| After many days of walking, laughing at all Derek's
& everyone else's terrible jokes & sleeping in
tents, we moved on. The bus was waiting for us on the
highway & accompanied by our Sirdar Rinji & 2
guides, Chhiring & Dilli, we took to the highway
again, back part way on the road we had arrived on 9 days
before. We took the road south to Chitwan along a fast
moving river where we saw several rafts on the river side
waiting to start the morning rafting adventure. It looked
like fun. The road we were on was high above the river
& just as winding as before with several washed out
areas and attempts at repair. Passed the main town for
that area where we spied a cremation taking place on the
river bank. Reached a police checkpoint and after a delay
while the directions to our lodge were straightened out,
we reached the Tharu Village Lodge & checked in.
There was a mixup in the reservations & the Village
Lodge was over booked, so Ian & Pat volunteered to
proceed to the Jungle Lodge for 2 nights. The rest of us
drew lots for 3 rooms: 3 women in one, 3 men in another
& one couple in the 3rd. It was all rather fun as the
rooms were all spacious and had a full bathroom with a
real toilet. What luxury. We had a good Nepali lunch
beside the swimming pool, then hit the gift shop to buy t-shirts,
shorts & a few souvenirs. Just had time for a short
swim in the pool before joining a naturalist on a nature
walk through the forest. Got driven to the start of the
walk on an ox cart across a small stream. Didn't see any
rhinos yet, but did see a fish eating crocodile sunning
on the river bank and some monkeys, deer & birds.
This village is on the buffer zone for the Chitwan
jungle, a national forest and game preserve. Most of the
food for the lodges is grown using organic methods by the
villagers who live surrounding the resort. After a good
continental style dinner, we were treated to more dancing.
This time a group in Tharu native costume who performed
to different music that we heard previously. Like some of
our evenings, the group made sure everyone got up with
them & tried out the steps. It was fun.
Had an elegant candlelight dinner of quail in the dining lodge, then retired early to bed because we had booked to go again on an elephant ride at 6:30 AM, which came early enough. Started out in the morning in heavy mist, back to the same spot as the day before. The baby rhino carcass was still there and so was the tiger. This time most of us were able to just see the tiger hiding in the grasses. The elephants circled the tiger, but were not pleased doing this. My elephant tried to go the other way and had to be persuaded by her handler to stick around. The handlers tried to flush out the tiger again without hurting him or destroying too much of his cover, but he stuck his ground. It was exciting anyway. We had planned to walk to the Tented Village, our last stop at Tiger Tops, but because the tiger was still around, we were driven part way in a jeep. We got out next to a river with 2 guides and after reconstructing the partly destroyed walkway, crossed to the other side & started up the path. Just a short distance away was an elephant eating in the trees. One of the guides went ahead to investigate & returned quickly with a look of fear on his face. He said it was a wild elephant that had stayed into the area & he wasn't taking any chances. We had to make a detour by clambering up a steep bank in the opposite direction. The guides were not wasting any time getting us out of there. We walked the rest of the way safely, arriving in time for lunch again. This lodge has no electricity at all. Each tent is very large with twin or queen sized bed and a private patio overlooking the elephant grasses below. The bathroom is separated from the tent by about 3 f eet but had running water & a solar powered shower.
The next morning, we couldn't resist one more elephant ride before leaving. Out in the mist again, so heavy it seems that it is raining, but no tigers this time. There is a mother & cubs near the tented village but she was not to be seen. Instead, Kary n's elephant came upon a pile of peacock feathers & signs of a fight. The handler said the mother was teaching her babies to hunt & got the elephant to delicately pick up all the feathers & give them to the guests. Quite a souvenir. After breakfast we left to take a short flight back to Kathmandu. The view from the small plane is great with the green hills below & the mountains to the north. As we approached the city we could pick out Durbar square with its temples & several other spots. Arrived at noon, with plenty of time to visit some of the shops & settle in.
That night we had our farewell dinner at the Thamel House. We were joined by Nancy & Tashi Sherpa, Gord's Nepali partner in Everest Trekking, & their 2 boys aged 5 & 8. We had an excellent Nepali meal & said our good byes as Karyn & Mike were leaving the next day.
There is Buddhist Stupa, reputed to be one of the largest in the world, nearby so we decided to visit there as well. It took us about 30 minutes of walking through more garbage strewn back alleys to reach it. Welcome to Kathmandu. The Stupa Bodhnath is the site of the largest population of Tibetans in Nepal, so there were many shops selling Tibetan style souvenirs. In fact the Stupa is ringed with shops in between several active monasteries, where services were in progress complete with gongs & drums. We had lunch at the Stupa View restaurant, which has balconies almost at a level with the top of the Stupa, so you do get a good view. Met Gord & Gail Konantz that evening on their return from 2 weeks visiting the Rajistan region of India. They had a fabulous time travelling with car & driver & stayed in restored forts & old Raj palaces. Nancy & Tashi & boys took us all out to dinner that night to Chez Caroline, which is in a rather upscale boutiques style shopping mall, reminiscent of Sedona, Arizona. We were sorry to say good bye, but we will return to Kathmandu, probably next year. |
The next
morning, there was a delay in transferring us to the
Jungle Lodge for our 2nd night, so some of us took a w
alking tour through the Tharu village. It was almost a
show village, most of it cleaner than the ones we had
passed through on our walks, but still primitive with no
running water or electricity. The wealth of the
inhabitants is indicated by their roof, from straw thatch
to tin to a few that were tiled. Went inside one home,
apparently lived in by a staff member, that looked quite
large. Some of the young men were having their morning
bath at the family water pump in the front yard. They
strip down to their undies & do a good job of soaping
down & washing their hair. The 
We had lunch, then checked into our rooms in cottages
on the property. Our large room opened up into a living
room shared by Derek & Josie. Just time to get
organized & attend an elephant briefing given by one
of the naturalists & elephant handlers. They have 10
Indian elephants at the lodge, 2 males called Tuskers
& 8 females. One male was born at Tiger Tops 21 years
ago, the only baby so far. Very interesting talk. Next we
all went on our first elephant ride out to the grasses.
We sat 4 to an elephant in a seat like a playpen on the 
In the afternoon we chose between a river boat cruise
or a jeep game drive. We all started by walking down to
the river where one of their 3 elephants
The next morning we walked to Mike's for breakfast,
passing by the King's palace just as a red clad horse
guard rode out the gates pulling 2 coaches. Rather out of
place in this city. After a huge breakfast, we arranged
for taxis to take us to Patan, an ancient town that is
now a suburb of Kathmandu. There we visited the Tibetan
refugee center, where there is a busy rug factory making
After the rest of our group had flown home, Ray &
I explored more of Kathmandu. We started with a walk to
the old Durbar square where we saw an Indian snake
charmer with a cobra & python. Also revisited the
temple of the Kumari Devi, the living goddess, a young
girl of about 10, who has been the Kumari since she was 5
& will stop at puberty. She made her requisite
appearance at the window complete in full makeup and hair
do. Kind of creepy. We continued on through the real back
streets heading for the Monkey temple Swayambhunath, a
Hindu temple. The streets are teeming
The next day we decided to keep our walking
conditioning up, so we walked about 1.5 hrs to another
Hindu temple, Pashupatinath, on the side of a river. The
main temple is closed to non-Hindus, but you can catch a
glimpse of the famous golden Bull from the door. The
temple was crowded with many Hindu families coming to pay
their respects. We walked to a hill where we could look
down on the temple & observe the many activities
there. Since the river is considered almost as sacred as
the Ganges, it is the site of many cremations.