Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha

One thing about travelling in Nepal is that it takes forever to get anywhere.  Upwards of six hours on a rickety bus and you haven't even made 200km.  Chitwan to Lumbini didn't look soooo far on the map, so we figured let's give it a whirl.  The bus below was our home for all of the next day.

Arriving into Lumbini several hours after our ETA, we found most of the guest houses were either already full or charging inflated rates.  It turned out that we had shown up midway through the 23rd annual 12-day prayer gathering for world peace, and there were 5000 more monks in town than usual.

The streets were awash in burgundy robes, bald heads and benevolent smiles.  We checked into the last available room - a dingy little den with the corpses of a thousand Mosquitos smeared onto concrete walls - and paid three times more than what we were used to.  Back outside we settled down on the edge of the road to a feast of ten-cent samosas, and people-watched til the sun went down.

The monastic zone is several kilometres long so in the morning we hired some pretty snazzy pushbikes and took a picnic of oranges to see what we could see.

First we came upon the butter-tea station, and it looked like they were preparing for quite a crowd...

You can't really tell how big those pots are, but I reckon I've seen smaller spa-pools than the one on the left.  Carrying on into the complex we encountered the marquee, empty but for a few snoozing souls at 10 o'clock in the morning.  Apparently the first session kicked off at 5am, and it was time for a rest before the chanting would resume at 2.

So we meandered to the shrine marking the actual spot where Buddha was born.  The locals have constructed a large plain building around the old palace ruins, and no photos are allowed because it's so sacred.  We were told that Buddha (the main guy, as there had been many Buddha) was born into royalty and privilege.  As an adult he was saddened as he witnessed the poverty and injustice experienced by the lower classes.  He sat under a tree to think through the rich/poor divide, became enlightened, and the rest is Buddhism.  

Outside Buddha's birthplace is the pool where he was bathed.  A visiting monk told us that the surround had been built since, but the trees were ancient, likely to have existed when Buddha was around.  The boys below were mesmerised by four turtles that live in the pool.  They were there a long time, intently studying the mini creatures.  We joined them and at first the scarlet-clad lads were shy, but a few brave ones smiled and nodded.  

One twinkling-eyed boy of about 12 asked us where we were from.  On the iPad we showed them a map.  Crazy to think that we've travelled a quarter of the way around the world (and have both circumnavigated the globe several times) and these boys were likely to remain within the borders of Nepal their whole lives.  We showed our eager-eyed friends photos of our trip through their stunning landscape.  When their massive mountains were on the screen, about 20 kids had gathered around, and one exclaimed 'Himal' to which the others grinned in agreement.  

The twinkling-eyed new friend who'd asked us our nationality told us his name.  And with his arm slung around the guy beside him, we asked if they were friends.  A puzzled look came on his face.  He emphatically said no, and pointed to the other guy saying 'monk' and then pointed to himself and repeated 'monk.'  

Apparently monks espouse that all people are equal in relation to them, which denounces friendship ties or family relations.  Denounces sounds negative, but I'm sure the belief and enactment of it is supposed to be for the positive.  After about half an hour of hanging out with the boys, we left them to their turtle spotting.  We remarked that the time spent with them had been the most mutually enriching of all our interactions with locals so far in Nepal.  The boys wanted nothing from us, but showed happiness with company.  We wanted nothing from them, but to pass the time of day.  

Over the past few months we've been constantly approached on the street to buy, try, visit, take a taxi, come into this shop, best price for you, it's your lucky day.  In Kathmandu the funniest of them all is usually early evening when we're walking about, and a bloke takes a couple steps close to you as you stroll along, and says quite softly in your ear 'smoking something?'  To which we laugh and carry on.  

Hanging out with the ... Just needed to ask the clown beside me what the young monks are called ... she said monklings.  Hmm, not sure if that's right!  Novices, perhaps.  Hanging out with the novice monks was such a happy time.  Like being with old friends - who let you just be.

Tons of local and international pilgrims were in Lumbini.  These colourful saris came complete with bindis, and some even had heaps of grains of red rice stuck to their foreheads (?!)

Heading back to the marquee, we were greeted by a sea of red.  And a smidge of orange monk robes in the back corner too.  The marquee was filled with cross legged men of all ages.  A few women were difficult to distinguish, their heads also shaved. 

A middle aged monk with the look of leadership on his shoulders beckoned for us to stand up, as did everyone around us.  Some horns played, and the guest monks ceremoniously walked through the mass, including the iPhone and camera toting monks who'd positioned themselves appropriately for photos of the famous monks.

Chanting started.  We didn't understand so cruised off on our super cool bikes.  A posse of monkeys inhabited the stretch of road from the monastic zone to the town area, and they were quite enthralled in nit-picking.  The cute little faces also had a 'don't mess with me' look about them.  One particular monkey had scaled the entrance arch, and tried playing with the tail of the wooden deer, then some other R18 rated antics. Two local women in saris noticed at them same time, and giggled like school girls at the monkey who was trying to cross-breed with the wooden deer.

The Buddhist monastery below is Chinese.  There are an assortment of monasteries in Lumbini - mostly from Asian countries.  It's possible to stay in them (even if you're not a monk or monkling) for a donation.  

Lumbini is small, even though the monastic area is spread out, so two nights was heaps.  We took our 6am bus bound for Kathmandu, unfortunately it was the one with the maniacal driver.  Practicing patience on the 10 hour journey home was character building, especially seeing we'd been allocated seats in the very back row.  Tip: try to get seats in the middle if the bus looks crappy and dodgy.  It's likely the shocks and suspension will be crappy and dodgy too!

Otherwise if you're a goat, you might need to settle for being tied on to the roof of the bus like this poor fella below.  Had to double take, but sure enough, this long distance bus had a goat on top.

Back to Kathmandu for some variance in delicious food, and to enjoy Nepal before this leg of our trip is done.