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Published: November 20th 2009
Lumbini
World Peace PagodaWe got a night train from Varanasi to Gorakpur (north India, on our way to the boader with Nepal). The people in Varanasi train station must have know we were to be leaving India because they pulled out all the stops to give us an extra 'special' send off......late train, begging by the poorliest children we've ever seen, so much staring, drunks, people wanting photos of us, constant ''hello, where are you from?''.....we were even sketched by somone. We were warn out afterwards!
3 hour chicken bus north from Gorakpur to Sunauli, the boarder town between India and Nepal. It's like a big truck stop so we didn't linger. Got stamped out of India by the arrogant, sour faced Indian Immigration Officials and then stamped into Nepal by the smiling, welcoming Nepalese Immigration Officials......we liked Nepal already. After a snack of buff momos (buffalo) we got a couple of jam-packed local buses to the nearby town of Lumbini, about 1 hour away from the boarder.
Lumbini is a lovely, sleepy little town made famous for being the place where Buddha was born. Just outside the town there are the ruins of a monastary and a huge tree marking the
Lumbini
As the sign says.... spot. The surrounding area is filled with newly built Tibetan monastaries, as this is a main area for Buddhist pilgrimage. We hired bikes the following day to explore the temples. The dusty dirt roads made for a slightly uncomfortable ride but the scenery and temples were fab and so beautiful so we didn't mind. We visited the world peace pagoda built by Japanese buddhists and rode through a crane sanctuary!
With Dee's birthday only a few days away, we wanted to get to Pokhara so we got the 7am bus the next day.
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Brad
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Yeah Nepal!!
Wow, what a great start in your new country!! I hope you both enjoy peaceful Nepal... Lots of Love!!! -Bx