Recovery time - Pokhara and Royal Chitwan National Park

---

After a very good massage and beers in Kathmandu (plus 10kg of washing), it was time to see some more of what beautiful Nepal has to offer... and in a less strenuous fashion! So we organised a 4 night getaway that took us to Pokhara (gateway to the Annapurna treks) for 2 nights, and then to the Royal Chitwan National Park to some jungle safari action!

We flew to Pokhara from Kathmandu (our last regional flight, thank goodness!)... This flight was actually pretty flash, we were served a cup of orange fizz and a lolly! The poor hostesses really have a tough job getting up and down the aisle, its about 1.4m high max, but still smiling!

Pokhara is a great town set on a lake, with waterfront cafe's and restaurants, boats on the water and people cycling everywhere. It has a much more relaxed vibe than Kathmandu, and even the tourist strip seems slower and more friendly. Pokhara has a spectacular background setting, there are mountains that hundreds of people are paragliding from (literally hundreds at a time!!!), and then behind those mountains is the even more spectacular Annapurna range - so high up you think they must be clouds but then a peak comes through and it is just amazing how huge they are! All of this is reflected in the lake on a very clear day, making for a double image of double mountains! We hiked up to the Peace Pagoda for a view of the whole area. Unfortunately we didn't have a clear day but was a good excuse to get a sweat up.

Having passed a couple of very relaxing days at Pokhara, we boarded a tourist bus for Chitwan - 6 hours of bumpy roads but actually a pretty good trip! Our itinerary for Chitwan was as follows: arriving to a very large lunch, we then had a nap, followed by a walk around the village and national park to work up an appetite for another large meal for dinner - this theme continued for the next 2 days!

The next morning we rose early for an elephant safari! It was truly spectacular to be up on these beautiful creatures, ambling slowly through the jungle. The other animals were so relaxed around them - I assume they knew we were on top but we were able to see deer, monkeys, a fox, a wild chicken (not sure if this was a legit 'wild' sighting or just a local chicken masquerading as something more exotic).... and the main event was a rhino and her baby!!! They were chilling out in a little watering hole, and we walked right up close on the elephants for a look!!! Apparently rhinos have really bad eyesight, so this poor mum was probably just wondering why 10 elephants had suddenly decided to walk over and stare at her!

For interests sake, the elephants are treated well, by appearances anyway. They have a 1.5hr walk in the morning and afternoon and they get a wash in the river afterwards. The mahouts (elephant riders) let them walk at their own pace and didn't get angry when the elephant wanted to stop and scratch or play with a branch.

After lunch we went for a canoe ride through croc infested waters - we saw at least 20 but they didn't seem too big by aussie standards (some are man-eaters so we'd heard). We walked through the jungle and were lucky enough to see another rhino from a distance! Apparently there are about 500 left in the wild so we did pretty well! Last stop was the elephant breeding centre to see some super cute baby elephants - probably the cutest animals in the world!

There are also about 120 tigers in the park but these are very difficult to see and a stay in the jungle at night is required.

After some bird watching the following morning we jumped on the bus bound for Kathmandu. We sampled the last of the delicious Tibetan foods that we were craving, saw some last minute sights and got on the plane for Cambodia...



M xx

---

Comments

[Laurel]

Wow!
just reading of your adventures and am filled with awe !! ohh!!! etc.... how brave you both are...making some wonderful memories. Will read this to Tony at the weekend so he too can be filled with awe!!! love you