Kathmandu to Chitwan

Kathmandu to Chitwan 

Why does the bus take up to 5 hours if it's only x kms? Well, some sections of road are "sealed" and the bus barrels along at 60kph. More often, it's 10-15kph navigating potholes and broken surfaces. We had a tourist bus because the local busses are not considered as safe. And there were 5 non-Nepali people on the 40 seat bus. The road winds along the river, with hairpin bends every 40-60m. Designed for shorter people. When someone leans back, there isn't a lot of room for taller Western legs. But everyone smiles, even those with children on their laps.

One small baby slept the whole way. The mother and grandmother alternately provided lap space. Now I am wondering whether disposable nappies have reached Nepal. I can remember seeing them in Indonesia, along the road.

OK I am giving up on including pictures. I will leave it until I get better internet. I have been writing this in Textilus on my iPad and the autocorrect can be amusing, especially when it also auto saves - randomly.  

At the bus terminal (the muddy final destination that had hotel touts standing on a mound in the middle on a spot clearly marked by a ring of rocks), we met a young woman who was building an "Eco hotel". She mentioned that one room was built with empty bottles, rendered in mud. It is on the left of the entrance to the Elephant Bathing Place.

When we were in Kathmandu, Shaun mentioned the method of describing places by geographic location rather than street names. It is more evident here. Another destination was referred to as "next to the shop with the blue sign".

Many of the places I have stayed have had a 1.5m grey wall around a compound, often with some form of storm water drainage in a trough outside. Inside the metal gate, people sit under trees, with manicured, if dusty gardens. Often you can see older people with hand held scythes cutting the grass.  

Yellow Marigolds can be up to 1m tall, and there are pink and red flowers on bushes next to deep purple flowers. Another common plant looks like vibernium, but is about 40 cm tall, with pink flowers.

Each hotel seems to be run by an extended family, and during then day an assortment sits under the trees or under a thatched roof open enclosure.  Our Tiger Residency Hotel is a collection of 5 double single storey units,with an eating hall with kitchen and three double units for staff. The central are has trees and an open shed for sitting. Whitewashed inside, the windows are in 30cm sections, each 2.2 m high. As the breezes change, they open different windows. Our rooms have AC but I prefer the overhead fan. Overhead fans are more effective than AC and I despair that more "modern hotels" will lose some of this.  Our beds are hard, and I have seen people in villages airing or sun drying the contents of flock filled mattresses. The bathroom is adequate. The shower is hot, if you time it carefully and everything works. Soap is rare. Toilet paper is available, but there is also a tap by the toilet.

Our sunset stroll went past the village towards the river. There were plenty of birds. Walking to the Government elephant park showed a series of thatched sheds without sides that had elephants chained at night. Each habits own handler, and the females wear one heavy chain and the males two. Some were swaying. We were shown the ball of rice stalks with a centre of rice that they are fed.  Possibly the greatest excitement was a rhino near a hotel.

Our morning jungle walk took us along the river, in canoes, watching birds. We had been told not to wear bright colours because that scared the animals. And we were reminded to be quiet. The guide did say that some cultural groups made more noise than others and I did enjoy the peaceful canoe trip. Our canoe looked like a dugout tree, but inside was fibreglass. Our guide sat at the front, with the oarsman paddling at the back. 

Along the bank, there were blue kingfishers, white heron and even swifts in holes along that wall of the bank. Then we walked under 10m tall trees. Some looked ancient with vines and moss as well as tree ferns.  I think some were teak, but others were smaller. At times, the grasses were sharp edged. I would have liked to sit a while and watch insects. There were tiny red beetles, and clumps of maybe red millipedes.

One guide climbed trees to look for animals, calling himself a "Nepali monkey". As we walked along the river, the undergrowth was fine couch.  There were several spots that wild pigs had torn up and some slides downing the river that were made by rhinos. We saw monkeys and deer in the distance, but the best view of a rhino was near to the village. At one stage, the older guide identified a spot were a tiger had spent the night. Other evidence was animal dung. When I asked later, one guide said he had seen tigers about 10 times in his life. The most recent time was two years ago when he worked for the government in the park. There had been a fire that he drove through in a jeep with tourists. Tigers had sheltered in a small lake and he had scorched his hair getting the tourists out safely. But they saw tigers.

I was particularly impressed with the way that the guides allowed for different walking speeds.  Several times I was shown an easier path, and I was very grateful.  Some spots were quite slippery and the younger and fitter ones enjoyed that. 

We walked back towards then local ferry crossing, this time in larger boats, two across.

Leeches? Yes. Just flick them off.  I managed to find one on my leg, then had two discoveries later when I returned. Ouch. One was right up my leg, so I guess they fall as well as leaping from the lower bushes.  

After lunch of chicken curry, rice, potato and green beans, at 3 pm we had an afternoon elephant ride. Apparently this only happens once a day. Frankly, it was an unusual experience. Four adults sit on an enclosed platform on the elephant's back. I wonder if our platform was not balanced, because I seemed to be squashed into a corner, despite being told to lean forward. It was like holding on to a ladder. Others looked more comfortable. Some had space to turn around and take photos. The view from there was great. The Asian elephants are smaller than African ones, and several of these had pink patches, almost like freckled skin. The platform was secured around the tummy with one strap and a buckle. There were some ropes across the front, and the rider sat behind her neck, urging her forward with bare feet behind her ears. He tapped her forehead with a stick (on the left to to right and vice versa). Her head had a hollow sound, and I think that the stick placed in the middle meant "go forward".

The elephant lurched along and managed some quite steep inclines, especially going into the river. I think at one point the water was about 1m deep. The riders seemed to stay in pairs and they were on the lookout for other animals. We saw monkeys and deer. At one stage we stopped beside a small waterhole and watched a rhino that might have been sleeping. One rider hopped down to take photos. As we came back across the river flat, the young man beside me took some incredible photos with his automatic Nikon. When we flicked thought them later, he had some beautiful reflections and many shots of grass and undergrowth in black and white.

I am never comfortable with the concept of tipping. Because this was a trip that was a 3D4N all inclusive package, and the hotel has suggested that we needed to tip the elephant rider, I was not sure what of do. No-one seemed to be scrounging around for cash, so I handed over 500R and he smiled. So, again,who knows what to do?

At the Elephant Washing Place, there seemed to be 40-50 people waiting on the shore and just 2 elephants in the water. Each had 2 or 3 people in life jackets. The elephants were urged to shoot water over their backs and wet the tourists. Photo opportunity. And that's it.

The Tharu Cultural Performance was in the village hall.  At least 400 people sat in green metal chairs and the audience was quite noisy. So now I am thinking that it might be a cultural things. At school, we do suggest that kids need to learn how to be in an audience. Introductions were made in English. There were two drummers and dancers also sang. Wearing white, 15 women danced about harvesting rice. The young Mann's dance was more active, with sticks clacking left, right, forward and behind. I watched on the screen of a mobile phone a few rows in front of me. One young man twirled sticks energetically and there was a brilliant display with fire sticks. The audience seemed to know when the performance was ending, because many stood up and walked out while the stage was filled with the cheerful crowd joining the performers. It was energetic.