After returning from the Himalayas, we found that we had a few extra days during our stay in Nepal. The incredible company that was helping organize our travel quickly put together a trip to Lumbini, a Buddhist pilgrimage site and, according to Buddhist tradition, birthplace of the Buddha.
Very important snacks for the trip. Originally we had it in our minds that we would drive both to and from Lumbini. Kieran strongly suggested we drive there and fly back, and he was absolutely right.
These trucks were everywhere. Colorful in appearance but purely a work truck underneath.
The drive, although only around 180 miles, took us twelve hours. The roads are mountainous, windy, rocky, and slowly being developed into a more modern highway.
A typical town that we drove through.
A dangerous mixture of cars, trucks, motorbikes, pedestrians and livestock made for an interesting experience.
We arrived late at night to our hotel. The following morning, a pair of tuk tuks showed up to drive us around.
Nepali countryside.
At the heart of Lumbini is the holy site of the Buddha’s birthplace and other sacred spots. Surrounding the area is a complex of temples funded by Buddhist organizations from around the world. Most of them were closed or under construction during our visit. This is the Chinese temple.
Entering the main part of the Lumbini complex. Hazy, cloudy skies gave it a somber atmosphere.
Little Buddha statue.
Lots of rules.
The Puskarini, or Holy Pond, where the Buddha’s mother bathed before his birth, and the site of his first bath. Currently home to some nice big turtles.
The Pillar of Ashoka.
The Maya Devi Temple.
The journey of the Buddha’s life is closely associated with the Bodhi Tree.
Monks everywhere.
We thought we had seen a lot of prayer flags up in the mountains. Nothing we had seen compared to this!
So colorful and peaceful. The crowds were congregated in another spot so we had this one all to ourselves.
This is where it got really interesting. We had experienced this in rural Vietnam and to a small degree in China. We were noticing people secretly taking pictures of me. Some were very sly, some tried but were pretty obvious. But when it was a larger group of young men, they had the courage to send their best English speaker to ask for a group photo. Then it turned into a long photo session taking pictures with each of them individually. Being far outside the big city and a destination for more local travelers, a lot of these people haven’t seen many westerners. To them, I was as much of an attraction as the site itself. It was fun and hopefully made a lot of people happy to have had an experience with a type of person they don’t often encounter. If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, I highly recommend going to a place like this. Also, of note, women in Vietnam were much bolder taking pictures of westerners, while in Nepal, the men were the braver ones.
So many nice paths to walk.
After visiting the main temple, we wandered around to visit the international temples.
We couldn’t take pictures inside.
A dog happily guarding the entrance.
The Vietnamese temple. Closed during Covid.
For some reason the German temple was one of the nicest.
The second lizard I saw in Nepal.
The complex is huge, so we got in the tuk tuks and drove to visit the final temple.
The Japanese temple was gigantic.
After having a temple-filled day, we headed to the nearby airport to fly back to Kathmandu. We were very happy we didn’t have to make that twelve hour ride again!
A nice view of the Himalayas as we flew into Kathmandu.
We spent one more day exploring Kathmandu, where we picked up some nak cheese. One thing we learned is that female yaks are actually called naks. Despite this, everyone still calls it yak cheese for some reason. More on that in our upcoming yak video.