Blogs from Chitwan, Nepal, Asia - page 19

Our last stop in Nepal was the Royal Chitwan National Park, home to the endangered one horned Indian Rhino and the regal and rarely seen Bengal tiger. The National Park is in the Terai district of Nepal and is believed to be Nepal's third most popular tourist attraction. The reserve preserves 932 square kilometres of sal forest, water marshes and rippling grassland. We were supposed to stay at a lodge inside the park, but due to a government strike going on we were forced to stay in the nearby village of Sauraha. On arrival at the almost abandoned hotel (tourism is down due to the Maoist activities that continue to go on in the area though we saw no sign of trouble) we settled in before heading out for a brief visit to the Tharu village ... read more

Early in the morning I left the guest house and went looking for the bus stop. The city was absolutely dark and when I was walking through the little streets and alleys I was kind of scared. I arrived at the bus stop savely and the trip could get started after sorting out the ticket thing. It took a bit more than five hours to get to Sauraha. It is only 90 kilometers from Kathmandu but the streets are in a bad condition. It is not possible for the busses to drive into Sauraha therefore you get dropped a bit outside of town. There are many Taxi drivers waiting for you....unfortunately if you are not interested in a hotel, they won't drive you anywhere. They get kick back from the hotels and therefore you have to ... read more

Ola amigos! Onze laatste dagen als toerist hebben we in Chitwan, een prachtig nationaal park doorgebracht. We gingen met de bus naar Chitwan maar aangezien er geen zitplaatsen meer waren, zijn we maar op het dak gaan zitten. In het begin was dat super (zalig uitzicht)maar na een tijdje begon het toch koud te worden en zo’n dak is niet bepaald comfortabel. Je mag ook niet teveel letten op de rijstijl van de chauffeurs en niet naar beneden kijken als je voorbij de rand van een afgrond scheurt... Op weg naar Chitwan zijn we gestopt om te gaan raften. Rond deze tijd van het jaar staat er nog genoeg water om een wilde tocht te maken.Carsten, onze stoere Deen wou een watervalletje afdalen zonder zich aan het touw van onze boot vast te houden. Toen hij ... read more

Sorry for the delay in the blogs! Im back tracking now! Chitwan National Park So after paragliding in Sarangot, Nepal, we headed on a 7 hour bus journey to the Royal Chitwan National Park. The park is a huge and beautiful nature reserve with all sorts of animals ranging from rhinos to tigers. We got a package from Pokhara which included 2 nights stay in beautiful lodge in the middle of the park and included most of our activities. On the bus we met a whole load of irish people that were on our package - they awere a right laugh!!! However rather than socialisising on the bus I was too preoccupied with the rash I was developing al over my forehead neck and ears - god knows what the hell I did in my sleep ... read more

Why oh why did I choose to visit Nepal at the coldest time of year? Was it an unconscious effort to start acclimatising, ready for my return to chilly England? Or did my English genes simply need a dose of bone-chilling, nipple-freezing cold? Whatever the reason, once again I was cursing the weather and wearing thermals, fleece and hat. My hopes of going home tanned were now dashed. But I don’t regret this choice really, because Nepal has been fantastic. My next adventure was a rafting expedition towards the Indian border. Our group had two main rafts, which each held eight people. Our luggage was sealed in enormous “dry-bags” and strapped securely in the centre of the rafts. There was also a support raft, which was laden with gas bottles, stoves and tents. We were told ... read more