Slumbini

On our way back to India I wanted to stop off at a place called Lumbini. As the birthplace of Gautama Siddartha Buddha (aka Buddha), it is one of the most religious sites in the world. It is also just a short detour from the border at which we were going to cross and I felt it would be a shame to miss it.

Two buses and 5 hours later we arrived at Lumbini. Out of the three guest houses we looked at only one had rooms available and, although it was double our budget, we had no choice but to book in and go for a little wander. It was nothing like what we expected. Compared to the rest of Nepal we thought Lumbini Village was a bit of a dump with many more child beggars and some shockingly skanky, bashed up dogs. We walked to a Tibetan Gompa (Tibetan Temple, not Tibetan Minger) five minutes away from our guesthouse as directed by our the guy at the front desk. The monks there were partaking in mass prayer for world peace. It was like a monks festival with marquees set up along the road selling Tibetan food and many two or one man tents pitched all over the place.


Due to this event it was probably way busier than normal. Although it's an important site for pilgrims it is very low key in comparison to Mecca with pilgrims visiting in a slow trickle as opposed to mass bundles! The main attraction for us travellers though, was to see the actual site where Buddha was born. Unfortunately, poor Matt was in pain, this time from an unfortunately placed tick bite (which we think must have been on his body for a couple of days from the jungle before we realised what was causing the pain) and wasn’t able to walk much, so we put off the sightseeing for the following day. He has definitely had his fair share of bad luck this year what with the jellyfish stings and shingles and so on! The birth site is in the Maya Devi Temple which is surrounded by the Sacred Garden and miles of parkland and it is recommended that you hire a bicycle in order to get round. The next morning, it seemed that the antibiotics had not kicked in yet and Matt was in as much pain as the day before, so I went on my own while he relaxed in the guesthouse.

Archaeologists have confirmed that the historical Buddha was born here in 563 BC and a huge complex of monasteries and stupas have been erected on the site by Buddhist communities from around the world. I cycled into the main park and stopped at the Maya Devi Temple where I parked my bike for a few rupees. Dotted around the Sacred Garden are ruins dating back at least 2200 years and the pond beside the temple is believed to be the where Maya Devi bathed before giving birth.



The exact site where Buddha was born is within a plain brick pavilion and is protected by glass.

Next to the temple is an inscribed sandstone pillar, left behind by the Indian emperor Ashoka in 249 BC when he visited. It wasn’t impressive to look at but it highly sacred and revered by Nepali Buddhists.


I then got back on my bike and went for a very pleasant bike ride around the park! There were many stupas and monasteries from different countries that I could have gone into but I was having too much fun on my bike to be bothered with going into them. I slowly cycled past the Eternal Flame (lit in 1986 as a symbol of peace,

and through the East and West zones of the park, seeing the outsides of most of the stupas in a couple of hours and then headed back to the guesthouse to see Matt.
After a rubbish tasting lunch we packed up and left for the noisy bug infested Sunauli on the border. The journey involved two buses and for the second journey I convinced Matt to join me for some rooftop riding on the bus! Great fun for me, but not so much for Matt who had to sit on my fleece to ease the bumpy ride.
PHOTO