After 19 days on the trail with no rest days, Mike and I were ready for some downtime, and Pokhara was the perfect place. For the first 3 days that we were back, our days entailed of going out for breakfast to Perky Beans, which serves real coffee, and chilling out in our hotel garden. It was nice to be connected to the world again and just relax our very tired bodies. As our week of relaxation continued, we made ourselves do one productive thing per day… get our visas extended, do some Christmas shopping, or get a massage (which I wouldn‘t call exactly relaxing more on the painful side). It was splendid!
We did do some sightseeing including the International Mountaineering Museum. It had a great display on the different ethnic groups in the mountains. I enjoyed recognizing a few of the groups that we saw while on the trail. There was also a 3-D display of the Annapurna range, so we could see what we had just finished hiking – wow! I also really liked the old mountaineering gear – amazing how little some things change like ice axes and crampons!
Our other highlight during our stay in Pokhara was catching up with friends from the trek. We enjoyed watching the sunset from the World Peace Pagoda with the Italian father and son that we met on the ABC portion of our trek. It was fun to catch up over dinner and drinks too! The Swedes made it back to Pokhara and surprised us. So we also enjoyed catching up with them over drinks and learning a little more about Swedish culture while listening to nice music.
Finally, it was time to say goodbye to Pokhara and get on the move again. We left on December 5th for Sauraha near Chitwan National Park. The ride was beautiful as we followed a deep river gorge most of the way there. Sauraha is a very small town, and a river separates the town from the park. Our hotel was right on the river, so we could see some wildlife–including a wild elephant and 2 huge crocodiles. We enjoyed a drink on the river bank while spotting crocodiles swimming and disappearing every time a canoe went by!
The following day, we packed in the sights of Chitwan. We started the morning by renting bicycles and riding 3 miles out to the elephant breeding project. Elephants are used in the park for tourist safaris, rescues, chasing rhinos away from poaching areas, and helping carry supplies to repair bridges in rural areas. Nepal used to purchase their trained elephants from India, but in 1988 the breeding center was opened. The elephants are kept outside under huge roofs chained to a post in between outings to the nearby woods for training sessions. As we started looking around, several elephants with babies came back from their morning training carrying their daily food back. The trainers rode on the elephants bareback with the food while the babies trotted alongside. It was fun to see the trainers get off the elephants and settle them in for breakfast. Most of the babies also got chained except for a really little one. He was really small and wandered between a few different elephants who we assumed were his aunts. He would try to suckle, but they would gently push him away toward his mom. It was neat to watch!
Our second highlight of the day was the elephant bath, which we had heard about from one of Mike’s co-workers. The elephants give morning and afternoon safaris, and at mid-day they get fed and a bath in the river to cool them down. So instead of a trainer giving them the bath, they let the tourists! The elephants arrived at the river, and Mike and I climbed on bareback holding onto the rope around its neck. Then the elephant walked down the river bank into the river. The next thing we know the elephant was spraying water on us. Little did we know that we were the ones getting the bath! After a few sprays, the trainer led the elephant into deeper water, and the elephant slid us off her back into the river! It was hysterical, and I couldn’t stop giggling!
Our afternoon entertainment was an elephant safari. The elephant had a saddle box strapped onto its back that would seat 4 people, and the trainer sat right behind its head. We climbed in from an elevated platform and shared our ride with a nice couple from Australia. Then off we went with 4 other elephants into the woods. The ride was really smooth, and she walked quietly. Our elephant was hungry, so she stopped frequently to snack, and at one point pulled down a big tree branch while eating its vines!
When we arrived to the grasslands, the elephants spread out while looking for game. We heard the whistle of a nearby trainer, and our trainer had our elephant almost running towards them! When we arrived, we saw a huge rhino with her baby. All the elephants arrived and surrounded the rhino so we could observe. The elephants smell helped disguise our own, so we could be fairly close. Wow, the rhinos are prehistoric looking , and their skin looks like heavy armor. After a few minutes, the rhinos made a break and ran off – they can also trot fairly quickly!
We did not see any tigers, but we did see their footprints and the remainder of their kill. However, we did see many species of different deer and a giant lizard at least 3’ long! At the end of our safari, we dismounted and fed our elephant bananas, which she loved! It was so cool to touch her trunk and really see her up close!
On December 7th, we left for Kathmandu on a tourist bus. The owner of our hotel warned us that there were lots of strikes in the area due to a security breach at the prison so all traffic except tourist buses, police, and ambulances were stopped. Luckily, we got through everything okay, with only being stopped for 1 hour in one town. It was some added excitement though! I was happy to arrive in Kathmandu and settle into our room with a nice bed and to watch cable TV.J
We spent 3 days in Kathmandu seeing a few of the major sights. It was an adjustment to get used to the traffic and noise of a big city again, but we both enjoyed ourselves. The first sight that we visited was Kathmandu’s Durbur Square with the former royal palace. Within the square there are a dozen or so different temples around, plus a few cows and lots of pigeons. The temples are Hindu and are square-shaped, and the number of tiers varied between 2 to 8. The outside struts were covered with beautiful wooden carvings. The royal palace housed a museum with displays covering the lives of the last 3 kings. It was an interesting exhibit and nice to learn a little more about the history of Nepal.
We also visited the Swayambhu Stupa, better known as the monkey temple, which is located on a hilltop within Katmandu. The stupa is 1500 years old and had a great view of the city. It is a white round mound with prayer wheels circling it and small idols to each of the earths elements around it. On top of the mound is a yellow and black steeple with Buddha’s eyes on the base. Around the stupa were many small shrines and two monasteries. There were lots of people doing their prayers, and incense filled the air which added to our experience.
The last sight that we visited was Patan’s Durbur Square. Patan was originally its own city, but has now been absorbed into Kathmandu’s limits. It also had many different temples within the square, but the real highlight for me was the museum located in the royal palace. The museum was filled with small statues of different gods and goddesses made out of stone, wood and gold. The displays were set up to help explain how you could identify which god/goddess the statue was representing based on hand and foot placements as well as other characteristics. The explanations were great, and so was the art! I had fun learning and used my new found knowledge back outside when we looked at each of the temples in the square.
Nepal is an amazing place and we really, really enjoyed our time here. It was hard to leave, but we hope we will come back someday to trek again! Now, we must move on to our 10th country (We are counting the Vatican City as a countryJ ) and look forward to enjoying some beach time in Thailand.
Man, your elephant didn’t pick you up at your lodge?! I would have demanded a refund! ha ha ha. Also, I didn’t get a rope to hang onto, I just had to hold on tight squeezing my legs 🙂 Glad you guys went and gave it a try!
Our hotel was right on the river’s edge, so the elephant did pick us up. It was fun.