The next day I flew from Kathmandu to Lumbini. For those of you who know Nepal, I realize this makes no sense since Lumbini is another half day drive from Chitwan. However the Chitwan trip was booked with the same tour as the trek, and the package ended in Kathmandu. In any case, the only cost was the extra flight to Lumbini.
The guide book warns about the total chaos at the domestic air terminal. This is where all the trekkers catch flights to places like Pokhara, and all flights leave in the morning while the weather is clear. So it is packed, and without a tour leader I knew I'd have to navigate this on my own. However it turned out to be not so bad. Mainly because as soon as I stepped out of the cab, a guy grabbed my bag and led me straight to security. Inside, another guy helped with paying the airport tax and checking in. They are actually quite honest - you just have to accept the fact that you'll be constantly shelling out money in tips.
In the departure area, there are just two gates, and no signs indicating which flight is leaving. You just keep listening for your flight number, and if you think you hear it, go to someone at the gate and show your boarding pass. Eventually you'll get it.
Lumbini is the birth place of the Buddha. It is near the border with India, and the landscape is flat with vast rice fields dotted with clumps of trees and villages. It is a very rural area, with people walking on the road carrying packages of food or farming tools, children leading water buffalo, horse driven carts, people on bikes. It is also very hot.
The Lumbini area itself is a very large, and it looks like there was a grand vision of a complex of temples, but now parts have fallen into disrepair. The center of the area is a 2 km long pond, now empty except for leaves and a few stagnant pools. From one of the bridges looking north there is a nice view of the Japanese World Peace Pagoda.
At the south end there is a garden and the Maya Devi temple, which is the focal point of the area, since it is supposed to be the spot where Buddha was born. The temple building houses ruins of brick foundations of structures that were built a few centuries after the Buddhas birth. There is also a carved marker stone inside. Outside is an Asokan pillar, erected by king Asoka, who spread Buddhism about 250 BC. There are more ruins outside, and an enormous tree covered in prayer flags. I think the legend says the Buddhas mother gave birth under a tree.
It's a busy place, with lots of large groups of Nepali school children. There are also several groups from other countries, like Vietnam and Burma, and most of the people in the group wear robes so I assume it is a pilgrimage.
On either side of the long pond are temples from different countries and organizations. They are spread out over a large area, and mostly hidden by trees, so it's hard to get a sense of continuity. They are also kind of hard to find since what signs there are have faded. You just take a dirt road until you come across something.
There are temples from Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, China, Vietnam, etc. Not all are open, and some look like they were abandonned before even being finished and have started to decay. On the other hand, some temples are being constructed or renovated. The Thai temple is under renovation, and there is the beginning of a Cambodian temple in the style of Angkor Wat. The Korean temple was well maintained and seemed quite active, with a building containing rooms for people to stay in, and posted schedules for meditation and ceremonies. The Chinese temple was also very nice and was the most lively with lots of people and people selling things outside.
There were also temples that were not affiliated with a country in particular, but were built by a Buddhist organization in the name of world peace. These were very new and beautiful.
The guide book warns about the total chaos at the domestic air terminal. This is where all the trekkers catch flights to places like Pokhara, and all flights leave in the morning while the weather is clear. So it is packed, and without a tour leader I knew I'd have to navigate this on my own. However it turned out to be not so bad. Mainly because as soon as I stepped out of the cab, a guy grabbed my bag and led me straight to security. Inside, another guy helped with paying the airport tax and checking in. They are actually quite honest - you just have to accept the fact that you'll be constantly shelling out money in tips.
In the departure area, there are just two gates, and no signs indicating which flight is leaving. You just keep listening for your flight number, and if you think you hear it, go to someone at the gate and show your boarding pass. Eventually you'll get it.
Lumbini is the birth place of the Buddha. It is near the border with India, and the landscape is flat with vast rice fields dotted with clumps of trees and villages. It is a very rural area, with people walking on the road carrying packages of food or farming tools, children leading water buffalo, horse driven carts, people on bikes. It is also very hot.
The Lumbini area itself is a very large, and it looks like there was a grand vision of a complex of temples, but now parts have fallen into disrepair. The center of the area is a 2 km long pond, now empty except for leaves and a few stagnant pools. From one of the bridges looking north there is a nice view of the Japanese World Peace Pagoda.
It's a busy place, with lots of large groups of Nepali school children. There are also several groups from other countries, like Vietnam and Burma, and most of the people in the group wear robes so I assume it is a pilgrimage.
On either side of the long pond are temples from different countries and organizations. They are spread out over a large area, and mostly hidden by trees, so it's hard to get a sense of continuity. They are also kind of hard to find since what signs there are have faded. You just take a dirt road until you come across something.
There are temples from Burma, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, China, Vietnam, etc. Not all are open, and some look like they were abandonned before even being finished and have started to decay. On the other hand, some temples are being constructed or renovated. The Thai temple is under renovation, and there is the beginning of a Cambodian temple in the style of Angkor Wat. The Korean temple was well maintained and seemed quite active, with a building containing rooms for people to stay in, and posted schedules for meditation and ceremonies. The Chinese temple was also very nice and was the most lively with lots of people and people selling things outside.
There were also temples that were not affiliated with a country in particular, but were built by a Buddhist organization in the name of world peace. These were very new and beautiful.
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