Kailasa Yatrai 6

Lumbini
Stayed at Jomsom for the night on 19 May 2011.  Next morning, flew the auto rickshaw plane and reached Pokhara. Initial plan was to drive to Lumbini straight. Strike had been announced as a result of constitutional crisis in Nepal. So, spent time boating on the Phewa lake. Started our drive at 7pm and reached Lumbini about 1am. 


Visited Lumbini on 20 May 2011. The place is UNESCO World Heritage Monument. Exact place where Buddha was born is marked by a stone sculpture. The closed box type building is surrounded by 2000 year old ruins, a pond, a banyan tree for Buddha Bikshus to teach Dhamma and an Ashokan pillar marking Ashoka's donations. This building is the centre of a huge campus. Buddha sangams from many countries have built Buddhist temples around the campus. Recommend you to take a cycle rickshaw to commute. The German temple and Chinese temple are the most impressive. Many more are under construction.


Left the place around noon to drive to Kathmandu via Chitwan National Park. We imagined great things about the Elephant Breeding Centre, Jungle Safari on Elephant or by Jeep, single horned rhinos etc. Nothing much to write home about this one.


Reached Kathmandu by 9pm. Next day, we would be starting our Kailasa Yatrai.