Lumbini-buddha and bike rides!

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So would you believe I actually had a good sleep?! I only had to call Molly Brown once for snoring as I was dozing off, but other than that I was undisturbed, and felt good for it. I met everyone for breakfast at 0715 and it seemed everyone's spirits had lifted and a good nights sleep had done everyone the world of good. I had porridge and honey for breakfast which was lovely, and just a nice change from eating something fatty and oily.



It was a shame we only had one night at the hotel, especially given that it was so nice and had a swimming pool. They were cleaning it in the morning though so weren't able to use it then either. Never mind, we were venturing to somewhere even more relaxing: Lumbini.



This is home to the birthplace of the Buddhism founder Gautama Buddha, and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Raghu told us about the history of Lumbini which used to actually be a part of India at the time and how buddha became to be. He was a boy who led a pampered and sheltered life, and knew nothing of death and human suffering until a young adult. This troubled him so much that he left his riches and wandered to the river Ganges (bawk) until one day he came to understand the human problem. It is a story of enlightenment, and how he devoted his life to teaching others how to experience the same freedom of mind. He summed up his teachings as 'awareness' of being alert and in touch with what is happening. Literally translated, buddha means 'the awakened one'



We'll knock me down with a feather-was he talking about me? I'd been awake for a bloody week and a half by this point, you can't get more awakened than that! I'd had no idea about the extent of human suffering and death until I saw it on such a raw scale in India and had myself wandered the Ganges thinking of ways to extricate myself from the despair of Molly Browns snoring. I wasn't ready to get down the admin office yet and change my religion though, but I do find the teachings of it quite interesting, and think there are some good messages in there if you choose to look. I'd been reading a book called 'Buddhism plain and simple' by Steve Hagen. I'd downloaded it when I'd got back from Thailand as it was one that had been in the hotel bedside draw (the Thai equivalent of our Gideons bible I suppose) I'd read bits here and there over the years but thought I'd get back into it seeing as we were visiting this place. To quote "Buddha is not someone you pray to, or try to get something from. Nor is a buddha someone you bow down to. A buddha is simply a person who is awake-nothing more, nothing less." Well that sealed it then. I am buddha.



No, joking aside, I have known people who say they are Buddhists and follow the Buddhism faith and way of life. At the time I felt they were kind of dishonest and more like they'd jumped on the bandwagon as Buddhism seems like the 'trendy' thing to do. The more I learned about the Buddhism way of life, the more this reinforced my opinion. I wasn't judging, people can do and say what they want, although just as you can't put tinsel on a dog turd and call it chocolate, similarly I don't think you can light the incense, say 'OM' and call yourself a Buddhist. I think there are some really great lessons and I do intend to read my simple Buddhism book to learn more, and maybe apply some of that thinking to my life (I need to learn a bit more positivity sometimes) but anyway, after reading a bit of this book, I was familiar with some of the teachings that Raghu was telling us about. It did reinforce things though, such as life is always a struggle, and change is constant. Maybe I do need to learn to just go with the flow.....



So this place isn't a temple as such, more just ruins of where buddha was born. You couldn't actually take photos once inside, but considering they were ruins were in quite good condition. The outside was nice, 3 women were walking around a tree chanting (which got a bit repetitive after a while) but otherwise it was quite a peaceful place with candles and prayer flags joining from tree to tree. I walked away from the main part and across the path high lead to a huge buddha statue a gift from Thailand and behind that a big water feature. It was nice and sunny and just quiet and I stood and appreciated a couple of minutes to myself before heading back to the bus.

On the main path I caught up with Chris who was taking pictures of the monkeys, they were so cute. Then one turned and hissed at me and I moved faster than Usain Bolt. What do you do if one attacks you? I asked Chris. His only answer was to get a rabies shot. I actually meant if one wrapped itself around your head, not the aftermath, but I thought I'd stay away from them in future!



Back on the bus, I tried to catch up with the blog between stopping for Lunch at a little roadside cafe. We had two options, vegetable noodle soup or the traditional Nepalese meal Of Dal Bhat which is boiled rice and lentils. I plumped for the noodles and I was so glad I did as it was lovely. I decided not to have chicken with it, as on the way in I'd walked past several strung up and skinned with just their hearts remaining intact. They didn't look to appetising!



I'd decided that as I had to share a room with Molly Brown, I wanted to share as little of the day with her in order for me not to go mad, but it seemed everywhere I sat she would sit either next to me or opposite. I didn't want to be rude, but her voice was starting to grate on me now, and it was the same stories about Canadian winters or something equally as boring. I sloped off for a wander around the place and when the food came sat at another table. It was a nice change as I chatted with Mr & Mrs Wong who were quite quiet people and kept themselves to themselves. They were both nurses, originally from Hong Kong but had moved to Canada after the transfer of sovereignty in 1997 stating they 'didn't trust the Chinese' Mrs Wong hadn't liked India as it was 'filthy' and seemed happier to be in Nepal.

Also sat with us were Lesley and Keiran who were trying the same tactic as me but in avoiding Sue who to be fair is a bit loud, and has two topics of conversation, namely her mother or Thailand. I wish she'd shut up about bloody Thailand! They kept saying, which made me laugh as to me it sounded like 'bladdy toy learned' in their Aussie accents. I suggested playing ' Toy learned' bingo whereby the first person to hear her mention it 6 times is the winner, although Sod's law now you say that she is unlikely to mention it again. Either way, you either make light of it, or problem solved, and she stops talking about it. They laughed at my suggestion, and I wish I could apply the same to me and Molly Brown.



A bit longer on the bus, and we finally arrived at the Baruili community home stay. I had been looking forward to this as I enjoy learning about the communities when travelling and being able to visit and contribute to their programmes.

This was another project that was being supported by Gadventures, and was built with the objective of uplifting the culture of the Tharu community through lifestyle and hospitality. All the profits were distributed equally amongst the community with the aim being empowerment of the local women by providing work whilst assisting education programmes for local children.



We were greeted by the villagers who embraced us and gave us juice, flowers and pasted red dyed rice onto our foreheads. There was one main house where food and drink was served, and dotted all around were little bungalows containing a bedroom and bathroom. All of the bungalows were named after the girls in the village, and ours was called Mina.



Of my previous experience of community home stays, we'd all stayed in 1 large bunkhouse so this was a welcome change, although my heart did sink that I'd be sharing again with Molly. The bungalow was lovely though, so simple but beautiful. It even had a double bed which I was glad I ended up with after Molly started unpacking her stuff on the single. It was a lovely Villiage with the chickens and cows everywhere, and baby goats right outside our room. It was great to be away from the buzz of the city, and as I breathed in the fresh air, and reflected on the peaceful day so far, resigned to maintain this chill out feeling as long as possible.



The evening was either a walk or bike ride to the river for sunset. Shakira, Keiran and me were the only 3 takers for the bikes, with everyone else opting to walk 'to get better photographs' but really snubbing any hint of exercise. I knew where they were coming from but after the monstrous curries and naan bread consumption until now, I was looking forward to just moving!



The bikes were quite new and in good condition, although non had gears so I hoped we didn't have too many hills. All the children waved as we rode by, and right there on the bike, breezing by the rice fields, past families making fires to eat by through the nepalese countryside, I felt so happy and carefree in my tranquil surroundings.



We reached the river before the walkers so sat and chatted watching the children splashing in and out. There were no adults in sight, and they can't of been more than 8 years old. It's amazing how resilient and adaptable children are-so quick to learn. I thought of those kids back at the Ganges who jumped from boat to boat, and how if that were our children at home, they'd be pulled back, finger wagged and given the chat about falling in. I do see why- there are so many dangers in the world, yet I couldn't help but admire the independence and certain amount of freedom this lifestyle also affords to their childhood, that maybe children in the west would never experience.



Before long the walking group joined us and along with them came the girls from the village with Masala Chai (Reuben tea). It was a lovely half an hour or so, sitting by the river, sipping lovely tea, watching a beautiful sunset and breathing in the fresh air. We biked back to the village and thanked our hosts, before we were invited to a dinner made and served by the girls. Again Molly Brown came and sat by me, and I wasn't really in a position to move without it being obvious so I just tried to engage in conversation with those to the left of me. Molly it seemed had been a bit ambitious with her drinks order and couldn't stop showing everyone the measure of gin she'd had for $3 (it was quite large) oh great I thought-drunken snoring tonight as opposed to the normal racket....



I wasn't too keen on the food here, for starters we had radish leaf soup (yes it was as tasty as it sounds....) followed by the traditional dish of Dal Bhat. Unfortunately it was traditionally nepalese which meant the curry contained a lot of bones, it just seems like they grind the chicken down and stick it all in, I wasn't a fan, but the lentil part and rice was nice so I filled up on that before heading outside to watch a traditional dance by the younger Village boys and girls. They were really good, and very skilled smashing their sticks agains each other whilst twirling around-reminded me of my majorette days!



The evening ended with a nice cup of tea by the outdoor fire. It really had been such a lovely relaxing day, and I headed off to bed at around 2130 with the hope of a good nights sleep. When I reached the bungalow, all the lights had been left on by the gin monster- even the bathroom one (great drills Molly in the only malaria zone throughout the entire trip) her camera battery was plugged in to charge by the bed emitting a neon blue light giving Blackpool a run for its money. She'd spent the day telling everyone she had gone through 3 camera batteries in only one day, I wasn't forfeiting my night for her happy snapping so I moved the battery and plugged it in by the end of her bed on the floor to reduce the light. Perfect!



After brushing my teeth I got into the big lovely double bed which reminded me of Jans van in Brecon. It had a massive duvet and a lovely fleece blanket. I tucked right in and despite thrashing around like a captured dolphin, eventually managed to get to grips with the mozzie net and got comfy. I laid there reflecting on the day, which Taj Mahal aside, I think had been my favourite so far. I loved seeing the goats, sheep and chickens outside, I loved the space and freedom on the bike, and the fresh air, it reminded me of the feeling I used to get when I was younger when my mum would let me play out a little bit longer cause the nights were getting lighter, and you squeezed every last bit of the evening before the sun went down and the streetlights came on. I thought of the Buddhist birthplace in Lumbini and the teachings of having compassion for all beings.

Maybe I could be a bit more patient with Molly Brown. I know that I'm not a very patient person, and maybe sometimes could compromise a bit more. Yes her snoring, loud voice, constant chatting to herself was definitely grating on me, but maybe I should look at some of the lessons of today, and learn from them. I told myself to see the good in the situation, and see that it might not be a bad thing for me to learn a bit more patience with people. I put this thinking into practice almost immediately when she came in the room bustling about, chatting to herself. I told her I'd moved her camera charger to the end of the bed to reduce the light, which she checked and swapped another battery over-at least it wasn't by my head anymore. I only had to call over to Molly once that she was snoring. I could feel myself quickly drifting off to sleep.

I felt lighter. My bag certainly was as I'd given out a load of toothbrushes to the community project that I'd been carrying around until now. Some people bring pens and paper and footballs etc, but we'd had a big box of toothbrushes in work which I thought might be a nice thing to bring-finally it freed up more room in my bag for more souvineers (sorry Daryl) ah yes, Daryl. As I'd mentioned in an earlier blog, I'd been quite happy to visit India by myself (or should I say, without direct company) especially seeing as it wasn't a place Daryl had ever wanted to visit. I felt different today though, it had been so lovely, and so different from the chaos of India. Daryl would of really liked today I thought, if for no other reason than to see that I was on a bike doing some form of exercise! Wish you were here. Xx

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Photos

Nice clean bathroom
Mam this ones for you!,

Comments

[Dolly]

Under skin
Your mother getting under your skin had had me laughing for ages. Molly brown would have been dollied day 2! U were v patient I think. Bet it's nice to be back. Still raining here!! X x