Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE
Thought I would start a new post so I could wish you all a happy new year. We had a pig on the spit and other delicacies as part of a buffet for dinner, there were traditional Nepalese dances performed and the food and cultural festival raged on next door as well. So it was all go in chitwan for new year.
New years day saw us leaving the Chitwan and heading for Lumbini. So I was able to start the year with some spiritual nourishment. We were all pretty spiritual during the drive there as we prayed for safety during some of the hairier moments on the road.
Buddha has definately inspired many temples and monuments. we visited the tree where he was born, and the site of the pool where his mother washed. squirrels and holy men inhabit the tree area and there are monastries erected on being erected by budhists from all around the world in the area surrounding. So I said a few prayers with the prayer wheels which I have become rather taken with.
The hotel we stayed in was rather grand looking but it only had intermittent electricity and no hot water and although there were TVs in the rooms they were only for show. But hey there were real toilets and running water so no complaints.
I am perfecting my squat while holding a torch and wipes and not touching anything vaguely suspicious. Some of the toilets make you actually think fondly of a long drop back home.
I shall start a new post for my first impressions of India.