I have breakfast in this huge empty hotel, its a bit reminiscent of the film ‘Harem’, (not the plot of course, well I can live in hope!) I can’t be the only guest!
Druga collects me and we go to visit Lumbini, the birth place of Buddha.
What a place, opulence gone mad! Many countries have erected temples here. One wonders what Buddha would have made of all this! I cannot pretend to know much about Buddism but, I think it follows the same principles for living as many other religions do. However there have been many Buddhas (enlightened ones) as buddism follows the beleif that we are born, we suffer, we die, only to start again having been reincarnated.
A Buddha is a person who has reached Nirvana through meditation and so out of this endless cycle. The original man who became Buddha ( an enlightened one) was a Royal, Siddhartha Gautama who was sheltered from the real world until he was an adult. (This is about 2500 years ago). When he was allowed to go outside he saw the death and suffering of the ordinary people, he was shocked by this and most likely suffered a breakdown. Troubled he renounced his heritage, son and wife and became a wandering ascetic and religious teacher. There are many stories or fables attached to Buddha, its difficult to imagine they all happened to the same person.
Anyway back to Lumbini, the temples and Stupas are astounding. Durga is Hindu but, there is such a cross over between Hinduism and Buddism. At any rate it is awe inspiring whatever you do or don’t believe.
We wandered back and forth between the temples and finally made it to Siddhartha Gautama’s birth place but there was such queue we didnt go in. I am not a devotee so I felt OK with this.
I was also a bit worried about losing my shoes, we took them off that many times! There were piles of shoes outside each temple, perhaps I could have chosen a nicer pair for myself, didn’t think of that!
Next from Buddha to Bees…..
The Travelling Bee 
Durga looks very nice. I feel much better about you being there now! He has very kind eyes ! The White temple and the temples in general are stunning. The waterway looking back to gives it a fabulous look. All the building are fabulous , if only we could keep our Stately homes in good repair for future generations instead of letting them fall into disrepair ! It’s such a shame when you see these buildings and then look at our country in what is supposed to one of the richest in the world! Shame on us.
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Hi Linda, unfortunately not all the temples I’ve seen are in such good shape, this place is a sort of show case I think!
There are literally thousands of holy sites everywhere, many of them crumbling to dust. I’ve even seen some that look like they are curb stones on the side of the road, not reused but built around!
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Oh what a shame as the ones you are showcasing are stunning. Sending you via email a couple of frost ridden tress from today! You could share and send some sun here. Seriously with the energy costs we need summer now😂 but hey ho I guess with extra blankets and shawls we’ll survive 😂. My friend also called Debbie her electricity company wanted her to go to a smart meter as they said her old meter wasn’t working! Lol that’s because she hardly ever has it on , she doesn’t feel the cold 🥶xxxx love Linda xx
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