{"id":1839,"date":"2026-05-31T12:32:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T11:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2026-06-05T08:31:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T07:31:46","slug":"nepal-bhutan-may-2026-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/nepal-bhutan-may-2026-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Nepal-Bhutan May 2026 #4"},"content":{"rendered":"

Post #1<\/a> | Post #2<\/a> | Post #3<\/a> | Post #4<\/a> | Post #5<\/a><\/p>\n

30-31\/5\/26<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Mountain view from the aircraft<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the weekend I have been on an excursion out of Kathmandu, to see a little more of Nepal while I am here. Having visited Namobuddha and Kopan Monasteries, Bouddhanath Stupa and the Triten Norbutse Bonpo Monastery, it seems only fitting that I take the short flight to the south west to visit Lumbini, the birth-place of Siddharta Gautama Buddha, and the ruins of Tilurakot, the palace where he lived until his 29th year.<\/p>\n

Domestic flights in Nepal are notorious for being delayed, and my 9.15am flight doesn\u2019t actually take off until 11.45am, in the end.\u00a0 <\/span>There is little in the way of information, but everyone seems sanguine about it all, and I take their cue; I am not, after all, in any hurry, and my tour operator is very attentive, in regular contact, and arranges my tour guide for Lumbini to collect me based upon my notification that I am actually on the plane!<\/p>\n

The guide\u2019s driver meets me at Bairahawa\u2019s Gautama Buddha Airport, after a wonderful short 35minute flight over the foothills of the mountains arcing over some of the many great rivers that flow down off the peaks onto the plain – with a glimpse of the Himalaya in the distance!\u00a0 <\/span>The heat down here is a good 3-5\u2019 hotter than in Kathmandu, and I am grateful to get into the air-conditioned Leapmotor EV that whisks me away from the airport.\u00a0 <\/span>As everywhere else in Nepal, these past few days, I sit in the air-conditioned EV surrounded by mopeds, overtaking huge 1970s trucks and little tuk-tuks, everywhere we go.\u00a0 <\/span>Every now and then, a BYD or Tata EV swoops by on the other side of the road.\u00a0 <\/span>Apparently the tax on a new car is over 100% – to pay for road development no doubt – which is why so many opt for a scooter, moped or motorbike.\u00a0 <\/span>Many of these are also electric.\u00a0 <\/span>China\u2019s presence here is palpable; Kathmandu from the air glitters with all the solar panels on the roofs.\u00a0 <\/span>At the end of the short drive to Lumbini Park I am met by my guide, Suroj, who will tell me about the places I am to visit here, and escort me around them.\u00a0 <\/span>Lumbini Park is an enormous and global project, overseen by UNESCO and the Nepalese Government.\u00a0 <\/span>The project began in 1972, and reached an agreed Master Plan in 1978.\u00a0 <\/span>The building of the park continues, with only some of the planned buildings complete, many still under construction, large areas as yet untouched.\u00a0 <\/span>It is far too large to see it all in one visit, but Suroj has curated a representative sample of what there is to enjoy here, and we take the car between each place. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Japanese<\/a>
Japanese Peace Pagoda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our first visit at Lumbini is to the huge Peace Pagoda built by Japan – finished in the year 2000.\u00a0 <\/span>All the signage is in Japanese, some also in Nepali, occasionally in English. It is a brilliant white, and very shiny in the 32\u2019 heat.\u00a0 <\/span>I take my wide-brimmed sun hat from my bag and place it on my head.\u00a0 <\/span>I hate it as a hat, but it is very practical and quite necessary!\u00a0 <\/span>I also apply sun-block – frequently – while we are at the park.\u00a0 <\/span>My guide tells me about the four stages of the Buddha\u2019s life – birth, meditation, enlightenment, and death – represented on the four sides of the pagoda.\u00a0 <\/span>He points out the great long vista from the Pagoda across the park to a small white building in the distance – where the spot where the Buddha was born can be seen.\u00a0 <\/span>I am glad we won\u2019t be walking there!<\/p>\n

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Thai Royal Palace<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Glad to be back in the air-conditioned Leapmotor again, even if only for 5mins, we drive to our next visit in the park: the Thai Royal Temple, built by Thailand.\u00a0 <\/span>Suroj explains that the Thais are very active in Buddhism, graduating 1000 monks a year, and collecting and distributing large sums for the relief of the poor in many countries: Buddhist Relief.\u00a0 <\/span>The royal palace reminds me of some of the Temples I visited in Bangkok, and behind it, still under construction, a new building with echoes of the architecture of the ancient temples at Ayutthaya that I visited on a day-trip from Bangkok.\u00a0 <\/span>I tell Suroj about them and he knows of Ayutthaya and agrees that yes this new building is more like those ancient temples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Thai Monastery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cambodian Naga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cambodian Monastery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After another welcome few minutes in the air-conditioned car, our third visit is to the Cambodian Monastery.\u00a0 <\/span>Here the echoes are of Angkor Wat, as far as I can tell from photos I have seen.\u00a0 <\/span>[Note to self – Bucket list must include Angkor Wat, both for its Hindu and Buddhist temples!!].\u00a0 <\/span>The Cambodians have excelled themselves here with a truly amazing building, surrounded by Naga.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Lastly – after another 5mins in the air-conditioned car – we arrive at the carpark from where we can take the walk along the great approach to the Birthplace itself.\u00a0 <\/span>There are many pilgrims – Japanese, Chinese, and Korean faces amongst the browner faces of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand\u2026.. and I realise I stand out as one of the very, very few white faces.\u00a0 <\/span>Apparently Western tourists only really come to Nepal between September and February, because of the weather.\u00a0 <\/span>I tell my guide that I was here for work, and could not choose.\u00a0 <\/span>Besides, I think to myself, it is quite nice to be here when it is relatively quiet, by comparison.\u00a0 <\/span>I have met two other UK tourists, whilst here, this week. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>The long walk includes a lovely statue of the baby Buddha, right hand raised and finger pointing to the sky.\u00a0 <\/span>It is said that he took seven steps when he was born, pointing the way, announcing that this would be his last incarnation.\u00a0 <\/span>At last we arrive at the little white building that encloses the spot where he was born.\u00a0 <\/span>We sit under one of the great bodhi trees here for Suroj to tell me the story.\u00a0 <\/span>There were two kingdoms, here in this part of what is now Nepal, back in the 7th century BCE.\u00a0 <\/span>And the King of one of the Kingdoms, and the Queen of the other, decided to marry, so that they could unite their kingdoms into one.\u00a0 <\/span>They waited long, but at last the Queen fell pregnant.\u00a0 <\/span>It was the custom for a birth to take place at the home town of the mother, so the Queen set out from the King\u2019s capital, where they lived, to her own.\u00a0 <\/span>But the King was afraid for his pregnant wife and would not let her travel on a donkey or an elephant, insisting in a litter. This proved to be slow going, and before she had got much more than half way home, she suddenly realised she had gone into labour and would give birth here, at the tiny village of Lumbini.\u00a0 <\/span>Standing under a bodhi tree, holding one of the branches, she gave birth standing up; and the buddha made 7 steps and held his hand aloft.<\/p>\n

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Birthplace of Siddharta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All around the white building are the low brick remains of temple buildings from the 2nd century CE.\u00a0 <\/span>In front of it stands the pillar erected by Emperor Ashoka in the 2nd century BCE.\u00a0 <\/span>We pass, then, through the door into the modern white building.\u00a0 <\/span>Inside no photography is allowed.\u00a0 <\/span>It is an open plan building, covering more of the 2nd century CE ruins.\u00a0 <\/span>In the centre, a wooden walkway surrounds a plinth.\u00a0 <\/span>We file slowly behind the crowds, each person taking the opportunity to briefly look over the banister of the walkway, down into the centre of the hollow plinth.\u00a0 <\/span>There – under glass – and surrounded by ancient brick walls, is the Marker Stone – a horizontal slab of stone marking the very spot where the Buddha was born.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>I bow and touch the banister with my forehead, muttering Om Mane Padme Hom. We walk around the banister where there is a second view from the other side.\u00a0 <\/span>The crowds are gradually thinning, short well dressed Indian ladies bustling with their children.\u00a0 <\/span>Suroj speaks to a guard and we are allowed past a tape barrier to sit with our backs to the wall of the building, a few feet from where a monk is quietly meditating.<\/p>\n

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Sitting beneath the Bodhi Tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/span>We sit for some 10-15minutes, silent, meditating ourselves, drinking in the calm and peace of this sacred spot, that has been venerated continuously for two and half thousand years.\u00a0 <\/span>Unfortunately – as at Pashupati – my back simply isn\u2019t up to sitting cross-legged (even with the wall behind me) for very long, and we rise, leave the modern white building, and go to sit at one of the benches around the trunk of a bodhi tree for a while, to watch the local monks filing through the white building, to come and gather under another of the trees and begin to chant together.\u00a0 <\/span>It has been a special visit.<\/p>\n

Suroj and my driver then take me back to Bariahawa to my hotel – the Landmark – where I am treated to a lovely Thali, (though I cannot say much for the wine, I\u2019m afraid \u2026 never mind!). In the morning, at 9am, I am collected once more and this time the drive is somewhat longer – a good 75mins or so – out into very rural southern Nepal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nepali poverty<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here the poverty of this poor country is much more obvious; some of the \u2018buildings\u2019 (if they can be described as such) are not even of brick, but circular and seemingly made of straw.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0Everyone I have met here has a phone – gateway to the world of today – but I guess the people living in these places may not – or perhaps a family shares one, as I have heard is not uncommon now.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ruins at Tilurakot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the drive takes us, at last, to Tilurakot – the archaeological site and associated ruins of the palace where Prince Siddhartha grew up in the luxury of a royal household, got married, had a son, but – throughout this time – was somehow never satisfied.\u00a0 <\/span>His mother had died 7 days after his birth, Suroj tells me, and indeed his wife died 7 days after the birth of their son, Rahul.\u00a0 <\/span>Always Siddharta spent time in meditation, trying to find wisdom.\u00a0 <\/span>Then, one day, he escaped from the sheltered life in the palace grounds which was all that he had known, and discovered the poverty, suffering and sadness of the real world outside the palace.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>He determined to find a solution, and began six years of searching, which would take him south, deep into India, and, at last, to Bodh Gaya, where he found Enlightenment, under a bodhi tree.After touring the ruins, we also visit the little museum here, where some of the artefacts found by archaeologists are on display, along with lots of interpretive information boards and photographs.\u00a0 <\/span>It is an excellent little museum with some fine pieces, including a very ancient stone lingam.<\/p>\n

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Ancient Stone Lingam in the Tilurakot Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Post #1 | Post #2 | Post #3 | Post #4 | Post #5 30-31\/5\/26 For the weekend I have been on an excursion out of Kathmandu, to see a little more of Nepal while I am here. Having visited Namobuddha and Kopan Monasteries, Bouddhanath Stupa and the Triten Norbutse Bonpo Monastery, it seems only … Continue reading “Nepal-Bhutan May 2026 #4”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nepalbhutan2026","category-journeyman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1897,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/1897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kreps.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}