Buddha bound- Part 2

The Korean Buddhist
welcoming committee

Changing the robes
on the Buddha


Kushinigar: where the Buddha died. The town is hosting a group of Koreans who have come to change robes on the reclining Buddha- a statue which lies in front of the actual remains of the Buddha encased in another building. We are allowed into the Thai ceremony and are even invited to participate. The whole thing is being video taped, and where once I would have kept my camera in it's bag, I unashamedly take it out. Peldan grabs the yellow robe and poses, nodding at me to take his picture. Mr Singh, our driver, calls Peldan, Guru-Ji, and is very fond of him, because Peldan invites him to sleep in his room each time we stop [drivers are otherwise expected to sleep in their cars, and Mr Singh- a 62 year old like me- appreciates the comfort]. The next morning, they do a comedy routine about snoring and talking in their sleep, it is very amusing.

Out on the street, there is a parade or monks carrying signs that welcome the Koreans, but also advertise and encourage peace. They are accompanied by a truck blaring Hindu music, and an elephant-ah India! I stop to take a picture of the elephant and the driver motions with his fingers that I should pay him [the universal sign for gimme]. I take out 10 rupees and the elephant extends his trunk towards me and I pull back a little frightened. A small boy helps me hand the rupees to the driver.


We go back to the hotel, pack up and head to Lumbini, which is across the border in Nepal. Mr Singh will drive us to the border at Sonauli and then we will catch a taxi after buying our visas to Nepal. Mr Singh is sad and keeps telling me: "Ah madam, last day, last day".
We leave Peldan at Gorukpur to catch a train to Bodhgaya, where he will meet up with some other monks and head back to Delhi with them. When we leave Mr Singh at Sonauli, 4 hours later, I have a little lump in my throat- he has been a quiet, peaceful joy to spend time with.

Lumbini is where the Buddha was born, and our hotel is this extremely funky building set in the forest. I try not to look at the room, because it is not well kept and I am pretty sure the sheets have not been changed since the last guest. It is cold, and we retire for the night, sick of car journeys. If I come to India/Nepal again, I am bringing a can of Ajax and a sponge for the bathrooms.

Next day, we are out early in the morning, to view the plethora of temples lying deep in the forest. There seems to be a competition between the Tibetans, Vietnamese, Burmese, Thai, Korean and Chinese over who has the biggest and most elaborate temple. It is most upsetting to see all of this going on just kilometres from a poverty stricken village, where people live in mud houses with little or no facilities. We are taken through the misty morning on rickshaws -my driver sings and has taken it upon himself to guide us through the temples. All in all it is a pleasant ride- though I am hosting some bug in my stomach and feel queasy and nauseous throughout the ride.


Entrance to
Vietnamese temple
Ceiling: Chinese temple

The whole journey culminates at the Maya Devi temple, where Buddha's mother stopped to take rest, had labour pains and gave birth. There is a building which houses the ruins of the temple and the exact spot of the Buddha birth. At this moment, my camera battery dies and I cannot even coax one picture out of it. There has not been a hotel with electrical outlets in the room for 3 nights.

We come back to our hotel and a taxi is waiting to take us to Kathmandu. After changing drivers-the first one pocketed our money- we head off with the manager of our Lumbini hotel who is bumming a ride to Kathmandu with us. Thank goodness because we reach a town within 90 k's of Kathmandu to be told the road is closed until the morning because of an accident. The traffic is lined up for 10 or more kilometres with cars, buses, trucks and motorbikes. After waiting 2 hours we decide to try and drive as far up the road as we can and see if we can walk through the closure and perhaps ring for a taxi from Kathmandu when we reach a point that can take cars. We get up to an impasse and within minutes are told that the road is open. A collective sigh runs through all the of the people waiting, as they have been there since 9 AM- it is now 5 PM. We race to our destination and arrive in Kathmandu late at night. Our hotel is gorgeous!

More from the Hippie capital of Nepal.......