Arrival In Lumbini (November 22-23)

We took a cab to Lumbini, which took longer then our flight from Abu-Dhabi to Nepal. The views were spectacular, coming out of the Kathmandu valley we went up hills that would be considered mountains back in New Jersey. The Himalayas loomed above to the north, a reminder of what a mountain really was. When we got out of the smog of Kathmandu, the intense blueness of the sky became visible. At a roadside restaurant just before we reached the river, a bearded Nepali cook taught us to say “good” (Raamro) and delicious (Meeto.)

The river road was about as wide as a local street in America, with cars going both ways. It was nerve racking, though every driver seemed to be very aware of their surroundings. One side was, nothing but steep green hills, the other, a 100 foot drop to a lazy river. Small villages dotted the road, covered in signs for “Tuborg” a local beer that apparently pays to advertise on rural buildings. Terraced farms and housed dotted the hills on the opposite side of the river, connected by thin bridges to the other shore.

After a whole day in transit, we arrived in Lumbini. Dr. Santschi (who had taken a plane) set us up at The Paradise Hotel, right down the road from the peace grove nunnery and the Karuna Girls college. The beds were hard, and the WIFI was spotty, but the room had an attached bathroom and warm water. That was enough for us, tired as we were.

We slept in the next morning, and went to the girls’ college around noon to see our future employer. We saw the computer lab, the nunnery, and had a chance to briefly meet the headmaster, Dr. Shankar. We were joined by Trevor, a donor we had met briefly in Kathmandu, and his family, as well as a horse named Harry. Harry had been rescued from a brick factory by the Metta foundation and lived in a shack behind the school and the nunnery. He likes to eat hay and nip people. We got acquainted with him, and with the computer room where we were based. Trevor, who had donated many of the machines, made us promise we would get them working.

“I don’t want to have spent all this money on these machines and have them sit around. Look, some of those aren’t even plugged in.”

I assured him I would make sure that his donation was not wasted. We went up to the roof and watched the activity of the early afternoon begin to take place in the fields around the school. Farmers pulled carts along thin paths between plots of mustard, a local woman came down the road, looking to meet with The Venerable Metteyya. I had never really been exposed to rural life in any capacity before, certainly not in America. Lumbini was barely a town, two streets with shops and hotels, mostly for tourists. Everything else was fields and farms and the world heritage site.

We visited the birthplace of the Buddha around 4, Schuyler and I, Dr. Santschi, the Venerable Metteyya, and Trevor’s group. We sat on the grass near the Maya Devi temple and talked. Metteyya gave a detailed history of the site and the buddha and talked about how widespread celibacy could solve a lot of the worlds problems. Trevor kept trying to get him to read Dan Brown’s latest novel. “It’s about where we come from and where we’re going. You’d love it!”

We broke the circle, and wandered. The smell of incense came from a shrine near the great big Bodhi tree near the back of the site. Inside the temple, Buddhist monks from other countries came and pressed thin sheets of gold against the rocks. There was a big pillar out side, put there 2 millennia ago by the emperor Ashoka, to mark the Buddhas birthplace. It was amazing to stand next to something that old.