Chitwan morning ox cart

Ox cart ride through the early silence 

After busy Kathmandu, the peace in Sauraha, outside the Chitwan National Park is welcome. Travelling on an ox cart, along misty road is almost surreal. It is quite easy to see the harvest process for the rice, but at the same time, sad to see some fields under water from the rain from the Indian cyclone. Ripe rice had been cut and lay ready to go to be threshed and winnowed, and several fields were now under 20cm of water. Our driver said it would be smelly and not even good for animals to eat. On other stretches, people were laying cut rice on the road, leaving it to dry out and to separate, as cars and carts drove over it. Some laid it directly on the ground, others used plastic tarps. Yesterday I watched a yard of rice be winnowed by machine. Men forked rice stalks into the top and the woody part flicked out the side. (Later, they were almost dancing with hand held fans over the rice heap, separating the chaff.)

The fields looked frosty, but the morning was warm. There was a fog even at 8am. The sun on the spider webs In the rice looked magical. One street sign showed the "Cow Museum" and another heralded "Elephant Street".  

In the Tharu  Museum we read about the history of the people in the area. Up until the 1950s, the main cultural group were Thauru who were resistant to the malaria of the area. But as malaria became less of a problem, hill people moved in, taking land. Secondly, the government decided to make a national park to conserve tigers, which meant a second land grab. People were compensated and moved to a new area. There were interviews and recordings of different people's responses. Many were finding life in the new area difficult, needing to grow corn instead of rice, because it was much drier. Some said they liked the area because of the new roads and hospitals. It was not clear whether these were traditional owner or some of the hills people.

Arriving back at the hotel area, we were greeted by the man who had not managed our first arrival very well. It seems he is the representative responsible for organising this part of our trip. And he runs the Children and Women Promotion Center here in Sauraha. It is a registered non-government, non-political, nonprofit organisation that supports economically and educationally under privileged children and women. He showed us his new building and children and he explained the setup for 17 children who, according to the brochure, attend a private school, but I thought he said they went to the government school. He manages the program by seeking sponsors and volunteers. I was not sure of his links with Mr Man form Kathmandu. There are two rooms set aside for volunteers and each had a computer and a wired internet connection, with beds he proudly showed us that had mattresses, 20cm thick. The current volunteer is a young man from Singapore.

We were invited back for dal bhat at 6pm.