Lakes and Rhinos
Trip Start
Mar 01, 2010
1
9
78
Trip End
May 25, 2011
Where I stayed
Yeti Hotel (Pokhara)
Tiger Residency Hotel (Chitwan National Park)
Bharatpur, Nepal
Friday, April 2, 2010
- The world peace pagoda. Built by the Japanese and Nepalese on a hill that towers over Pokhara. It is dedicated to peace (obviously) and Buddha.
- A canoe on the Pewa Tal. The big lake in the middle of Pokhara (second largest in Nepal). Looked very inviting to jump in but we were advised against that... something about turning into a mutant didn't appeal.
- Saragkot. 'Breathtaking views', 'almost religious experience', 'unmissable'... Except when we were here. The view, whilst impressive, it was still foggy over the Himalayas and over the town, so visibility wasn't as we hoped. We were told afterward it was the wrong time of year... hindsight is a bitch.
- Chinese food - Yes - Chinese food. Some of the tastiest food we've had on this trip. We went back three times... and it was cheap!
We recommend this place to anyone, except if you stay at the Yeti hotel, watch out for the owner, because he 'tried' to overcharge us... a mistake on his part trying to get money out of Tash haha!
Chitway National Park and Sauraha
The bus drive here was uneventful, just passing the usual buses crashing off bridges and trucks overturned on the side of the road...
First day just involved a bit of a nature walk, a 'view' of the sunset and a culture show. We walked through a Tharau village - pretty boring - except Ryan had empty cans thrown at him by some of the local kids demanding Chocolate (no shit!). Then we got up close with some elephants (domestic ones); then into the bush we went.
We followed a river around to find a big bloody Rhino cooling off in the water - the photos don't do it justice (even though we only saw the top of it). Then around to watch the sunset, then dinner, then off to the culture show. Full tourist attraction, involving a whole bunch of local people dancing with sticks and a unintentionally funny announcer.
Second day at Chitwan started off with a 2hr elephant ride through the forest which was very cool, because the elephants - while huge - are somewhat ignored by the wildlife. So we got intimate with some deer, boars, peacocks and monkeys but missed out on any more rhinos.
We managed to get on the most feisty disobedient elephant there. It took numerous whacks of the bamboo stick on the head to get it going in the right direction and this in turn freaked Tash out, who explained "I'm never getting on one of them again!" (we've been on one previously in Thailand, and Tash said the same thing then too).
In the afternoon we had a canoe ride and saw a massive croc just chilling out on the banks - about as big as our canoe. Then it was a nature walk to the elephant breeding center and got to see lots of little baby elephants, even some twins which are second ever born in captivity. We would have photos but forgot the camera...
The following day, involved another nature (bird watching) walk. Even though we didn't care for birds the sunrise and scenery were beautiful. We then had a bus trip back to Kathmandu - about 8 hours to go 120ks' - very fun.
PS: First time we've been in a traffic jam next to a horse and cart and behind an elephant.
