First of all, a few things I noticed about the country. It was wonderful to see Nepal. The country is a lot cleaner than Bangladesh and the people are so friendly! Since it’s such a touristy country, a lot of the people know English so it wasn’t hard to get help if we needed. The people are beautiful! And they carry such heavy loads on their backs but it’s supported by a band that comes to their forehead. I was amazed at the strength of there necks and backs.
Everything is so hilly there so they plant their gardens on terraces. All the hills around have homes just kickin it on the side. It’s so pretty though! Ok now for the adventure.
Day 1
- Flew in and saw a decent view of the mountains. (it’s really smoggy this time of year so it was a little hazy but the mountains were still amazing)
- Meet up with Jenny and took the 1 hour bus ride back to Bonepa where the hospital is.
- Played soccer with some of the 12-15 year old boys that she’s friends with. (they are hilarious)
- Ate a wonderful home cooked meal at Jenny’s great Aunts house. She made cinnamon rolls. Yumm!
Day 2
- Looked in our guide book to figure out what we’d accomplish in the next few days
- Decided to spend the night in Katmandu and take an early bus to Pokarah the next morning
- Ate dinner at the really awesome restaurant. They had black lights all over and their paintings and decorations were all florescent so they glowed with the lights. We sat cross legged on the floor with the low tables and I ate fabulous pumpkin soup and mint lemonade.
- Then stayed in a hostels attic it seemed. It was the only room on the last level that had creaky stairs that led up to the door. It was actually really nice for only 5 dollars.
- Took a canoe ride across the lake and hiked up a hill that had a Buddhist temple on top and watched the sun set over the Himalayas. When we got back to the canoe our “guide” had decided to go home so he just left us one paddle and one life jacket. It took us awhile and we didn’t have the most straight path back but we had a lot of fun on the way.
- Got up at 4:45am to hike up a hill to see the sunrise. It was a steep climb but totally worth it. The sun kissed the top of the Anaporna range with a bright orange glow. And it slowly snuck it’s way down to the foothills. Absolutely beautiful!
- Ate breakfast with water buffalo grazing about a foot away from our table
- Took a paddleboat out on the lake for a few hours. We watched the many paraglider soar and then land on the lakeshore.
- Had a banana smoothie for dinner.
- Got the last seats on the bus to Chitwan. These “seats” were a bench right behind the drivers seat and facing the first row of real seats. It was about a 5 hour, windy drive to Chitwan but really pretty. The country side changed from mountainous to more flat and jungle like.
- Got to Chitwan and found out our “cottage” wasn’t much to write home about. It had stains on the floor and a pretty dirty bathroom. But it was cheep, a place to stay, and a memory.
- Then we spent the next few hours trying to figure out what we should do the next day and how we could get the best deal. We were so tired of hearing everyones speech about why their tour is the best. We were drained so we went to have dinner at a garden restaurant.
- We rented bikes for about 30 cents/hour and went to see the Elephant breeding center which turned out to be so depressing. The elephants were chained to stakes in the ground and their front feet were chained together so they couldn’t even walk around. And the baby’s were chained so they couldn’t get close to their mom. It made me so sad.
- Got up early to catch the bus to Pokarah. When we got there, a swarm of taxi drivers come and try and get us to go in their taxi. Then once we choose a taxi, a hotel rep comes with us to try and get us to go to their hotel. We ended up not going to the place we had chosen before and went to the hotel they were selling us. It was such a good idea on our part. They gave us a super good deal for our really nice room (another $5/night room) that could have easily sold for $30/person. The hotel workers were so helpful to us and tried to get us good discounts on all the things we wanted to do.
- Went on a Jungle Safari. But the cool thing about it was that it was on the back of an elephant! Yup! It was quite exciting. I saw a rhino and her baby, some monkeys, deer, and wild pigs. The trails were small so the branches would rub up against my shins. But, I felt what it must be like to be an animal crawling through bushes trying to find their dinner.
- In the afternoon we took a “jeep” safari to see if we could see some tigers. No luck. But the ride was very entertaining with the two little boys and their dad from England. We did see some more monkeys and a crocodile as well as a Tiger and her cubs footprints, but that’s the closest we got.
- Sat at a restaurant with a fire to warm up from the very cold jeep trip.
Day 7
- Got a stomach bug and was sick all day...
- But we went back to Banepa on the buses. (it took until that night to get back)
Day 8
- Had a day at Jenny’s house playing Dutch Blitz, Uno and other games with the younger boys that live there. It was so fun to have a relaxing, chill day just to hang out.
Day 9
- Ate at a fantastic Mexican restaurant in Katmandu before heading to the airport.
- Flew back with a wonderful view of the mountains as the sun cast a glow on the whole range.
- Most importantly I had a wonderful view of Mt. Everest! =) yay!
Happy New Year to you! I miss you all!
YAY!!! I loved having you!
ReplyDeleteEspecially ;)
I'll say you had a lot to write about! I don't suppose you actually SNEAK through the forest when you're riding an elephant :+)
ReplyDeleteYour Uncle Don