Author: odohertyelaine

Chitwan National Park is approx 150 km from Kathmandu in the direction of the Indian border. The road that connects the two places is the main route for the large quantities of imports from India so it is constantly full of trucks loaded down with all sorts of goods. The road, if you can really call it that, hugs a cliff and twists and turns for a large part of the journey. If you haven’t seen the TV program “The Worlds Most Dangerous Roads” – it’s been featured on here and well worth a watch – two comedians (Greg Davies and Rhod Gilbert) drive it and it is both hilarious and scary! We took off at 7am to avoid some of the traffic out of the city and 7 hours later (yes 7!!!!!) we arrived at Chitwan. It’s difficult to explain how horrendous the “road” is.. bumpy, narrow, windy, dusty, rock slides are some of the words that come to my mind. Not only have you cars, bikes and trucks on the road but regularly there were people walking along the edge of the road, and to top all that the cars, going both ways are constantly passing each other … squeezing through the middle of the road.. going straight toward a car on the other side of the road.. INSANE!

So we eventually arrived safely at Chitwan and it was so beautiful and peaceful. The lodge at Tiger Tops is amazing. Considered the no.1 lodge in the area (thanks Mike D for the recommendation), the rooms are built of local materials and they have their own organic farm which supplies the kitchen. All meals are included and the food was really good (unfortunately I got “the illness” the night before arrival so I didn’t get to sample much of the food.. the toast on my last day was really good though!!). We had a rest after the hazardous journey and got ready for a sunrise “meet and greet” with some elephants the next morning.

Day 2 in Chitwan was all about the elephants. They take the welfare of the animals very seriously here so there were no elephant rides or the likes.. We got up early to see these working elephants carry grass that had been cut by their handlers and take it back to feed their friends!! When they’d gathered enough we headed to the water so they could get some water. It was magical being so close to them!

After lunch it was back to the elephants. This time we made cuchi sandwiches and fed them to 4 beautiful female elephants. They have quite an appetite and it was great fun feeding them. The youngest of them kept waving her trunk like she was dancing so I mimicked her and each time she’d do it again!

We finished the day with a trip to the river to see the sunset and of course to hang out with the elephants again. We did spot some rhino too!

The next day I unfortunately was too sick to go on the jungle walk but Suzanne did and she got to see some wild rhino:

Later that evening after a visit from the medic (who doubled as the barman), a good sleep, shower and a few hours snoozing by the pool I rallied for a short walk and go on the ox cart:

On our last morning we said a final goodbye to the elephants. Thankfully I was feeling a lot better and we were flying back to Kathmandu rather than driving..

There are 3 Durbar squares (royal square) in Kathmandu. For our first adventure on the streets we decided to head for the main one in Kathmandu city centre. We followed a walking tour from the lonely planet guide and weaved our way through small alleys and streets to see some very cool stuff among the chaotic dust and earthquake battered town. The electrics were particularly interesting to see!!!!

There were temples small and large on every corner but the highlights were seeing our first huge prayer wheel, the buzz of the square itself and learning about the Kumari (more on that later!)

You really do need a mask with all the dust and smog!

One of the streets we walked down had a trench running the whole way down the middle…. it looked like they were doing new pipe works and we saw a mother swing her child over it – she thought this was hilarious and the child was screaming and crying!!

Day 2 we headed to our local Durbar square in Patan (also known as Lalitpur). Once we got away from the main road the small streets around Patan en route to the square were quieter and calmer. It was a lovely sunny day and was so enjoyable finding our way around and saying hi to locals who seemed happy enough to have us around.

Patan square:

There were a lot of beautiful things to see but the highlight for the day was the golden temple (above)

Between the two squares we visited there was always one old man in yellow robes usually with long grey hair sitting somewhere smiling and waving us over. I reckoned he was a holy man but we never went over to him even though we were tempted for the photo opp!! Later our guide told us that they are marijuana smokers and are looking for money!! Holy me arse!!

They say arriving in Kathmandu is an assault on the senses and they’re not wrong! After a seven and a half hour flight to Abu Dhabi, the four and a half hours to Kathmandu was easy enough although tiredness was setting in. Looking out at some beautiful mountains on the way helped (even if I didn’t know what I was looking at). I’d read that Kathmandu airport could be a nightmare to get through but with a pre organised visa I sailed through nice and easy and it wasn’t long til I was outside and spotted my guide – Ujewel – with my name on his handmade sign. I had a private transfer to the hotel in a car with air conditioning which honestly I thought was a banger, but would realise later it’s all relative and I might as well have been chauffeured in a Mercedes!!!! The noise, dust, smog, smells, traffic and all round mayhem is a lot to take in when you first get onto the streets of Kathmandu but it was exciting and exhilarating to have finally arrived. Not much else to do but get settled into the hotel himalaya and await my travel companions arrival and a day of exploring after a good nights sleep!

So I decided to capture my adventures in the world for the few of you who may be interested. …. unfortunately with all the planning I didn’t get much time to figure out this blog stuff but I’m trying to catch up. So we’ll start with my current adventures in south east Asia and see how it goes!