Sunday 29 September 2019

Sept 28, 2019, Bhalubang to Lumbini, 105km, 447M up, 312M end

A quite hard day, hot, humid and into fairly strong headwinds.

Our local support guy (Raywhat) tells us that Nepal is the spoilt child of two angry divorced parents (China and India).  Both China and India compete for influence, China building roads, India provides education etc.,  

The southern part of Nepal (the flat plains) are effectively India, very similar people, customs etc.,  The majority of Nepal (hills and mountains) is more Mongolian.  The south is Hindu, the north is Buddhist, but Hinduism and Buddhism are very similar and go hand in hand, many people are both.  Hindu has a caste system (still quite strongly in effect in the countryside), Buddhism does not have a caste system.

Speaking of Caste systems, I think I understand the “rules of the road” a bit better, it is essentially a caste system, cows are at the top, buses next, then transport trucks, cars, motorcycles and pedestrians.  Cyclist are below pedestrians. 

The Nepal calendar is the Lunar calendar and Saturday is the weekly holiday.

Sept 29, 2019, Rest Day Lumbini

Lumbini is the birth place of Siddhartha Gautama (a.k.a.Buddha),  the actual birthplace (563 BC) is marked by the Maya Devi temple, named after Buddha’s mother.  Today the Maya Devi Temple is part of a huge complex (2km by 3km) of monastic Temples contributed by Buddhist communities around the world.  The area is known as the Lumbini Development Zone - a rather odd name considering the Buddhist philosophy.  As originally conceived Buddhism is not a religion but a psychological approach to liberating oneself from the suffering of the world.  There is no god in Buddhism and there is no indication that Buddha wished to be deified.  Somewhat inconsistent with the Lumbini Development Zone.

The Maya Devi temple itself is really a building that covers/protects what are remains going back 2200 years.

Something that is unfortunate is that although various countries funded the creation of the Temples, little money has been allocated for maintenance.  Too commonly I see this.

There is a serious effort for the Temple complex to be “green”, the only Tuktuk’s that are allowed are battery powered.

Tourists and pilgrims everywhere are all the same - selfie sticks were very common.  The only difference here is that all the women wear beautiful bright coloured sari’s.

Some pics of the Maya Devi:



The famous Bodhi (pipal) tree

OK, why the red and green (Port and Starboard) donation boxes?



Some pics of other temples and monasteries:   




This central canal is about 2km long, one can take a water taxi from one end to the other.

Yes, one removes shoes before entering anywhere


I love the root system on this tree - I gather fairly common in the tropics.

One ceiling shot

Note the eyes

Yes, those are two gardeners hand cutting the lawn.

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