31.3.2008

Back from Lumbini

Its funny how anxious I was getting about travelling to Lumbini and back. And as much as it wasnt great fun at times, hot, sticky roads and challenges I amback in Varanasi, clean and relaxed.

Lumbini was an absolute ghost town. Most people go there for day trip and the ones who do stay the night tend to disappear as soon as they have seen the sights. The town itself is very relaxed and quiet, as Nepali people dont tend to hassle the tourists anyway. But the fact that there are regular power cuts, no proper internet and the 3 restaurants that close by 8.30pm makes the place less and less atractive to hang out.

As I had arrived late in the afternoon my first reaction was "oh s*** I should have gone to Kathmandu with the others" but I have learned about myself well now, I dislike things very quickly and have quick judgements. Once I spent a night (I killed 7 mosquitos!) and had the most unhealthy breakfast (they dont have much choice in this town, not even fresh orange juice) I headed for teh sites of Lumbini.

It was a huge groudn spread over 2.5km with best way to get around on a bicycle or a cyclo. The birth place of buddha was more of an archeological site absolutely covered in prayer flags, smeared gold paint over. There was a huge recognition not only of the buddha but his mother Mahadevi (the great mother). It was weird to comprehend how popular a birthplace of someone holy can be, afterall buddha was a simple enlightened person, he wasnt chosen in anyway, he found his own enlightenment by meditation. I had afunny image of me, if I was to be a famous being for whatever reason, if my hometown in Turkey would be just as famous.

Nevertheless it has become a pilgrimage for all the buddhist to travel there and pay theri respects. Teh grounds were full of monastories, educating not only their own nationality monks but the nepalis as well. There were monks of all ages wondering around. The monasteries of Germany, Japan, Thailand were pretty impressive. They all had temples inside with big buddha statues,prayer wheels and so on.

I walked aroudn pretty leisurely, sat on the meditation platforms by the great tree in the courtyard, watching people do their rituals. The man sitting by the tree was counting money at one point and I thought "oh here we go again, religion making money" but it turned out he was selling candles, incents and flower pettals to people who wished to give it to the tree. So no hard sale was going on as we had witnessed it during our travels.

When I finished my day and was walking back to teh hotel around 5pm I bumped intoa westerner with his backpack on and being dragged by a hotel owner. He must have just arrived in town and looked disorientated as we always do. He asked me where I was staying so brought him to my hotel, where he decided to stay anyway.

We went for dinner later, his name was Keith, from Manchester. We got on very well. He had just done his trek, was on his way to India to the Sivananda ashram for yoga. We had a long chat over dinner and then later at our hotel. It always surprises me how we cross paths and meet like minded people, its a gift of life I think. No planning can be done about it. In act right now as I write my blog I met a guy from sweeden sitting next to me who is stduying in varanasi. We exchanged emails as I would like to know more about living here and studying here, from his perspective. He seems pretty chilled and I love the fact that instead of tehhead shake I have adopted he replies in "acha" (ok in hindi) to me. We cant help but become a little indian here!

On my journey back from Lumbini I traveled with some great Canadian girls, Jessica and Sarah who are cousins and travelling around for 3 months. It sure made the journey easier and fun, especially with the freak Brit we made who smoked 4 joints on the bus and seem to be completely out of it. He spilled fizzy drinkon me as he couldnt balance himslef and was very aggresive with the locals. We wanted to make sure that he had nothing to do with us so as soon as we arrived in varanasi we escaped from him.

So now I spend the day relaxing, writing postcards. Meeting up with jessica and sarah for dinner and river boat later to wastch the ganges one last time in th evening. In the smells of ganga, with all its livelihood, rituals, craziness there still remains peace and great energy...But I wouldnt take a bath in it!