Blogs from Chitwan, Nepal, Asia - page 5

I added an overview of the first photos. I arrived safely, almost missed my first flight. The family is wonderful and makes sure I am well fed and warm. It is so warm here in the afternoons! I am happy. I have gone with the Uncle/dad/pastor to visit some of the area's churches in more rural areas. I am constantly thinking I am just happy. I know this place isn't perfect and I am seeing more and more that it is a real place and it is a very poor country, but I am so happy to be here. Playing with kids a lot!... read more

Nepal is one of the ten poorest countries in the world, but has the greatest income disparity in Asia. The literacy rate is 49%, but as so often happens in poor rural communities, the rate for women is 35%, as girls are kept home to look after younger siblings. There is a fair amount of political unrest at the moment as an election is looming and one of the communist parties is holding a national strike to protest about the validity of the electoral process. There are road blocks on the main roads, stopping all the vans, buses cars and lorries (which makes the air quality much better and may be why we can see the Himalayas 130 kms away, which are usually shrouded in mist). We avoid thee roadblocks by going cross country to the ... read more

Leaving Gatwick at 9pm Friday evening, we flew via Dubai to Katmandu, arriving 6pm Saturday (1pm English time). Exhaustion was exacerbated by an interminable wait for visas by an allegedly work-to-rule team o bureaucrats pushing cash, passports and paper slips back and forth. They mostly drive on the left in Nepal, with a free-for-all at junctions:vans, pushbikes, motorbikes and rickshaws criss-cross each other via the shortest route. I felt as if we were in a Keystone Cops movie and crossing the road is unnerving. Bikes carry panniers of bananas, yams and other exotic fruits, and overtaking is done blaring the horn and going for it. You are safe if you can leap the gutter and up the steps to the pavement where the sleeping dogs lie (in Katmandu, elsewhere they lie in the roads, and traffic ... read more

A couple guys from the church took Mollika and me to see the waterfall. So we rode on motorbikes back on the road where people fall off. I am not a toucher as you may know...so I spent the ride trying really hard not to touch the guy-also it was crazy hot. The road is bumpy and we would quickly speed up and slow down as we encountered cars. We got stuck in the mud once but I never fell off even though I held onto the back of the bike instead of the guy. yessss. It was a hot ride and walk but the waterfall was beautiful. The others had to return but my driver friend took me to see the temple where all the orange people go. I think. I should have taken more ... read more

Over the weekend the other volunteer and I went to Chitwan National Park. We stayed at Wildlife Adventure Resort which I fully recommend. The staff there are wonderful and they do everything. They take you to the tours, drive you to the places, everything. The rooms are also really great. Very clean. The power never went out for more than a few minutes. We had a tour of a Tharu Village-a minority group still residing in the area. We went to a show put on by the Tharu people-amazing dances which represent their war training and harvesting. We rode an elephant which I felt a little bad about until I saw we go like 10 minutes and then we stop somewhere where the elephants chow down on grass and trees. Then do it again. It was ... read more