Day 41-42 Lumbini to Chitwan

---

Day 41 Lumbini to Chitwan (Fri 13th Aug)

Up this morning but not in too much hurry. Only a few hours on the coach today and we were in Chitwan before midday. Considering all our recent journeys, we were a bit nonplussed at how short it was. We were all waiting for the catch...

The ‘resort’ we are staying at is a bit out of town, but still in walking distance and quite beautiful. Lots of green here! The rooms are quite spacious and at last we have flyscreens on the windows!! A big relief since with no air conditioning it does get hot. The fans work though, even if we have been warned the power goes off for a couple hours each evening.

We all decided to go for a walk since we had so much spare time. We headed towards town and stopped to see what sort of activities we could do today and tomorrow. A few of the group decided to do a jeep safari through the nature reserve but I want to wait and go by elephant tomorrow.

So I, with all the options available to me, decided my time would be best served...asleep? Actually I just went to lay down for a few minutes rest and suddenly it was 1600. Oh well. Nepal is for rest anyway...

We ate at the resort, as our dinner was included. Unfortunately I had to make do with plain rice, as everything else was spicy. In the end I gave in and ordered a lemon sugar pancake - mmmmmmm. Not as good as mum’s, but man was it satisfying after living mainly on plain breads for the past 2 weeks!



Day 42 Chitwan

Cooked breakfast this morning and then we were picked up by jeep from the resort to go on our elephant safari through Chitwan nature reserve. The elephants are quite small (well, relatively speaking) and there were 3-4 passengers on each, along with the ‘driver’. Jana, Norma and I were on the lead elephant (not sure how we managed that, but certainly not complaining) and you sit on a wooden platform on the elephants back, with a railing around so you don’t fall out. Its not really comfortable, but not exactly uncomfortable either, if that makes any sense?

The ride was nearly 2 hours through the ‘jungle’ and we saw rhino’s, two difference types of deer, monkeys, lots of bugs, and a couple of monitor lizards. It was really peaceful and we went through a couple of rivers. We didn’t see any crocodiles although there are apparently some there.

The elephants clear the path with their trunk on command, and when Norma dropped her water bottle, the elephant picked it up in its trunk and threw it to the driver. It was rather cute actually, if an animal 3 meters tall and god knows how heavy can be classed as ‘cute’.

We decided to walk back to the resort afterwards, as we needed to stop to get some more money. The pound is better here than other currencies, so I changed a little bit more. I have a feeling I am going to spend quite a bit more in Nepal than I have in the last 3 countries!

We did a little shopping and I bought a souvenir - I can’t believe I’ve held out from buying anything for so long! I just have to keep in mind that I have to carry everything...

Some of the local kids from the school put on a bit of a song and dance for us in their school room, even though it was the weekend. They were really friendly and Heather in particular was quite taken with them. I think being a primary school teacher, her interest was higher to begin with.

Pancakes for dinner again (hey, who knows when Ill get another chance?) and then Jana and Sean were off for the night. They were spending the night in the reserve up in a watch-tower. I did think about doing that, but decided against it in the end. There are tigers in the reserve, but the chances of seeing them are almost non-existent. We asked one of the guides how long it had been since he saw a tiger and he told us it had been 3 years!

As it was I think I saw more wildlife than they did, as a stupid monkey kept throwing things at my window all night!! I knew I didn’t like monkeys for a reason (which I’m sure has nothing whatsoever to do with all the horror movies I’ve seen that consist of people being torn apart by monkeys...).

---

Photos

Elephant Safari 1
There were 5 elephants in our group

Elephant Safari 2
A couple of rhinos

Elephant Safari 3
Crossing the river

Chitwan
The local kids

Comments

[Lorraine]

Home cooking
Hi AJ, Once again it's been great catching up on your adventures and yes you've definately got some home cooked meals owing. Love you heaps. Mum xoxoxoxo