Buddha Maya Garden - Lumbini

18.9.06 Bhairahawa Nepal There was a fuel strike this day, which meant no trucks on the road. A small road side tea-stall was our last stop in India for the time being, and we had a nice conversation with the stall holder and his wife and son. The little lad goes to the local school as do his 3 sisters. We looked at his school books and he read to us in English, he was in fourth grade. He wore his school uniform. This has also been a treat in India, how smartly the school children wear their ...

Got into LUmbini late. There was a huge landslide on the main road (only road) to Lumbini and it just cleared so we could get through. The clearing was not big enough for the trucks so they are parked for miles along the roadside. Afternoon in Lumbini we are given a local guide and a bicycle rickshaw (there are no cars in the complex). We visit the eternal flame (lit by the president of the U.N. and head of Nepal in 1986) and are shown the big plans for the future. Disney is needed here! Budd...

Day 12 - Back to Braga - 3360m/11,300ft Our arrival at the Hotel Buddha this morning, is welcomed with a warm smile and a hot pot of tea. Karma the owner is making me feel at home with ease. He gives me a choice of rooms, all of which are bright and airy with big windows. I settle for one with a great view down the Manang valley and feel better for having moved from the dark dingy room I occupied in Manang. Once settled, I take to the deserted terrace to catch up with my diary. I am soon join...

It's an early start today. We leave Varanasi before sunrise, yet it still feels like rush-hour. The constant use of car horns must keep the thousands that sleep on the side of the road awake all night! We leave the city limits and try to sleep. It is soon clear that the Indian driving style in not good for passengers to sleep. With a numb bum and whip lash injuries worth thousands of pounds at home we arrive five hours later at the Indian-Nepal border. The formalities are relatively easy, the...

August 29, 2001 Zhangmu to Kathmandu Checking out of China emigration went smoothly and we hired a taxi (20Y) for the winding trip from Zhangmu down the mountainside to Kodari in Nepal. The distance between the two towns is probably only a kilometer away as the crow flies, but it takes 8 kilometer by road. Across the river from Kodari our taxi let us out and we had to walk across the Friendship Bridge and the red line drawn across the middle of it dividing Tibet from Nepal. The line is more t...

brill