Last day in Chitwan

Wednesday March 19

After a day of non-doing, Suresh agreed to get us to the hotel where Doug and Sue were staying- they had just arrived in Chitwan. Suresh already knew they were from Canada and were staying for 5 days. He thought it strange they were cousins from Canada not the US. 

Pool-side, we caught each other up and then ate Nepali food, dal, curd, veg curry, chapatis on a big wrap-around balcony and watched storm clouds over the distant hills. The wind picked up. Buffalo grazed. These are domestic animals not water buffalo and not bison.

We heard wild elephants trumpet- elephants yes, but they were on the tame side. The Baghmara Hotel sits next to an elephant depot. We told Doug and Sue about the Danish couple we met and how the husband after their elephant ride ended up bruised, bumping up against the contraption that contains bodies from falling off. They pack you in tight, not the old style luxury comfort. 

Jeep ride home in the dark, we thought about my cousin Bonnie's warning not to go out after dark in Nepal, especially in the rural areas. She says many Indians won't visit Nepal, scared of abduction or robbery. Westerns seem to be mostly exempt due to bad press, not good for tourist business. Everyone has a theory.

I remember being shocked to read about the killing of the king and 9 members of his family in 2001-the massacred cloaked in mystery. Rumors abounded involving conspiracy. The king at this point was mostly a figurehead of a multi-party system. Then at some point there was a maoist takeover, with them winning by a big margin an election. The country deteriorated further.

What I have gleaned from several people is that rural folk flooded into Kathmandu and its infrastructure plus poor government has led to an over-crowded and polluted city. Our guide in Pokhara says corruption and graft are rampant especially in land sales. He says he will never be able to afford even a small plot of land which would sell for 100 thousand dollars.

It's hard to find an item on a dinner menu for more than 4.50 anywhere except at a super luxury hotel. An espresso drink is maybe 1.25, a 20-oz beer is 3 dollars. All those world bums back in the 60's knew a good thing...and still do. Lots of backpackers and tourists of all kinds.

The houses are thatched with bamboo and mud walls - every family farms and tends animals. The ground is swept clean outside front doors. Laundry is sun-dried.

The Fence

Here's a photo of the fence I climbed. I didn't actually fall off the fence, but after maneuvering over it, I was so relieved that I sort of crumpled trying to regain my balance on the uneven ground.

Safari Marathon

Our first full day in Chitwan - march 17 Monday

Remember the schedule?  The 9:00 am float down the river in a dugout canoe with a German couple, along with our handlers, was relaxing (we were driven upstream) and productive: herons and storks and cormorants, darters and bee-eaters and mini kingfishers-bright aqua with red heads; lazy crocodiles lining the river banks; spotted deer grazing. Our grand finale, a rhino after we debarked.

The jeep safari at 12:30 turned into a marathon. The first hour on the weaving rutted road, the kapok trees with their red spiky flowers and the vines and creepers which cling and curl around any upright living thing mesmerized us. By the third hour we were so done, in accord with our 7 seat mates. Thankfully we were not in an oxcart and seats are cushioned. Whenever our vigilant guide spotted a moving object he rapped on the roof and we slammed to a stop. We saw, in order; a chicken, a huge turtle, spotted deer, a wild boar and 2 more on our return trip. They are covered with bristles and I bet their babies aren't even cute. 

The midway stop for all jeep safaris is a government-sponsored Gharial breeding facility which consists of a series of cement pools the same color as the endangered grey thin-nosed crocodiles. Signs state the date they are born, from babies to older guys 4,5,6-year olds. They look bored but maybe they always look that way. Mostly they seem asleep.

Happy to be released ourselves, we reach the end of the trail at sunset, a quick boat ride over the river and home to the lodge and a beer and dinner and bed. Slept well.

Chitwan National Park

March 17 Monday 2014

Green Mansions Lodge

A walk in the jungle was not a walk in the park. Suresh (our assigned guide during our stay) summoned us from our room 15 minutes early because there was a rhino sighting near by. We hurried after him, almost trotting to keep up. The dirt road bordered the fence protecting the park, and we heard thrashing and saw movement in the trees about 30 yards away. He whispered for us to come on, and proceeded to scale a tall fence. I balked, thought no way, then I did it. Precarious. I fell on my ass. Dennis made it over and we crept on. This monster of a rhino munched its way through the forest directly ahead. With his poor sight he did not see us and we were quiet and apparently not too smelly.  I saw his horned head through the trees and his body just kept coming, then his armored hind quarters. I know rhinos are dangerous and can move fast. I've only ever seen them from a sturdy jeep when we lived in Nigeria and went to Kenya for a safari vacation. 

Now, the few trees around us had no low branches although if a charge occurred who knew what I was capable of. The few photos Dennis took are not so great, meaningful only to us. We moved on when the rhino lumbered further into the shaded canopy seeking cooler air - fine with me.

After this exciting start of our jungle walk, we wound through the forested jungle, over a rope bridge that seemed longer than its 60 yards, bamboo side-railing not always within reach or steady when grasped - balance maintenance necessary.

Three hours later we ended up at the government elephant breeding facility just as the sun was setting. I was beyond tired, my wonky ankle killing me. I hoped I would be able to walk the next day. Nepalese time must be like Mexican time, give or take an hour here or there. 

Dinner eagerly anticipated, it lived up to expectation. Buffet-style: lentil dahl (which may be an oxymoron); white rice, hunks of curried pork , a mixture of spicy green beans, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes; a picture-perfect layered raw salad of radish, carrot and tomato, and chapatis.

An orange for dessert. 

I forgot to take a picture. This may be because we are already noticeable in the dining room-the only couple. Long tables are filled with French tourists, although there is a German-speaking couple sitting next to us with two Nepalis. The waiter concocts a quasi-cappuccino for Dennis which is pretty darn good. Suresh hands us our schedule for the next day. It looks a little daunting: 7am breakfast; 7:45 canoe ride (2 hours); lunch at 12; 12:30 jeep safari for 4 hours.

We look at each other and decide to go with the flow. It seems we are not in control.  

Arriving at Chitwan

March 16 Sunday 2014

We pass color-painted children and teenagers on our journey this Happy Holi holiday-kids running around with projectiles of every sort filled with water dyed red, blue, yellow, orange and blue.The 3-day Hindu holiday celebrates happiness and fun and having a good life. Bijay our driver says the holiday is mostly for the younger generations to enjoy, and can be especially intense in the tourist towns like Pokhara and Kathmandu, where some tourists enter right into the fray. 

I remember Eric and I playing with a bunch of Nepali kids and getting powder smeared all over my face, up my nose. In the excitement of the play, it took me a while to realize that a bit of surreptitious groping was going on. I was thirteen. I knew when to quit while I was ahead. Not sure if that lesson always stuck.

The almost 4-hour drive to Chitwan bordered on an extreme abdomen workout, holding myself in place in the back seat. Yes, we wore seat belts, but still...a rocking road and speed bumps that were not intentional, just the road falling apart, or being repaired. Only one near-fatal event. The bus coming straight at us while passing another bus careened back into his lane in time. We all gasped. Bijay (an excellent driver) says the public transportation drivers aren't so careful because time is money. Hurray for capitalism. 

We descend through hillsides so steep they seem uninhabitable, the land unworkable, but small houses cling, and pathways wind down and around to terraced squares just beginning to green. It's spring. Trees are almost in full leaf, and rice planting has begun in the lower lands of the terai. 

Outside our room at Green Mansions Lodge, six woman throw handfuls of rice over a soaked section of field. I smell good dirt and gardenias. Birds vie for attention. 

Some mosquitos flutter around the edges of the screens which are not exactly tight to the window frames. The door to our room hangs a good inch above the floor. I am not going to worry about it, the possibility of malaria, I mean. We've been told that the original peoples who fled to these southern foothills of the Himalayas, escaping someone or something (not much has changed in the world) were resistant to the malaria and survived to become the indigenous people, the Tharu. 

An entire village Sauraha has sprung up around these safari-type lodges which edge the boundary of the national park. No lodges are allowed in the park, a new rule since the Tiger Top days when I visited in the mid-60's with my friend whose Dad seemed to me to be the original white bwana. We saw tigers back then, and Cathy and I got chased out of our sunbathing spot by the sighting of a rhino. Their lodge consisted of thatched huts on tall posts and we rode elephants through tall grass. Do I think I will have some memories recreated?

peace, peaks and paragliders

March 15 Saturday 2014

Dhan our local contact in Pokhara picked us up at 7:30 to drive up, up, and up to the World Peace Pagoda built by a Japanese monk after WW2 to inspire people of all religions to promote peace. The white dome sits on the horizon overlooking the lake. The road necessitates honking before rounding every bend to avoid a collision. The view at the top is worth the risk. To paraphrase Dhan: when it's your time to depart, it's time.

Paragliders leap off mountains in the distance, flying and floating over the lake, more than a hundred a day. Guess it's not their time either. No way I'm testing the gods.

We saw a portion of the Annapurna range which stretches 1000 miles from Bhutan to Afghanistan. Fishtail is a triangle pointing to the heavens - a sacred mountain that can not be climbed. Then there's Dhaulagiri to the left that looks lower, but is the highest peak resting entirely within Nepal - Everest has a corner or two in former Tibet.

Our last day in Pokhara. Our 59 mile drive tomorrow is supposed to take 3-4 hours but we have been forewarned it may be longer because it is Holi holiday and also there may be protests against a recent 10 percent fuel increase. Gas is around 6 dollars a gallon.

It will be an interesting drive from this valley to the jungle of the Terai where we are staying outside of a national preserve. Dhan said whatever we do, do not allow our elephants to give us a bath. Not hygienic. 

Fewa or Phewa Lake

March 14 Saturday 2014

We rowed a heavy wooden boat to a tiny island whose purpose is to support pigeons and a Hindu shrine. We rented the boat and 4 life jackets for 400 rupees or 4 dollars for an hour. Doug, Sue, Dennis rowed. I got lucky sitting in the widest part of the boat and relaxed. Sue asked the Tibetan woman who ran the boat concession if we needed to cover our heads at the temple. She said that it's not necessary because God does not make rules, only people do.