Blogs from Chitwan, Nepal, Asia - page 16

Hi all, OK, so I haven't been as prompt with all the updates as I promised. But, there are not a whole lot of internet connections in the jungles of Nepal. So, I write this from my hotel in Lhasa, Tibet. More on that later. Nepal is beautiful. The scenery is awesome...rivers, jungles, I hear they have some hills too. Chitwan Park was my favourite. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and so there are massive conservation efforts underway. The recent civil war and poaching didn't help. Now that the war is more or less over, attention is directed towards the poachers. The place where I stayed is one of the oldest establishments and is located deep in the Park itself. They have no electricity from outside; it's all solar-generated. Also, they grow their own ... read more

Hi all, Some more photos from the last days in Nepal and Kick boxing in Thailand - wu-hu - let the show begin (ok its not that great, but i get excited easily...).. My latest e/mail to all as well - so i can read it later.. Hi all, I am writing to all of you at the same time as I seem to spend an awfullot of time in these internet cafes (spending quality time cooing overthe screen with Gareth on Skype - loosing all my credebility with fellowtravellers), so I have decided to write to you all in one go... Lazy?Well, I always was so there you go... Right now I am in Pai, up north in Thailand, a place that is mostlypopulated by Israelis just out of the army, English men who have ... read more

Saturday, August 4, 2007 at 6:12am So, have taken a brief respite from being weed on, climbed on, and drawn on, to visit Nepal at its best- I am in Soura, I spent the night with a very nice Nepali man named Ramesh... don't worry, I am not cheating- he is only 13 and is the eldest boy at the orphan home. He had never been to the national park before, and also never stayed in a hotel, so he is really pleased to be here- and I am glad of the Nepali translater! So this place has completely blown me away... unfortunately did not get to see the famous Asian 1 horned rhino.. but I did get to ride an elephant, and see the elephant babies! So cool. Also, we took a trip down rapti ... read more

So today we're in Narayangarh, the city closest to where we're doing our volunteer work. I didn't think we would have internet at all the whole time we're here but so far we have. Saturday is our day off so we decided to go into the city and there's not much else to do besides use the internet and wander around. And everyone else in my group wanted to use the internet so here we are. We started our work yesterday, half of us in conservation, half in the orphanage and then we will switch every day. I started in conservation. We basically weed all day. They're growing asparagus plants and there are weeds everywhere. It's been a month since they last weeded and there is already practically a forest! We made pretty good progress though. ... read more

We left Chitwan National Park this morning to go start our volunteer work! We're still in the Chitwan region, but about an hour away from the national park. We're living with families in pairs. Very basic, but still nice. Our family even had mosquito nets set up for us! The toilets of course are just a hole in the ground and we have tried out the shower yet, but I think it's a real one, not just buckets of water. Our family has a grandma, mom, dad, and 3 kids, 2 girls and one boy. One girl is 17 and she speaks english pretty well which is really helpful! This afternoon we had an orientation of sorts for our work. We're going to be alternating between conservation work (weeding, planting, etc.) and orphanage work (teaching and ... read more