Namo Buddha trip

Posted on Sep 18, 2013 by NepalTravel under Tour

Tags: Namo,Buddha,Trip

Where is Namo Buddha?
Namo Buddha, a beautiful place is located at Kavre district and about 40 km southeast from Kathmandu valley.
 
How to reach Namo Buddha?
If you are going in a group we can hire a micro bus. It will cost around five thousand for two way trip. Or you can also opt for public vehicle from Ratnapark to Banepa. From Banepa you have to change the local bus which passes through Namo Buddha. You can also organize a nice hike rom Banepa paasing through Panauti.

Entrance and Opening time:
Entrance is free for all. It opens every day for everyone.

Restaurants and hotels:
There are small local hotels in Namo Buddha where local foods are available. Namo Buddha guest house is always at service for customer who are there for night stay. Anyone going for night stay should pre inform so that rooms are easily available.

Things to do at Namo Buddha:

Capture Photographs, Short Hiking, visit Stupa and monastery.

My Trip Story:
Last year we (me and my colleagues at my workplace) went to kakani for short day trip to get refreshed from daily busy working schedules which really helped us to get energized. So, this year also we decided to plan a short one day trip beyond the Kathmandu valley and the destination was ‘Namo Buddha’. Namo Buddha has special significance in Buddhism. It is believed that Gautam Buddha offered his body parts to hungry tigress and her cubs to eat. As , the tigress refused to eat his body parts, Buddha decided to cut his arm and dropped his warm blood over tigress’s hungry mouth so that it would give life to those hungry creatures.  We can see a statue of Buddha with remarks of blood flowing from his body likewise tigress and her babies in front of Buddha. It is such a nice thing to capture at namo Buddha.  A huge statue of Gautam Buddha is another must see at Namo Buddha which is all enough to make that place more religious. Two medium sized caves have been built near the statue of Buddha which resembles the caves built hundred years ago.

As, we were fifteen people all together we hired a micro bus for fixed fare and started our journey. We had taken some junk foods with us so that we will have something to eat until we reach our destination. It took nearly two hours and fifteen minutes for us to reach Namo Buddha. We went there by micro bus but, later we realized hike from panauti to Namo Buddha would have been much fun. As soon as we reached there we searched for a cafe to have something in breakfast as we were all hungry. After finding a small hotel near the monastery we had Tibetan bread and omelet in our breakfast. I had never tasted Tibetan bread in my life before and I am sure whoever tastes would surely like it. Then, we decided to visit the main stupa. The stupa was not as huge like Swoyambhu and Bouddha nath but it is believed to be one of the main and sacred stupa in Nepal.  The prayer wheels (mane in nepali) around the stupa was all enough to make the stupa beautiful and powerful. The environment around stupa was so peaceful and calm which provided us a peace of mind. After half an hour walk to the west from stupa we reached a nice place near monastery from where beautiful Himalayan ranges can be seen. It was the best place to take photographs and capture memories. Thousands of Buddhist prayer flags were hung at that place by the pilgrims believing that their message would reach the god.

After spending some time there we decided to visit the monastery. Another, main pillar at namo Buddha is ‘The Thrangu Tashi Yangtse Monastery’ built in 1979, where hundreds of monks are residing and studying. The building and the main temple of monastery is attractive masterpiece building.

As we did not have foods with us and we could not find a hotel which offer nepali lunch set so we decided to leave namo Buddha and started our journey back to dhulikhel side. After finding a nice Thakali restaurant we orderdTthakali lunch set and fulfilled our hunger. One of the problems we faced in this visit is that we could not get a place where we can have a nice lunch. There are several small hotels around the stupa but they normally offer foods eaten by Tibetan and Buddhist community and they prepare foods only if we pre inform them. So, it would be easy for us if we take food along with us or pre inform them. In this way, our short one day trip ended with all cheerful faces. With its natural and clean environment Namo Buddha is such a nice destination to visit. One can see a beautiful sunrise, wonderful view of sunset and nice view of snow covered Himalayan ranges from there as it located at slightly elevated land at 1750 m high from surface level.  It is considered to be a nice place for relaxation and meditation.

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