Royal Chitwan National Park
Josh and I went to Chitwan for the weekend. We left Thursday morning at 6 o’clock and caught a taxi at the hotel that is just down the street from the house that we are staying at. It took us to a bus stop that is in the middle of the valley. Once we were on the bus there were people trying to get us to buy candy chips water and fruit for our trip. The bus drivers even let them on the bus to try and sell to us. There were also people there selling magazines and newspapers. One of the men selling newspapers started talking to me about where I was going and where I was from. When I told him that I was from America he kept telling me “Christ Christ Christ. I Christ. Are you Christ?” When I told him that yes I am Christian he got very excited and told me about his church he goes to. He said there are not very many Christian churches here. He then gave me a free newspaper and asked if I had any American money and I gave him. A quarter, nickel, and a penny. Then he gave me a 2 rupee coin and a 1 rupee coin. It was a great exchange for me.
Once we got going we had 5 hours to go. About 1 ½ into the bus ride we pulled over on the side of the road for a “pee stop” several of the local women got off and on the side of the bus squatted down pulled up their saris and peed right next to the bus. None of the women foreigners like me were brave enough to do so.
We had another stop at a bus stop like place that had a fruit and vegetable market and a restaurant. The scenery there was amazing it was right off the road in the mountains. It was very lush and green with homes way up on the sides of the mountains. It was so beautiful.
Along the way we dropped off the local people at their homes or near their homes. The bus ride ended in a field that was full of jeeps that were from the hotels in the park picking up the groups. We went with a package so everything was set up for us when we got there and our hotel had set a driver for us. When we got to the hotel we had welcome drinks and went over our itinerary. The cokes were kept in the freezer and were still a little slushy. It was the coldest drink that I had had since arriving. Then we were served lunch of veggie burgers coleslaw salad and French fries. It all tasted a little funny and I was so hot from the bus ride and the extreme change in temperature and humidity so I ate very little.
After taking a nap and cooling down a bit we had a bicycle ride. The bicycles here are all old. I was asking Josh were all the new things in Nepal were. Everything here seems so old. They had to repair them and pump the tires before we got going. All the roads were rocky or dirt roads so it was a very bumpy rough ride. We rode to a local village of the Tharu people where they have their own language and own processes. It was fun to see the remote village that still live similarly to the way that the Native Americans lived. There was a “museum” in the village that was a house that had an assortment of their tools.
After the village we went to the elephant breeding center where we saw lots of baby elephants. There was an elephant that was just 15 days old. As well as a set of twin babies that are 5 months old. We were told that Nepal hold the 2nd place record for twin elephants 2nd to Thailand. While there we got to spend time with one of the elephants that is 2 years old. Elephants mature very slowly similar to humans and was still small and very playful. We got to pet it and watch it eat. It was eating treats from its trainer that was long grass with rice and molasses wrapped inside. After we had finished with the elephants we headed back to our bikes that we had left a ways away from the breading center. To get to the center we had to cross a river on a makeshift bridge that was made out of sand bags, grass and some wood. I was surprised at how steady it was. The river was not deep at all if we had fallen in. Our tour guide showed us a plant on the side of the river that is called a touch me not. When you touch the plant it shrivels up and acts like it is dead. It was a crazy plant. We then headed back to the hotel. By the time we were headed back my bum was so very sore and we still had about a mile to ride to get back to the hotel. When we got there we were seated at a table right next to the river as the sun was setting and we were able to order food. We both ordered the pasta cabanara. It came with “garlic bread” which was crushed fresh garlic put in between two triangles of bread not cooked or warmed or anything. After dinner we went back to the room and crashed.
On the second day we met at 6:30 by the river for breakfast which was toast, eggs, and potatoes with vegetables in them. At 7 we started our canoe trip. The canoes are dug out logs and there is a man that stands at the back of the canoe with a stick that he digs into the mud at the bottom of the river to steer the canoe down the river (similar to a gondola). Along the shore we saw lots of birds. We canoed for about 20 minutes and then were dropped off on the edge of the jungle to start our jungle walk. At the very beginning we found tiger tracks right along the river banks in the fresh mud. We saw tiger tracks all along our walk but we did not see any tigers which was fine with me. We did see several deer, a tree full of monkeys, lots and lots of big bugs, and we heard several animals in the distance like the sloth bear. There were tons of new birds everywhere too. At one point during our walk we went to a resting tower that overlooked an open field of the jungle. We did not see anything except for native people working in the jungle collecting plants and such.
After the jungle walk we went back to the hotel and ordered our lunch. There is only once chef in most of the places that offer food so if you order several different dishes it can take a really long time to get all the food but if you order it a couple hours in advance you don’t have to worry about it. After ordering lunch we went back to our room and took a nap. It was so hot there. I am not used to any humidity and it was so humid and hot there it was hard for me to get the energy to do much of anything during the day. Around 4o’clock we had our elephant ride. We went down to this elephant yard place. We had to climb up onto this tower and sit in this basket on top of the elephants. There were four of us in the basket and it was very squishy. We had to sit in specific places and balance our weight a certain weight so that the basket would sit correctly on top of the elephant. I sat in the back on the right of the elephant. It was fun; my feet were resting on the backside of the elephant. It was a super bumpy ride. We also had to avoid being smacked in the face with tree branches as much as we could because we were so high up and I was facing the opposite direction that we were going, I got hit in the head with lots of branches. It was totally worth the trip though. We saw 7 rhinos (the rhinos here are different than anywhere else in the world because they only have one horn on their nose whereas all the rest have two). The first 2 that we saw were laying together in a muddy watering hole. It seemed just perfectly sized for them. Shortly after seeing those two we went into a clearing in the jungle and there were even more rhinos. In all we saw 7 rhinos. (The rest of this I am writing on July 13th). We saw several deer and birds. We got to cross the river on the elephants and they were splashing around and playing with each other. While we were on the elephants a guy on the elephant next to us that was pointing at me and talking to his family. He ended up talking to me for a while and then pointing and talking more. It was hilarious. When we were done on the elephants we went back to the hotel and ordered dinner. While dinner was being prepared we took a nap then hung out by the river. While we were eating dinner we met a couple from somewhere in Europe (I can’t remember where) they have been traveling for almost a year. There are so many people that we have met here that have been or are just starting really long journeys. That evening we went to the Tharu Culture Program. It was local people that do the stick dances for the tourists that come through. It was really fun to watch at the end of the program they have everyone come up on the stage and dance. It was fun I got up on the stage and danced with the people. On the way back to the hotel we stopped and got ice cream then went back to the room and went to sleep. The next morning we slept in, ate breakfast and got back on the bus. I slept for a good portion of the ride back. It was so hot and sweaty but very fun.
