Update from the Other Side of the World

So here I am in Nepal, sorry I haven’t updated more, I just haven’t had the time/energy! but I’ve been working up the courage for a long blog post, so if the power doesn’t cut me short this should be it…

Spent last weekend in Chitwan, which was an interesting experience. Not exactly what we westerners would usually think of as a comfy vaca spot!

We started early in the morning, around 7-ish, on a giant grey hound type bus. My traveling companions were three, Laurel, a pre-med/pre-art twenty year old who has already graduated from college, Matt, the only boy volunteer here and a psychology pre-med major, and Linda, a sociologist who is interested in studying human trafficking. At first I didn’t understand the early start but as the day went on and the bus got hotter and hotter I figured it really made a lot of sense. I thought we would drive out of the city and then approach the mountains, kind of like in Colorado where you see the mountains a ways off before you come into them. Here, however, things are different. As soon as we got out of the city we were in the mountains. I call them mountains, although my friend, Laurel, claims they are just hills really. Whatever they are they are SO tall. And they seem so young and sudden, compared to, say, the Appalachians. They are verdant and hot and shoot straight up from the bottom of the bus window to the top. Along the roadside little shops and brightly painted structures squat, seemingly teetering on the edge of the mountainsides. On our right the mountain plunged down to a wide brown river with giant smooth rocks that looked like oversized creek pebbles. Occasionally the river would be traversed with an Indiana Jones style swinging bridge, or, better yet, a cable with an unsteady looking box attached via which the locals would pull themselves and their merchandise across the river. Sometimes the landscape would open up a bit for wide green rice fields. Overall it was a beautiful and exotic ride, although a little air conditioning would have been perfectly acceptable! We stopped halfway by an open market and a couple of little bakeries and restaurants and I ordered a wonderful donut but forwent the typically accompanying “tato chai”–or hot milk tea.

When we finally arrived at Chitwan (6 hours hence) we were hot and tired. Our bus kept stopping to let the locals off at various roadside stands and villages and we looked at each other apprehensively, picturing ourselves and our luggage dumped on the side of the road at one such spot! Our drive ended, however at a little gravel turnaround with one building nearby. The only sign that this spot was used to accepting tourists was the crowd of Nepali taxi drivers that swarmed us the moment we debarked. We had already decided on a hotel-the Jungle Adventure World, which, as it said on all of its signs, was “highly recommended by the lonely planet” (apparently this is really the only guide to nepal out there!!). Having already decided this we went with a little Nepali man, Issoor who my friend Linda described aptly as looking like the Nepali version of a christmas elf. Anyway we transfered ourselves and our baggage to a little blue truck with bench seats in an open back and drove down the little gravel road, to the end of the road.

Jungle Adventure World (JAW as the backs of our keys stated) is a group of mint green “cottages” in a fenced in semi-circle. They also owned their own elephant, the youngster, Pinky Cully and there were always chickens and baby chicks roaming the grounds. The rooms were not air conditioned but there was the promise of a ceiling fan (ours didn’t work til the last night, but then again neither did our lights!!) and mosquito netting over every bed. Bewildered and tired we agreed to buy their package deal of two nights and three days which included canoing down the river, bathing and riding the elephants, a village tour, bird-watching and a “culture show”. Our cottages each had two beds a bathroom and really that was about it. Laurel and I were in one and Matt and Linda were right next door.

In order to ward off the heat we decided to head down to the river we had spotted not 30 yards from the road on the way in. There were little seats arranged all by it and taken in 2D it almost seemed like a scene from the seaside in Maine! Anyway, we found a spot and plopped down by the river, watching the almost naked Nepali locals (only men, mind you) float and frolick in the river. It started to rain lightly and Laurel and Matt headed back while Linda and I decided to stay out a little longer and bask in the cool water droplets. Then it started to rain harder. Afraid for Linda’s camera we sought shelter in a little porch under a shanty-ish restaurant on the shoreline. The local men, who had since become clothed joined us. The rain picked up rapidly and became spotted with hail. The wind blew fiercely and in a few minutes we were both shivering and freezing. We ended up facing inward holding a tarp behind our backs with a fair number of the locals. The men kept trying to convince us to come with them and have some Lossi with “helicopters” that would “make us fly”! We, being uncertain what that was but certain that it sounded drug related, declined.

Eventually the storm subsided and we went back to our safe little JAW to meet our companions and our guide for the village tour. Our guide was the most jovial and knowledgeable Nepali man. His name was Harka and he had been to the jungle training school in the village there for four years before being certified as a guide to the national park. He took us to the elephant stables (one set at least) where we got to feed the littlest of the elephants, Sweety Cully, grass wrapped around rice and molasses. After our tour we went to one of the local restaurants, KCs, that, although highly recommended resulted in some stomach problems for me! (that lemon sauce fish was just a little TOO lemony!)

The next day we awoke at about 5:30 to get started before the heat of the day. We got into what Harka the night before had called “the wobbly boats”, hollowed out bark canoes and poled off down the river. Harka sat in front watching with his eagle eyes for any movement. We actually did see two crocodiles and a number of cool birds. A little ways ahead of us we saw some researchers crossing the river on domesticated elephants–with the two elephant twins (the only KNOWN in the world). They shouted something to Harka and he in turn told our boatman to bring us to the river bank. We followed him up the bank and crouched in the grasses to watch a wild elephant on the far shore. Our boatman had apparently had enough for one day and he disappeared with our wobbly boat.

Left with few other options we began our hike back through the jungle. Harka darted off ahead of us and climbed a tree to look over the high grasses for rhinos. We saw some tracks and droppings but none of the actual beasts. We also saw some huge tiger tracks. At one point on this jungle trek Harka disappeared off the trail and gestured for us to follow. We gamely attempted to, crawling almost on our knees through the jungle foliage to where he was standing pointing at a group of red-faced monkeys.

Our jungle hike ended at the Elephant Breeding Stables where we saw more elephants and attempted to get the hang of hurling crackers like frisbees so that they would land within the chained elephants reach.

From there it was on to elephant bathing, possibly my favorite part of the trip. We stood on a overhang above the river and Linda and I jumped on an elephant’s back, with aide from the mahoute (or elephant driver). The mahoute then directed the elephant into the river where he promptly began calling out commands and hitting the elephant on the side of the head with his walking stick. The elephant responded by flipping his trunk back and spraying us with water. Then he laid down in the river and rolled over. Off we went into the somewhat quickly flowing river.  From there it was a scramble to grab the mahoute’s staff and clamber back onto the elephant’s back…where he would promptly dump us back off again! It was hilarious and wild and the water felt WONDERFUL.

Following this was lunch and a break and then the actual ride on the elephant’s back, which was not nearly as fun. The four of us crammed into a wooden platform about 3ft by 3 ft, each with one of the corner posts between our legs. The elephant then trotted off into the jungle. The main goal of the ride seemed to be to avoid the branches that were continually smacking us while straining our eyes for the hints of blurred, movement that turned out to be deer!!

The next activity was the “cultural show” which was really very good but started off a bit rocky with a stick thin Nepali man seemingly screaming at us in a very thick british/nepali accent, although I presume he was actually speaking english?? I think it was mainly the microphone’s fault, but the result was a little hilarious. Then the stage was overtaken by a group of about 20 teenage boys accompanied by drummers. The boys danced in a mix of dance and karate around the circle, banging their sticks together in an amazing show of choreography and stamina in the air-condition-less (who would expect it?) building. Their dances also included the “Lady-boy” dance, where one of them dressed up like a girl, and the peacock dance, where some poor soul in a lifesize and incredibly uncomfortable looking peacock costume took center stage. At the end of the show they invited the audience to join them and Matt, Laurel and I did. (Linda, had been feeling a bit sick the whole trip and had passed on the show that night.) It turned out that we were really the only non-nepalis who took them up on their offer, but I am so glad we did as it was really fun and a great ending to the night.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful and I will stop there as I am ready for a shower and nap and I am sure I have pushed even my most diligent readers to the limit!! Will write again soon.

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