Amazing Lumbini and Chitwan

Visit to one of the most beautiful peaceful places in the world, "Lumbini" indeed,  is the marvelous experience ever. It is  is the Birthplace of Lord Gautam Buddha and thus considered as one of the most important pilgrimage centres for Buddhists all over the world. Within this peaceful environment, many temples and monasteries have been built from different countries and in different architectural styles thereby making this place a peaceful atmosphere for transcendental meditation.

Lumbini lies in the South-Western Terai of Nepal where it evokes a kind of holy sentiment to the millions of Buddhists all over the world-as does Jerusalem to Christians and Mecca to Muslims. Sanskrit for “the lovely”, Lumbini has a fascinating history as the birthplace of Lord Buddha - the apostle of peace and the light of Asia. Queen Maya Devi, in the year 642 B.C., gave birth to the Buddha on her way to her parent’s home, when  she was resting under a sal tree.In Buddha’s time Lumbini was described as “a beautiful garden”, and today it still retains its legendary charm and beauty. A mere 12 miles north of Lumbini lies the dense and picturesque sal-grove. The garden of the Buddha’s birth was lost for a thousand years until the site was rediscovered in 1895 when a German archaeologist came upon Ashoka’s Pillar. The Ashok pillar had been built by an Indian Emperor named Ashoka during his visit to Lumbini, along with four stupas.

We started the tour by taking a bus from Kathmandu. The tourist bus leaves every morning straight to Lumbini. Or one can take a bus from New Bus Park to Bhairahawa, from where one needs to take another bus to Buddha Chowk and from there another bus to the Lumbini. It took a day to reach Lumbini from Kathmandu by bus. We spent a night there in the  Lumbini Village Lodge which had a  a cool central courtyard shaded by a mango tree.

Next day, we hired a bike and went inside the holy premise to visit all the temples and monasteries there. The most important place not to be missed is the Mayadevi temple. It took a whole day to visit all the places there. We spent another night there and left to Chitwan earlier next morning.

  

Next morning, a local bus took us up to Bhairahawa, from where we took another bus to Sauraha Chowk and then another bus to the Sauraha. The purpose was to visit the Chitwan National Park  which is a huge nature reserve, covering sal forest, water marshes and grassland. One can have the chance to spot plenty of wildlife there including endangered species like the one-horned rhino, Bengal tiger, sloth bears, leopard, Gangetic dolphin and the gharial crocodile. It is also  a perfect place for bird watching and spotting a variety of colourful butterflies.

One can also go on walking or jeep safaris or elephant safaris to explore the jungle. From a slightly different angle one can spot wildlife from canoe ride on Rapti River as well. We chose elephant safari and explored the community forest only because the private elephants from the hotels and guest houses are allowed to enter into only community forest. However if one wants to explore the deeper part of the forest, then  the government or the military elephants should be taken and which obviously requires one to have a good contact with the top level personnel there :).

And in the villages around Chitwan national park one can observe the traditional Tharu lifestyle and culture and have the chance to see cultural shows including their famous stick dances and singing.
After visiting the Chitwan National Park we headed to Bhairahawa and then straight back to Kathmandu.