"Lumbini! Lumini? Lumbini! This way?"

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The complete lack of road signs in Nepal has definately kept this trip interesting, if at times a little frustrating. Pulling up next to some poor local and exclaiming "Butawal! Butawal?!" and waving my hand in the general direction I'm travelling. And a reply of "Yes, ahh!" didn't always mean I was going the right way, just that they thought it was. And to be honest, some of the wrong turns and long ways round have led to some amazingly beautiful places, fantastic riding roads and always been worth the detour.
Such was my ride to Lumbini. The guy from the night before at the hotel had advised me to take a back road.
"Main road too busy, many buses, maybe 3 hours. This road quiet, maybe take two hours."
I mentally added an hour to this, as you do here, but it sounded good. I hated the buses here, as much for their fumes as their erratic driving and middle of the road stops. The main road also went on to the border, so I knew it really would be chocked with traffic.
After about the right number of kilometers for the turn off, I waved down a local on a bicycle.
"Lumbini?", I waved my hand, "Lumbini?"
"Ahh yes, ahh!" and then a torrent in Nepalese that I couldn't understand, but I smiled and nodded at what seemed like the right times.

Turn off turn off turn off, where’s the dang MONKEYS!! MOKEYS MONKEYS MONKEYS! A troop of them (what is the correct name? A troop? A school? A barrel?) ran across the road to sit in the sun and pick nits off of each other. This is what I had longed to see, wild animals just pottering about, getting on with their daily business, but all from the back of a motorcycle. Fantastic!
At the next checkpoint I ask the local Chief of Police:”Lumbini?”
“No no, 20km back, turn right. Ahh! Ok?”
“Ok, thank you”. 40km and about an hour out of my way but it was all worth it for the monkeys. The back road turned out to be brilliant, riding through tiny villages, only the odd mad driver, kids everywhere and it all had a distinctly African feel to it. I’ve loved all the kids I’ve seen through both these countries so far. Here on the bike, they always wave and shout “Hello! Hello! Namaste!”, so whenever I can I wave and shout back, give a couple of toots on the horn.
Being pretty wiped out from the last few days riding I didn’t really appreciate Lumbini as much as I’m sure it could be. A real mecca for Buddhism; the birth place of Buddha. There’s a huge area walled off with Buddhist temples in the style of each country where its prevalent, many still being built, but the thing I liked the most was the Peace Flame. A small pedestal near the centre of the compound with a flame in its centre, lit to signify peace back in 1986, and its been burning for almost 27 years or so I’m told. Pretty cool, and I reckon we could do with a few more of these around.
A bit of Long Way Down, some Hunting of the Snark and then I’m drifting off again to the sound of generators, something you will always hear in Nepal as the government restricts the supply of power at different times of day.



Walking with giants.

Early morning I wake, fire up a brew and pack. Today I’m riding to Sauraha, Chitwan National Park, and ultimately, time with the elephants.

The ride is great; good roads, just pottering along through the jungle. Ha ha! More monkeys, awesome!! Again, due to the lack of road signs and something-to-be-desired directions I end up on a knarly back route to Sauraha, but more beautiful villages and plains so I don’t mind at all.
There! In the middle of the road! Elephant dung. Still warm, I’d say maybe half an hour old. The locals would probably say ‘look at the crazy white man with his finger in a poo’. But I’m pretty excited now. I find a nice lodge, pretty cheap, but the room includes gas hot water and I settle into the longest, hottest shower I’ve had on this whole journey. Bliss!
With the thick jungle mist settling in for the night, it condenses on the trees and the drips sound like rain all night. Jungle, rain, birds, animals bellowing, I can’t help but single this place out as one of the best I’ve stayed at in the whole of Nepal.
Up again at 5:45am. Today’s the big one: elephant safari. There’s a few other folks coming along that I met at the lodge. French, Dutch, Danish, English and a Kiwi (me). A good little crew. Me and the Danish guy get talking about motorbikes and settle on a plan to ride around the world when we’re 50 (hes about the same age as me) in the jeep on the way to the park. Finally we arrive and there in the mist, four huge elephants. My heart skips a few beats.
Before we know it we’re off into the early morning fog stalking wild animals. It’s incredible to be riding one of these gentle giants, and I feel kind of like the great white hunters of old. The sun is just rising and the light it throws dappled through the trees is quite something else. In the end we only see a few different types of deer, no rhino or tigers, but I’m still on a huge high anyway.
Back to the lodge for another hot shower and then down to the river to bathe with the elephants. Id only ever noted Chitwan in my head as just another spot to visit, but it’s turned out to be probably the most moving experience of my whole time away. Sitting on the back of an elephant having it spray you with water from its trunk, trying to hold on as it rolls over in the river and then just swimming around there legs once I’ve properly fallen off.
I feel very humble and quiet after the bathing, just wanting to be alone for a while to reflect on what I’ve experienced. They are such beautiful animals, huge eye-lashed eyes staring into your soul and tenderly caressing you with their trunks. And it makes it all the more special and wondrous knowing that they could break you in half with their nose if they wanted to.

I feel quite emotional as I ride out again the next day. I really don’t want to leave this place, and I’m starting to find the loneliness quite hard some days, not having anyone to talk out these experiences with. They say a problem shared is a problem halved, but I’m also feeling now that an experience shared is an experience doubled.
So I ride back to Kathmandu and on towards Jiri in search once more of the peace of the mountains.

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Comments

[Irene Wilson]

Elephants and Monkeys
What a wonderful account of your experience. Elephants are indeed a humbling part of creation and I do envy you this experience. However - you are all the richer for all you have and are seeing and these memories and experiences will no doubt contribute significantly to the shape and direction of your life going forward. While i look forward to seeing you next week, I also realize it will be a wrench for you to leave this land that has crept into you heart. Love mum

[Tim]

Just read this to the kids at breakfast and there were laughs and oohs all round. Thanks for sharing with us ben.