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Published: November 16th 2010
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I arrive in Nepal and Jiyan is there to meet me. In Nepal, you can get your visa at the airport, no hassle, no waiting… you should bring a photo of yourself, though I doubt they wouldn’t let you in without it. Nepal relies heavily on tourism and so they make it easy (at least easier) to travel here. Next year is “Year of the Tourist” though I’m not sure what that means exactly…neither does anythone I’ve asked.
I get to my temporary living quarters and am rather appalled by the bathroom - I thought my India accommodations where rather appalling with the ants and termites, but the bathroom appears (and smells) to not have been cleaned in this century. The smell is due to the plumbing exhaust and not a cleanliness issue (for the most part I guess). My heart begins to sink at the thought that my bathrooms (the one thing that I’m a bit queasy about) are going to get worse than what I’ve had in India. A call to my boyfriend in the morning and I’m getting rather depressed at the prospect of another 4 weeks away from home. But he says what I need to
hear and I feel a little brighter about it, but am very leery about my accommodations for the next month.
Sunday, I tour Kathmandu’s Thamel and Darber Square with Tim from Ireland and Bernard from Switzerland, and the unabashed stares by the locals are at least as bad (if not worse) than what I’d experienced in India. Except when I smile and say “Namaste”, the response is not quite as friendly as I expected. We do find some great little shops and it is hard to resist buying some things, like a sarangi (stringed instrument) and some ornaments made of recycled plastic.
The following day, I take the Everest flight to see Everest and the Himalayan chain up close (at least closer). I will not be traveling to Everest so the mountain flight is the best way to get a view of the world’s most famous mountain. Our fight is delayed by an hour and a group of tourists starts to complain loudly demanding the stewardess apologize to them. Finally they obnoxious foursome gets up and leaves demanding a refund just before the plane takes off. I’m am thrilled for two reason - I get to move up
to a better window seat that they’ve just vacated AND the weather is crystal clear for optimal mountain viewing (which is not always the case) so they have just missed out on a perfect view of the Himalayas…serves the a-holes right!!! As it turns out, the wait and the $140 ticket were well worth it - the view is spectacular.
Later we tour Swayambunath (the Monkey Temple), Bodhnath (the largest temple in Nepal and possibly the world), and Pashupatinath where there are funeral ghats along the holy Bagmati river where Hindus cremate bodies of loved ones on a funeral pyre. One of Nepal’s holiest rivers, it is shocking at how polluted the Bagmati is, at least in the city. But I have heard that the holy river is thought to flow from Shiva’s hair and therefore it is somehow not necessary to clean?! I beg to differ...
At 7:00 the next morning, I travel to Chitwan National Park some new friends, Rosslyn and our guide, Prakash. We a stop on the Trisuli River for a 3 hour whitewater rafting excursion. Our estimated 2-3 hour drive is doubled because of some unknown traffic problem that has us bumper to
bumper up and then down the steep, cliffhanger road over the Kathmandu valley. We finally get to our rafting point at about 1:30. It’s a fun ride, but not too exciting. We end our ride at about 4:00 and need to hail transportation to Chitwan National Park. However, on this tour, we apparently are NOT limited to bus transport. Anyone going our way is suitable, and so we hitch a ride, along with two other rafters, with a truck driver who lives in Chitwan near the park. Quite an experience to sit inside the cab of a huge truck barreling down the narrow, and hairpin turns of the roads between Kathmandu and Chitwan. He is quite a flirt and appears to be showingoff to his new passengers. His name is Ram, and my Nepali name is Sita, who in Hinduism is married to Ram. So our driver has fun with that. I’m tempted to tell him to keep his eyes on the road but I think better of it.
We stop for tea just ½ hour from our destination, much to everyone’s annoyance. Then we have to get gas, another ½ hour delay. We finally get to Chitwan National
Park by 8:00 - hungry and tired, but excited to be in Chitwan. Prakash seems a bit flustered and doesn’t know where our transport is for the hotel. The two men who rode with us are going to a nearby lodge, and their driver is trying to take our bags to go with them as well. Prakash seems a bit confused and begins to allow the driver to take our bags until I have to harshly ask Prakash if this driver is with our lodge, which he clearly was not. He is a bit young and I feel badly that I lost my temper a bit, for which Prakash seems embarrassed. So the two men leave and we are walking around trying to figure out where our driver is, until we spot him just a few feet from where we were dropped off.
We get to the lodge and I’m a bit concerned as there is a big pile of rubble in the front and a “slum-looking” hut. But, it is actually quite lovely once we enter the garden (the hut is some sort of working shed for the cooks to prep the meals). We have to shoo out
the tiny frog that has taken up residence in the bathroom before we are off to sleep.
We wake up and go to the elephant breeding facility then for a boat ride along the Rapiti river leading to the safari walk where our guides expertly spy a Rhino in the distance.
We meet two young, but very mature, school girls who proudly tell us about their country and the sights we “must” see. The Nepali are a very proud people and quite independent. I think this attitude is one of the biggest differences I see between India and Nepal. Not that the Indians are not proud, but Nepal has never been occupied or colonized, and is very proud of that fact, while Tibet and India on both sides of it have not been so fortunate. So having staved off dependence on a foreign country, the people are quite independent and maybe even aloof with foreigners which makes them all the more interesting but quite happy to share their knowledge and enthusiasm for their country. And it is an amazing country - the lowlands are rural and still within view of the mountains, the mountains are breathtaking.
The
following day we go to the Elephant safari and then to the Tauri village where we see Rhino’s wading in the river!
We reluctantly leave Chitwan as I go to my host family in Rampur where I will spend the next week teaching English in the local school and helping in the local orphanage.
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