Photos of Lumbini

IT was 28C and hazy all day today, but we managed to see much of Lumbini park.  I made a huge miscalculation on how far one has to go to see all of the temples here.  We failed miserably at the end of the day in getting either a rickshaw or a minims back to town so we walked about 5km back in the dirt. There were also tons of police, army and special forces out, likely due to SAARC happening next week.  They are making a presence before all the dignitaries arrive.  The police seem to carry black sticks but the army guys have full-on AK-47 rifles.  As I walked by them I couldn't fathom what would have to happen in order for them all to need to open fire with one of those suckers?

Ezina was here a little while ago and has seen changes already-- not only is construction happening for SAARC there is also a continual building and upgrading of the existing temples. There is so much land here it's goig to take awhile to fill up.

The basic premise is that many Buddhist countries and some non-Buddhist countries (i.e. France or Germany) have built their own temple in the style of the architecture in their country.  The vast iterations of Buddha are really interesting, both for the pose or face they chose to put on him, but also the materials from which he is made.  Generally it would be gold but we saw one really large copper Buddha in a stark white, marble circular hall with heavy black pillars all around and a copper lotus on the ceiling.  It was a really interesting and calming place to walk into.  

The others used colours or just placement (such as many paintings, or mini statues or statues in the water what have you) or lots of gold gilding to represent Buddha.  There were throngs of Indian and Nepali school children moving en masse to and fro.  Many said hello to us, or where are you from, a few asked for our pictures which is still weird to me.  I was joking with Ezina that everyone thinks she's Canadian now because they all try and speak to her in English when we're together.

Overall it was a really fascinating place to visit and I am thankful Ezina took us down here because I probably wouldn't have made it here on my own.

At the risk of sounding like a wimp or a broken record, this picture captures a little of how far one has to
walk to get around this place.

If I look like a sweaty mess its because I was one.

The ever lovely Ezina.