Blogs from Chitwan, Nepal, Asia - page 24

While waiting around in Kathmandu for the Indian visa to come through we had a few days to kill so headed for a 5 day trip to Chitwan. We wanted to see tigers and wild elephants but we were there at the wrong time (best time is February - March when elephant grasses have been burned and you can see animals!). We also managed a couple of days white-water rafting on the Tresuli river which was great fun. We didn't see the big animals but saw the rare one-horned rhino, deer, wild boar, gharial and magar crocodiles and loads of types of bird.... read more

After a bumpy five hour bus ride from Kathmandu we arrived to the village of Sauraha in Chitwan national park. Chitwan was conveniently on our way towards Indian border. When we got off the bus everybody seemed to have someone from a hotel waiting for them, except for us and a dutch couple. After five minutes everybody else had disappeared so there were only the four of us surrounded by a number of drivers offering us a lift and cheap hotels deals. We ended up in the Riverside Hotel (www.hriverside.com) together with the dutch couple, Cees-Jan and Elsa. This turned out to be a very good choice, the hotel is situated in a beautiful location on the river bank and is cheap, clean and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. Way more than what we ... read more

It was not easy to leave India, not because we did not want to but because several obstacles were put in our way. Our plan was to reach the Chitwan National Park (Nepal) in one day, but as you can imagine it did not work out. Somehow we got the impression that national parks - be it in India or Nepal - must be hard to reach to give them an air of exclusivity. Theoretically Varanasi is a perfect starting point for Nepal, but due to the political problems tourist numbers are dwindling and it was difficult to find transport other than local. Our train to Gorakhpur was due to leave shortly before midnight, we would arrive around 8 a.m., then take a bus to the Nepalese border and from the Nepalese town of Sunauli somehow ... read more

Today was a day where we would get to chase rhinos while riding an elephant. Exciting huh... well, that's what the travel brochure said anyway. Royal Chitwan National Park is a national park in the south of Nepal where the British Royals used to hunt the poor animals for fun. Today it's a major tourist attraction and conservation park which promises the traveller the chance to get close to exotic wildlife such as rhinos, sloth bears and even the occasional bengal tiger. Due to major delays on the road to Chitwan (due to the Maoist terrorists) we couldn't take the super cheap bus but instead had to fly on a tiny vomit-inducing plane (major rip off). The 25 minute flight gave us a bird's eye view of the Nepalese country-side including the gorgeous stepped mountainsides and ... read more

Finally, after 16 months and 14 days on the road since setting off to sunny Rio de Janeiro, I am back home in Manchester and, yes, its raining! Our final few weeks travelling in Nepal and India were pretty eventful. I last wrote from Kathmandu where I was still sick from the dodgy Indian restaurants (what do they expect when there are goats roaming around in the kitchen?!). From Kathmandu we took an 8 hour bus ride to Chitwan National Park. On the way we saw three separate road accidents - very unnerving! Chitwan itself was wonderful. When we arrived, there were absolutely no other foreign tourists so we were practically dragged into all the hotels and ended up with yet another great deal - a gorgeous room for only $1.50. The thing to do in ... read more