Nepal

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It really truly is amazing how many things we do, and how we get adjusted to being tired, lol. It is so worth it! This leg is definitely a highlight so far. Firstly, when we arrived we were all given a five hour break! We had started the joke that in the amazing race, at least the contestants are given mandatory rest breaks, so we finally got one. Then we got our books for things to do and one of them was to go to the Chitwan National park.

So, you must be asking yourself, what is there to do at Chitwan National Park? Go on a Nepalese Safari of course! After a 6 hour, BUMPY ride we made it to the park. We stayed at the Macha Paradise View safari camp where we had lined up an elephant safari walk in the evening and a gypsy deep safari with a canoe and jeep the next morning. As an added bonus, there was a Tharu traditional dance in the evening after our elephant ride.

I know, I know, you are super jealous that we went on a safari. Just picture it, a 2 hour elephant ride in a giant national reserve with over 100’s of different animals. We must have seen tonnes of things, right? Well, we went all the way to Nepal on a Nepalese safari to see a Bantam chicken, which I have decided to name the Great Bengal Chicken. Fortunately, that was only during the elephant safari; we did see more things the next morning on the deep safari. However, only seeing a chicken that day did make us laugh our heads off that night. I didn’t mention the best part about the elephant ride though. When we were going around the park on the elephant, there was a little baby elephant who belonged to the elephant that was taking another couple on the same safari as us. She was so cute that she made up for only seeing a chicken. AND, the guide let me drive the elephant by myself!

That night there was this great dance performed by the people at the camp (we weren’t camping though, we had actual rooms - with air conditioning). The group performed three dances, the first with sticks and coordination, the second they called a peacock dance, and the third we got involved and danced with them. It was really fun.

The next morning we got up bright and early for our deep safari. This time we got to see a rhino, some peacocks, I heard a chicken, saw a spotted deer, fresh water alligators at a breeding area, a monkey, and a Bengal tigress. The tigress was actually in captivity. Her mother had gotten a taste of human blood and turned into a killer. She had to be put down and at the time there were three cubs. They couldn’t survive in the wild because they did not have enough survival skills. Two of them died and the third was rescued by the park and now lives at the park in her pen because she cannot survive otherwise. It is a bit of a sad story, but I am happy that she was able to be rescued.

After the safari we had breakfast and they raced us to the airport to catch our flight, only to find out that it was delayed for about an 1 ½ hours. It was pretty interesting though. When we arrived we checked in and went through ‘security.’ Security was really walking into a hall where there was a woman that patted you down. After about ½ hour we get bored and decided to see if there were some tasks that we had to do available there. One of the tasks was to visit a local fire station and meet the boys and girls. The man for our airline mentioned that there was one just five minutes away. He walked us onto the tarmac and showed us the small fire station for the airport and introduced us to the captain. The main fire house was just in the distance but we were told that we were not permitted there at the time. We just talked with him for a bit and then decided to go for a walk down the street and see if we could find a grocery store (another task to perform). We found an outdoor vegetable market and a store that looked like it was likely the biggest store in the area for food. We decided to buy some water for ourselves and some pop and chips for a couple of really nice kids that were there. Then on the way back to the airport we stopped at another store where there were two women who made clothes. Mom bought a long shirt that didn’t really fit her, but she wanted to buy something from the woman just to give her some money.

When we returned to the airport we sat down and watched a Bollywood movie that was on the television while we waited. This was when I really started to get entertained by the security. I wanted to get something out of my checked bag. All of the checked bags were on a cart just by the tarmac. I asked the man at the counter if I could get in my bag. He was just like sure, no problem. No one was watching me; I just walked over, grabbed shorts out for mom and me. We changed and I put our pants back. We walked in and out of the ‘security hall’ without a second glance, after we had left the airport and wandered around. It was pretty funny. We finally took off and headed back to the street of Kathmandu.

Now, I forgot to mention…before heading to the national park, we got on an early flight that took you up close and personal to Mt Everest. I can officially say that I have seen Mount Everest with my own two eyes.

In Kathmandu we went to a couple of restaurants and saw a few temples. There was one place that was very religious where people go to be sent off to heaven Pashupatinath Temple. Many people in Nepal, outside of the Kathmandu Valley even, come to the place to be cremated. About 45 funerals are performed daily. We met someone that explained the process and parts of the religion to us that was very helpful. Having said that, it is a little frustrating in Kathmandu to want to learn about the different temples and what not, but finding someone who speaks English and doesn’t expect something from you is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

After visiting a couple of temples we went to the Child Protection centre in Kathmandu to volunteer for a few hours. We met with one of the organizers and he was very nice and accommodating to us. We learned that the complex is very much like a foster centre for children and does a lot to help children get off the streets and something to strive for in life. There was not a lot that we could do for the centre in terms of volunteering, but we were able to learn a lot about the place see what they did and go and buy some supplies for them. We noticed there was an area for the children to play soccer so we got some soccer balls. Also, in order to encourage the children to attend educational classes, children get credits and with that they can buy toys from the center. We decided to buy them some toys and other games as a way to help out as best we could. I would have loved to join the children in their classes but our presence was going to pose more problems than good. We were a little disappointed by that because we talked with them the day before and thought it was all set up, but oh well, our thought was there. We kept their contact information and gave them ours and hopefully we can do something more for them in the future. It was a really great organization.

I am going to end this very long entry with a little note on the game itself. After Malaysia we had sunk to 7th place. I am not really bothered by this. The competition aspect of the game started to take over the enjoyment of the trip. The group of people has almost divided into two groups - the group vying for first place and the group vying for last 😉 Mom and I have decided that we are thinking of joining the latter. We are just going to use the scavenger list as a guide for things to do, and if we are too tired to do something, we are not going to stress ourselves over it. We decided this at the beginning of this leg and it felt like a weight was lifted and we had a really great time. The scavenger list is really well researched and gives us a lot of great ideas of things to do. Some of the things are no brainers for us, and others are fun and different that we would never think of. For example, one was to go to a local bakery and help them make bread. We saw one and went in and they let us. As it turned out, the bakery is a non profit organization that helps the people of Salme Khola with education. We would have never gone in there and seen it, or bought their bread had it not been for the scavenge list.

Ok, I think you must be incredibly bored reading by now, or have given up, so I will end this for now.

Next stop, Cairo!
Xoxox
Leslie and Sandy

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Comments

[Anna]

your little part to help children!!!
I love how even so far away from home you and your mom try to help a child or any person that is in need!!! I wish more people did things like that in the world =)