Day 75 - Hers
This was a travel day - and quite strange for me because I had made the same journey a month ago.....but it was the rainy season then - horridly hot and sticky with landslides to negotiate. This trip was dry and dusty, still hot, but the lower humidity made it reasonably pleasant - only taking 7 hours, rather than 9 1/2. It was quite fun recognising places- I was glad that we didn't stop at the restaurant with the suspect cheese sandwiches for our tea break. We stopped at a similar place that seemed much more hygienic - but I only had coffee and a packet of Oreos to ve sure. We stopped for photos at exactly the place my rafting trip had finished - so I was able to show Rob where we had been. The river is quite a lot lower now. They are probably using the Trisuli instead.... We arrived at Chitwan at around 2:00 and it was quite strange....The lodge manager remembered me (or so he said- I suspect Bimal may have pointed me out...) and everything seemed familiar and sweet. The woman at the corner shop did remember me - and was most impressed when I was able to speak to her in Nepali. The Koftey vegetable momos at the Royal 'Restaurent' were as good as I remembered and the lodge gardens as beautiful. Elephants strolled down the main street and water buffalo grazed by the river. Rob and I had a leisurely dinner and then retired to our lodge, reading to the accompaniment of crickets, Mosquitos and a local acoustic band, playing at a hotel nearby. A few days chilling here would be bliss.
Day 76 - His
As far as I can see, the whole point of Chitwan is to see the wildlife and ride an elephant, which is exactly what we did. We got up at half six and grabbed the usual breakfast of coffee under a tree and waited for the rest of our group to get themselves together. Groups are both good and bad to travel with. One the one hand they can be a lot of fun to share the experience with. Unfortunately, they take ages to get themselves together to do anything and the larger the group the disproportionately more time they take. So, it was eight O'clock before we loaded ourselves into the large open back truck that had arrived to ferry us to the game park. We are actually staying in the park itself so the drive to the reserve was about five minutes. We arrived to fine half a dozen elephants waiting for us. I have never ridden an elephant before - but then who of us has?
We rode four to an elephant on a little wooden platform called a 'howdah' strapped to the animals back. The mahout was armed with a little wooden stick that he would rap the elephants head with as he kicked its ears to indicate the direction. I think it was the most uncomfortable ride of my life by utterly fantastic. We swayed and rocked and plodded through the jungle keeping a sharp eye out for wildlife. Everyone of us was hoping to see a rhino or tiger but all we actually saw was a few deer and a huge amount of weird butterflies. One group claimed they saw a tiger attacking a deer but we think they were just pulling our leg. I have to say I wasn't the least bit disappointed. To my mind it was all about the ride and seeing the animals was a bonus.
After the ride we went back to the hotel and as Patti had been here before we were forewarned. So, we rushed back to our room and changed into swimming gear and hurried down to the river. We got back at half ten and at that time everyday the mahouts bring their elephants down to the river by us and bathe them. For a few rupees they let you ride on the back of the elephant as it washes itself. It was huge fun. The elephant sprayed me and itself with river water form its trunk and after a few minutes of this it decided to roll over and I fell off. I can tell you the water was cols. Patti had her own elephant and was a little upstream from me. She stood up on hers and the elephant happily sprayed her head to toe. We were both soaked. But, as it was only a short walk back to our room and a hot clean shower neither of us minded that much. To my mind bathing with the elephants has to rank right up there. It is one of true highlights.
The place we are staying in is a little basic but really cute. It is a series of little lodges strung out along gravel paths that absolutely teems with large snails. These things are as big as my fist and in the night the crawl over the windows. We are a stone's throw from the river and just on the edge of a tiny village that serves the tourist. The village is not much just a cluster of small shops and little family run places to eat - it is nothing like the tourist towns of say Greece. They only have one bar and I think it closes at ten. As I said it really is all about the animals.
Well, until the evening. The hotel manager had a arranged a troupe of dancing boys. The boys dance traditional Nepali dances and the ticket price helps pay for their university. I think he does this for every group of tourists. But, even so it was pretty cool and the meal afterwards - though very reminiscent of dal bhat - was pretty good too. The Aussies crept off to the local shop to buy cheap beer - something I consider to be quite rude - and spent a great deal of the time concentrating on getting drunk and asking the staff if they had washed the veg in ,safe, water. I have begun to wonder if I really want to visit Australia.
This was a travel day - and quite strange for me because I had made the same journey a month ago.....but it was the rainy season then - horridly hot and sticky with landslides to negotiate. This trip was dry and dusty, still hot, but the lower humidity made it reasonably pleasant - only taking 7 hours, rather than 9 1/2. It was quite fun recognising places- I was glad that we didn't stop at the restaurant with the suspect cheese sandwiches for our tea break. We stopped at a similar place that seemed much more hygienic - but I only had coffee and a packet of Oreos to ve sure. We stopped for photos at exactly the place my rafting trip had finished - so I was able to show Rob where we had been. The river is quite a lot lower now. They are probably using the Trisuli instead.... We arrived at Chitwan at around 2:00 and it was quite strange....The lodge manager remembered me (or so he said- I suspect Bimal may have pointed me out...) and everything seemed familiar and sweet. The woman at the corner shop did remember me - and was most impressed when I was able to speak to her in Nepali. The Koftey vegetable momos at the Royal 'Restaurent' were as good as I remembered and the lodge gardens as beautiful. Elephants strolled down the main street and water buffalo grazed by the river. Rob and I had a leisurely dinner and then retired to our lodge, reading to the accompaniment of crickets, Mosquitos and a local acoustic band, playing at a hotel nearby. A few days chilling here would be bliss.
Day 76 - His
As far as I can see, the whole point of Chitwan is to see the wildlife and ride an elephant, which is exactly what we did. We got up at half six and grabbed the usual breakfast of coffee under a tree and waited for the rest of our group to get themselves together. Groups are both good and bad to travel with. One the one hand they can be a lot of fun to share the experience with. Unfortunately, they take ages to get themselves together to do anything and the larger the group the disproportionately more time they take. So, it was eight O'clock before we loaded ourselves into the large open back truck that had arrived to ferry us to the game park. We are actually staying in the park itself so the drive to the reserve was about five minutes. We arrived to fine half a dozen elephants waiting for us. I have never ridden an elephant before - but then who of us has?
We rode four to an elephant on a little wooden platform called a 'howdah' strapped to the animals back. The mahout was armed with a little wooden stick that he would rap the elephants head with as he kicked its ears to indicate the direction. I think it was the most uncomfortable ride of my life by utterly fantastic. We swayed and rocked and plodded through the jungle keeping a sharp eye out for wildlife. Everyone of us was hoping to see a rhino or tiger but all we actually saw was a few deer and a huge amount of weird butterflies. One group claimed they saw a tiger attacking a deer but we think they were just pulling our leg. I have to say I wasn't the least bit disappointed. To my mind it was all about the ride and seeing the animals was a bonus.
After the ride we went back to the hotel and as Patti had been here before we were forewarned. So, we rushed back to our room and changed into swimming gear and hurried down to the river. We got back at half ten and at that time everyday the mahouts bring their elephants down to the river by us and bathe them. For a few rupees they let you ride on the back of the elephant as it washes itself. It was huge fun. The elephant sprayed me and itself with river water form its trunk and after a few minutes of this it decided to roll over and I fell off. I can tell you the water was cols. Patti had her own elephant and was a little upstream from me. She stood up on hers and the elephant happily sprayed her head to toe. We were both soaked. But, as it was only a short walk back to our room and a hot clean shower neither of us minded that much. To my mind bathing with the elephants has to rank right up there. It is one of true highlights.
The place we are staying in is a little basic but really cute. It is a series of little lodges strung out along gravel paths that absolutely teems with large snails. These things are as big as my fist and in the night the crawl over the windows. We are a stone's throw from the river and just on the edge of a tiny village that serves the tourist. The village is not much just a cluster of small shops and little family run places to eat - it is nothing like the tourist towns of say Greece. They only have one bar and I think it closes at ten. As I said it really is all about the animals.
Well, until the evening. The hotel manager had a arranged a troupe of dancing boys. The boys dance traditional Nepali dances and the ticket price helps pay for their university. I think he does this for every group of tourists. But, even so it was pretty cool and the meal afterwards - though very reminiscent of dal bhat - was pretty good too. The Aussies crept off to the local shop to buy cheap beer - something I consider to be quite rude - and spent a great deal of the time concentrating on getting drunk and asking the staff if they had washed the veg in ,safe, water. I have begun to wonder if I really want to visit Australia. 
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