Touring Lumbini and ride to Srijana Farm. - Day 9
It was little differnt today with an early start to tour some temples in Lumbini. This is known as the birthplace of Buddha. Buddha was a prince who renounced his royalty in search of enlightenment. After leading a life of begging, asceticism and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The location of the birthplace is housed in a magnificent building but unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside. The area outside also shows the ruins on his former palace. This is to Buddhists what Mecca is to Muslims. Buddhists from all over the world come here to pray and find their own path to enlightenment. The prayer flags were everywhere and standing in amongst them I felt a sense of calm come over me.
Walking around this area, before the crowds, there is a feeling of calm, peace and serenity. Buddhist monks from all nationalities were here and some gave us blessings when we made a small donation to them. After we left the main temple area we went to several other temples by tuk tuk. The suspension was a bit too much for Peter who is recovering from a broken tail bone so we had to stop and swap seats.
Each temple seemed to be a little different but all have the same basic layout. The paintings and artefacts on the temples were amazing to say the least. After we had visited a couple more temples we took the tuk tuk to the end of the canal where we caught a long tail boat back to the main temple area. From there we returned to the hotel where we packed ready for the next ride and for lunch.
The ride out from Lumbini was pretty uneventful for the first 5 minutes. The traffic flowed fairly well except for the one or two kamikazi scooter riders. The towns seemed to blend in to each other so before we knew it we were back at Butwal. Once again the unwanted bulls were laying on the road or just standing there, probably wondering why no one wants them. They really looked so sad and to see a young calf there with remnants of the umbilical attached is so upsetting.
We came across our first traffic lights here. We actually missed the first one until we passed it but we actually stopped at the next two. Eventually we started to climb into the hills and then traffic ground to a halt again. The roadworks we were hoping to avoid was still banked up so some tricky lane filtering was needed to get us through the multitude of trucks, cars and bikes. We would move for about 100 m and then stop again. The combination of diesel fumes, very fine powdery dust, and car exhausts made breathing difficult at times. Our faces were black and white from the dust and exhausts. This went on for over an hour and soon the traffic was starting to thin out. We had a few near misses with the overtaking but everyone got through unscathed.
We stopped for fuel and a well earned rest about 20 km from our nights accommodation and shook the excess dust from our bodies. It was only here that we realised how bad it really was when we could see the results on our faces and boots. The next 20 km will be up a windy hillside road and through some small villages. The corners seemed endless and before long we arrived at Srijana farm, our stay for the night. This is an organic farm and the view from the room is priceless. Hopefully the smog will clear overnight and we can get a clearer view.
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