Day 1
We cross the border from Tibet into Nepal and the contrast is immediate. From technology and electronic systems and structure, order to chaos, manual, paper systems. Nepal is clearly poorer than India but the road from the Tibet border to Kathmandu is the worst road I’ve ever been on. An American tourist, now friend, in the same car as me has ridden Death Road in Bolivia on a mountain bike - he said this was worse!
Kathmandu is an assault on your senses - loud, different smells, and colourful - not all pretty. The journey from the border to Kathmandu takes about 6hrs - this is good for the dry season. Who knows how long it would take in the wet season.
Madan, my tour operator, meets me at the Hotel Lo Mustang for a briefing and we go to dinner at his local restaurant for a Nepali dhal bat - basically a thali. But instead of rice and a few curries, we get ground millet. It has no real flavour but they put hot ghee on it and that helps you break it up a little - the mutton curry is delicious!
Day 2
A visit to the Swoyambhu Mahachaitya where I take a lovely portrait of a lonely man (below) - one of my favourites on this trip. It’s not perfect but directing him with the language barrier didn’t seem easy. Heading to the airport for the flight to Lumbini, birthplace of the Buddha.
The flight is quick - 25min - and my driver takes me to my accommodation: Buddha Maya Gardens. There’s a lovely woman at the steps waiting for a taxi and I quickly ask for some advice about Lumbini before she heads off. She’s there with her father post-Annapurna trekking and made a short stop at Lumbini, also to visit the birthplace of Buddha.
Day 3
Queen Maya is Buddha’s mother - the Maya Devi Temple is the birthplace of the Buddha. I’m not very religious - in fact, I loathe religion for its segregation of society. My visit isn’t intended as a pilgrimage - I happen to be in Nepal and I figure I may as well visit this iconic location as Buddhist philosophy has played an important role in my life. My excitement to visit the Maya Devi Temple is quickly quashed by the noise and behaviour of people visiting the site. Despite signs (pictures and words) insisting on silence, there is little. ‘Security guards’ don’t do much to quieten attendees and what should be a place of peace, solitude, and spirituality is drowned out by loud, obnoxious Nepalese and tourists. Making things worse, monks use small microphone and speakers to loudly say prayers in different languages for their groups. This is arguably the most sacred of sites in Buddhism and there’s no respect for it at all - from locals, tour groups, and even monks. This is not the experience I’d hoped for. The temple itself is beautiful - it’s sparse, minimalist, without embellishment - I think Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha’s name before enlightenment) would have liked it.
Back at the hotel, Clara (the Spanish woman) tells me the temple is open from 5am so, I make a note to go at 6:30am tomorrow morning - beat the crowds and hopefully have a different kind of experience.
Walking the streets of Lumbini is an experience - some interesting things to see how new electricity/telecommunications cables are installed and a drunk uncle having an afternoon nap after too many beers.
Day 4
An early start at 6:30am and there is calm and quiet at the Maya Devi Temple - it’s far more peaceful and beautiful. I walk all the way from the temple to the World Peace Pagoda and make some stops at various sites that are donations from other countries like Vietnam, Thailand etc. These sites are beautifully presented - enhanced by listening to Sam Harris’ walking meditation podcasts. On the way to the Peace Pagoda, a beautiful Labrador comes to say hello - she joins me for what seems about 1-2hrs.
When at the Pagoda, she’s not allowed in - I figured she might have walked off. Instead, I find her waiting at the steps for me and she licks my foot when I return. Argh… I love dogs (and animals).
I feed her some crackers and she doesn’t want water. Saying bye is tough - she’s so cute!
By 10am I’ve done 16,000 steps and hit my kilojoule target for the day - a good morning.
Day 5
Heading to Pokhara this morning which I’ve heard is a beautiful scenic place.