Lumbini

After leaving Bardia to Butwal, we said good bye with Thorsten and Natascha and headed to Lumbini.

It is actually just a village in south of Nepal near Indian border, but what makes it interesting and attracts thousands and thousands of buddhists and visitors, is a fact that Siddhartha Gautama - Buddha - was born here and lived till the age of 29.

In the bus to Lumbini we met a nice Swiss guy Adrian, who had come through Tibet and now headed to India, after a quick stop in Lumbini.

We reached to Lumbini in the dark.
Adrian had information, that it is possible to sleep in pilgrimage home somewhere inside the temple area. So we started to walk though a big dark park, fallowing the path, which was sufficiently lighted by starry sky.

Finally reaching to the large monastic zone, and looking for the pilgrims home, we met a nice buddhist monk, who gave us a room. No fixed price, only donation, he said.

In the morning, Adrian left early to see the temples and hit the road again, as he had a long journey ahead. We, however took our time, after being harassed by the whole gang of mosquitos during the night.

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All buddhist places that we have been visiting so far, have a very peaceful energy. And very huge power at the same place.

Temple, built on the site, where Buddha was born

Pillar, that Indian Emperor Ashoka, dedicated to propagation of buddhism all across the Asia, erected to honor the place where Buddha was born.

The actual birth place of Buddha. A pond, where his mother took the ritual dip right before Buddha was born.

Inside a huge garden, many buddhist temples of different buddhist countries have been built next to each other.