha in Bodhgaya are present in large numbers to participate in the puja - one of the most sacred rituals of Buddhism's Mahayana sect.

The process is an ancient and painstaking one, and the work it produces is spectacularly beautiful. But only for a moment. Because after several days in the making, the elegant

Normalcy was restored today in the pilgrim city of Gaya which witnessed large scale arson and stone throwing following reports of damage to portraits of two gods late Friday night, official sources said here.