September has been much less frustrating I think for both of us than August. We spent August trying to fight through and count down the days until September. The first few weeks of September flew in. I type this blog two days before we leave for Pokhara and the day after we begin our ascent to Annapurna Base camp. This month has been quite interesting. Not so much with school. Its been the same old same old at school. Toni had to learn a traditional dance for Children’s Day here where as I had nothing prepared and had to come up with a short speech in front of grades 8, 9 and 10 on my first day at their section within 1.5 minutes. Nothing like a bit of pressure to start your morning. Toni quite enjoyed her Children’s Day and the dancing where as I was glad to get that day over and done with. As I write this we have less than ten teaching days left, with exactly one month to the date until we fly to Kuala Lumpur.
The reason this month has gone a lot quicker is I think because of our visit to Chitwan National Park. It was only decided a week or so before we went. It is one of the must do things in Nepal according to every guide. It was not disappointing. The problem was getting there. It is a normal 5-6 hour bus journey. It took us 9. A one hour drive out of Kathmandu Valley took us 3 hours. Landslide and a truck broken down on a two lane pass meaning traffic police and the army was called to navigate traffic. It felt like it took forever. Eventually we got moving and after that everything was fine. When we arrived in Chitwan we felt the difference between there and Kathmandu. We knew Nepal was hot and we had felt the Terai region temperatures before. Never had we experienced this type of humidity. It really had that jungle sticky feeling whereas when Kathmandu is hot it is just hot, not lots of humidity. We had pre-booked the trip and had all meals included, which we thought would be Dal Bhatt. To our surprise the food was some of the best we had since we got in Nepal. Quite large meals, not one of them involved rice or roti or a curry of any type. We stayed at Safari Club and I would highly recommend this hotel to anybody that goes to Chitwan.
The next day was when the main activities started. First stop, elephant safari through Chitwan National Park. It was an unbelievable experience. I have no other expression to describe it but both of us were ‘bricking it’ when we first got up on the elephants with two other Nepali men. After 3 minutes of walking we were told we would have to swap seats. This is quite difficult when you are stood on a wooden box on top of an elephant in the middle of the Jungle so the box/ seats were balanced properly. It added to the ‘excitement.’
We trekked through the jungle for about an hour or more and it was a thrilling experience. We saw different types of monkeys, and not the usual temple monkeys, seen large deer’s and lots of different types of wild birds. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see any rhino’s or tigers but we understood that it wasn’t the best season because it was too hot. It still didn’t take anything away from the safari.
Elephant Bathing. WOW. This was the best part of the trip I think in both our eyes. Down, into the river and asked to climb up on top of the elephant. The elephant then proceeded to take water in its trunk and spray both of us. It was really good fun. Then we were asked to sit up on the elephant just so the elephant would roll over and throw us into the river. Then it was time to wash the elephant down, basically using the river water give him a little rub. Think the elephant was near 45 years old. It is an experience neither of us will ever forget and made the whole thing worth it.
Canoeing down a river full of crocodiles was a different type of experience. Especially when the canoe was a hollowed out tree or as Toni likes to describe as “floating down a river infested with crocodiles on a stick.” That is what it was like. AT one point we were maybe 1m away from a croc in the river. It was a little frightening when you think that if somebody moved in the boat it started to rock quite precariously. Toni got some really good photos of the crocs and hopefully I’ll get the connection to upload them.
After the boat ride we watched a cultural program with the Tharu community. This community is quite a poor community and they live off the land and drink quite a lot. They are also resistant to malaria, which has been developed over the years. This is one thing that I think comes in quite handy. Hate mosquitoes, horrible little shits, hate waking up with 3 or 4 bites because once just isn’t enough.
With some sunset watching and bird watching, jungle walking the full experience was amazing and something I would recommend to anybody that visits Nepal. The 8 hour bus back wasn’t too bad. Yeh it takes a long time to travel in Nepal but the scenery is quite beautiful which makes up for it all.
After Chitwan we have both been counting down the days to the Dashain Festival. This means we get two weeks holidays on our year out haha. We will get the chance to visit Pokhara which is quite a popular place in Nepal because of its location beside a large lake beside the Annapurna Range. On the second day we will begin our trek to Annapurna Base Camp, something both Toni and I have been working quite hard in the gym for. It will amount to 8 or 9 days walking there and back trekking up to a height of 4130m. That plan nearly went down the shoot a few days back.
Toni and I were sitting at Kathmandu International Centre, the gym we use whilst we are here, checking emails on the internet. Toni had my netbook at the time so as I was sitting twiddling my thumbs I felt the chair shaking. I thought Toni had here feet on the table and started rocking it and it started to get on my nerves. I told her to stop it…I think she protest too much (Hamlet)…it wasn’t her. The ground was shaking, the walls were shaking and everything was shaking. It lasted for one or two minutes. I turned to Toni and said “Toni, don’t panic, but we’re in an earthquake.” Obviously she reacted quite well and started to get a little hyped, to which I said. Shut up, sit there and don’t move, it will pass. Luckily the walls didn’t start falling in around us, like other places in the Laplitipur area, unlike the British Embassy, where 3 people were killed. We sat through a 6.9 earthquake. Obviously we were not at the epicenter but it was still very powerful where we were. It gave me quite a headache, feeling like I had been bounced about in a rollercoaster for too long. It was over, and hopefully for good, I can now scratch earthquakes off my list of things to do/enjoy haha I just hoped that it wouldn’t cause any landslides in the surrounding area or knock down any of the bridges we would have to pass on our way to ABC.
Yesterday, some time after the earthquake (25/09/2011) a small mountain flight plane came down and killed 19 people just outside Kathmandu, including 10 Indians, 2 Americans 6 Nepali’s and a Japanese man. It’s such a shame, they were returning into Kathmandu from a flight over Mt. Everest. Nepal is not known for its good reputation when it comes to small airplanes which frequently crash on mountain flights. It’s been a bad period for Nepal but hopefully it will see some brighter times in the Festival period.
The reason It has taken me a long time to upload blogs etc is because of my LCD screen on my netbook. In August, I was in Thamel one night, woke up the next morning, turned on my netbook and the screen colours got inverted. Blue turned red, white turned black and it was too much pain to look at it. Pain in the arse. One should never take anything they deem valuable with them when travelling, if you do, be prepared for it to break or go wrong. I could replace the screen for maybe 37 pound in the UK, but although the cost of living in Nepal is very low and a hotel room costs maybe 3.50/night, the cost of electronics is sky high. Cost me over twice the price to replace my screen. Part of me wanted to just DHL or Fed ex it home but that was costing near the price of replacing the screen when I started looking at prices to work out the best options. If this screen fails, I will return and punch the guy in the face.
I have had a brilliant weekend in Thamel this past week sorting out my Visa extension, my ACAP (for Annapurna conservation fee) and my TIMS card, for trekking information. These were all musts for us and took a large chunk out of our school wages but because we are not using a guide for our trek we will save 20 US$ per day. The next two weeks will probably be the most challenging thing I have done in life too date, yes even tougher than travelling through India and I am relishing the prospect. I am at the fittest ive ever been and at the lowest weight ive been since I was 16 or 17. Hopefully it will go ahead without any problems and hopefully AMS will not set in when we reach the higher altitudes. Toni’s friend Adrian has arrived in Nepal and has decided to join us on the trek. We helped him get the job at the same school as us. If anybody reading this wants to do anything like this in Nepal they can get in touch with me Via facebook or email and I will point them in the right direction.
My next blog will be posted a few days after I return from Pokhara and it may follow a different pattern to my last blogs and hopefully I will take the time to upload some of the photos we have gathered over our time in Nepal. Feel free to send me any comments or if you have any questions just give me a shout.
Toni says hello to all readers
“One good thing about music, is when it hits, you feel no pain.” Marley, Bob
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