Photos of our Fabulous Adventure
This morning the haze over the Annapurnas allows a slight glimpse of the mountains, but it doesn’t really show on camera. Too bad.
After breakfast we jump in the van and complete our journey over the hills, twisting and turning around hairpin turns, past small villages and then suddenly it is like the hills vanished and we were on the flats! We stopped for a tea break, and again the kitchen was closed due to ‘The Festival’ so we had cold drinks and moved on.
Just as quickly as the hills vanished earlier, they reappeared and we were gaining altitude and twisting and turning. Thankfully not for long as we hit the flat and straight roads again (called the Gagnetic Plain), and before long we were in Lumbini. The surrounding area is beautiful farm land and it seems to be relatively prosperous as we saw modern tractors, combines and road machinery – because, of course, like elsewhere they are constantly repairing roads!
Our hotel, the Buddha Maya Garden, was a little challenging to find as everything has a combination of the three words. Finally we reached it and it is beautiful, rooms with balconies and a very nice swimming pool. Would like to stay here longer than one night.
Our rooms are not quite ready so we head in for a very yummy buffet lunch while Bikesh sorts out our tour for this afternoon. Around 2pm, all is ready and we head out to the front of the hotel. Bikesh has contracted 3 electric tuk tuks to take us in to the holy site of Lumbini. The little surprise is a treat and we all jump in excitedly taking selfies, and photos.
Lumbini is a Buddhist pilgrimage site in the Rupandehi District of southern Nepal. It is the place where, according to Buddhist tradition, Queen Mayadevi gave birth to Siddhartha Gautama in 563 BCE. Gautama, who achieved Enlightenment some time around 528 BCE, became the Buddha and founded Buddhism. It was granted World Heritage status by UNESCO in 1997.
The holy site of Lumbini has ruins of ancient monasteries, a sacred Bodhi tree, an ancient bathing pond, the Ashokan pillar and the Mayadevi Temple, where the supposed place of birth of Buddha is located. Our guide gives us infinite amount of history, more than we can remember, and takes us in to the Temple to show the actual birth spot of Buddha. They were actually able to prove that this is the spot as soil samples surrounding it dated back to 528 BC! https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/666
Following our tour, we walked back to where our tuk tuk drivers were waiting for us and visited both the Royal Thai Monastery and the Myanmar Golden Temple – both stunning structures!
Near closing time we head back to the hotel and have a chance to relax before heading in for dinner. We make it an early night as we have a long journey ahead of us tomorrow.