Chitwan

I came back to Kathmandu only to leave three days later for Chitwan National Park. The two major cities in Nepal, Kathmandu and Pokhara, don't offer much. They are a haven for travellers and cater to travellers meaning the food sucks and there are tons of shops selling the same things. Chitwan was not too exciting, but it got me out of Kathmandu.

Manu and I left Carlos behind cause he was getting all spiritual and stuff by doing yoga and reiki. We'll not speak of this anymore.

Upon arriving at the lodge in CHitwan, we were greeted by a guy bearing an uncanny resemblance to Jeff Goldblum and he will be known as such for the rest of this entry. Jeff booked us our bus tickets out and sold us on doing a canoe ride with a four hour jungle walk and an elephant ride. The first day was for exploration and we quickly discovered the only two roads in Chitwan help nothing remarkable so we drank, smoked, and napped. Then the rain started.

The monsoon doesn't seem to be over in this part of Nepal. The rain came down hard for probably twenty minutes then not so hard for another forty minutes. The storm passed us but as night fell the lightning surrounded us. There were flashes all night, some so bright I had to close my eyes. Nature put on a show for us that night. It was clody so no stars were visible, but as Manu and I walked back to our, tiny specks of light could be seen flying around. Fireflies! Their presence made the absence of stars a moot point.

The next morning we woke up and found out we were doing the jungle walk with three older Spainiards staying at the lodge. We checked in with the cops/military in the area and I was again mistaken for Nepali when they asked where the fifth tourist was. As we walked to the canoe something that may have been a crocodile was spotted. Manu insists it was a log.

The canoe trip was ok. We saw a few species of birds, but nothing else. The jungle walk on the other hand was shitty. After instructions about what to do if animals charge us we entered the jungle. We didn't see anything. The only thing we encountered were leeches. The jungle leeches were bigger than the leeches on the trek. I managed to get two crawl in my shirt and find a nice suckling place in my right armpit and one on my lower back. The reaction the leeches got from the older Spainiards made any chance of sneaking up on a rhino impossible. One of the two women screamed at the top of her lungs and the other two ran in place like the flash dance chick.

Neither Manu or I were too thrilled with our company. Besides their reaction to the leeches they were slow. I don't know how much area the walk was supposed to cover, but we probably only walked two kilometers. My mind is now in the metric. Sorry American friends.

The walk ended and we rented bikes to try to find a traditional village three kilometers away from Chitwan. It was noon so I suggested we wait until later in the day to go because of the heat and humidity. It was (ready?) around forty degrees with probably one hundred percent humidity. We decided to take a siesta.

While I slept another storm rolled in. When I woke up, two hours later, the rain which had stopped for an hour, started up again. We returned the bikes without having ridden around much. That night no lightning, stars, or fireflies.

The next morning we rode on square plaform on top of an elephant. My ribs and arms are still bruised. The first hour of the ride was uneventful. THings got a bit uncomfortable when the driver started to beat the elephant on her head when she decided to stray from the path. His tool was a metal bar with cloth taped around it to make the beating gentler. I wanted to grab it from him a few times and beat him with it.

I don't know if the elephant was pissed from the beatings or if she's just a bitch but she didn't get along with any of the other elephants. While in the jungle she charged and one of them and we were taken for a ride, but nothing happened except them making a lot of noise. Another almost elephant fight ensued when we were crossing the river. Again nothing happened.

Upon crossing the river she started running again which made the driver yank on her ear with the hook end of his beating tool. She stopped, but there was blood on her ear, then we saw what she was running at, a rhino.

The rhino sat there watching us taking numerous snap shots and kept an eye on the elephant in case she decided to get fiesty again. She didn't and we left the rhino to its meal. Not five minutes later we ran into two more rhinos. We snuck up, as only an elephant can sneak up, on the rhinos in some trees. She was a little startled and picked up some of the brush with her trunk and swung it in front of her. Manu and I talked the previous night about who would win in a fight between an elephant and rhino. We didn't really want to find out while riding on top of the elephant. Fortunately the rhinos wanted nothing to do with the elephant and walked away.
Nothing much happened after.

The last night in Chitwan was clear so the stars were out in numbers. We could see the Milky Way faintly and the fireflies came back. We got back to Kathmandu and found Carlos who met a psychic and ran into this English woman named Deborah. We met her while on the trek, and aside from talking too much she's a really cool person. She insists on me coming to Sydney and stay with her as long as I want. Tempting offer.

Last night was the last night in Nepal for Manu and Carlos. We celebrated by drinking beer before dinner, two bottles of wine with dinner, and six gin and tonics at three different bars. Carlos slept in my room because Manu and Deborah were using the room he shared with Manu. I slept for maybe four hours and am a bit hung over.

I said goodbye to Manu and Carlso today. I have two more laces to stay in Madrid when I go back there. I hung out with them for over three weeks making them the longest travelling mates in my six months of travels.