Siddhartha Gautama, the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, which soon became a place of pilgrimage. Among the pilgrims was the Indian emperor Ashoka, who erected one of his commemorative pillars there. The site is now being developed as a Buddhist pilgrimage centre, where the archaeological remains associated with the birth of the Lord Buddha form a central feature.
Lumbini is located 300 km from Kathmandu. You can reach Lumbini by car or plane. Unfortunately, the condition of the roads is so bad that it takes 9-10 hours to cover this 300 km. In 2018, we rented a car and arrived from Pokhara, and in 2024, we arrived from Kathmandu by plane. The flight was also not without its interesting facts, as we bought a flight ticket for 7 am, so that we would arrive in Lumbini before 8 am. When we arrived at the Kathmandu domestic airport, to our surprise, nothing was open. There was an information window where we asked when our flight would depart because there was no sign of it being prepared. The man said there was no such flight! But what about our ticket? Well, that will be good for the other plane too, but it will leave sometime later... so we got up at the crack of dawn, were at the airport by 6 am to be on time... then we had coffee in the nearby little cafe until there was a flight sometime after 9 am. The flight is barely half an hour, incomparably better than driving.
We also hired a driver online, fortunately everything was fine with him, he was already waiting for us at the airport. He took us straight to Lumbini Park. The main attraction is the temple of Maya Devi, the mother of Buddha. Shoes must be left in a guarded place at the entrance and we can only enter barefoot. Inside the pavilion, you can see the remains of a building made of red bricks where Maya Devi gave birth to Buddha. It is forbidden to take photos inside. Next to the pavilion, there is a Bodhi tree that they say dates back to the time of Buddha. We brought leaves from it to Hungary, we are collecting the special features for the foundation of our future stupa.
Apart from the garden of Maya Devi's temple, the park is huge, you can walk and look around in many places. In one part, there are buildings of Buddhist associations of many countries, such as embassies. Monks and Buddhists of the given country can stay and study in these buildings. Although I haven't tried it, I heard that they also welcome others.
There are restaurants, bazaars, and hotels at the entrance to the park, but the busy parts of Lumbini are far away. In 2018, we stayed at the hotel in front of the park entrance and didn't even go into Lumbini, we just enjoyed the park. In 2024, we stayed in the bustling city center, which was a completely different experience.
2024
2018
