Day 29 - 29th Feb - Chitwan National Park

The view from the hotel balcony...

Woke up at around 6 and packed our bags for the tour to Chitwan. Over breakfast we had a chat with a cool Italian lady who'd spent her whole life since the age of 18 just working for 7 months a year and travelling the rest of the time. A very smart teenager indeed.

Our luxury tourist coach

We met the guy who'd arranged the tour and stood in expectation of the comfy-looking tourist buses we'd seen stacking up during yesterday's strike. We were soon led to the local bus, an apparently "luxury coach", where we squeezed, rattled and fidgeted as our driver hurtled along with reckless abandon. No-one else seemed to squirm and brace themselves like we were  compelled to do so maybe we'll harden to it.

We arrived gratefully at 11am and were met by a guy from the hotel - who promptly marched us to another smaller bus where we spent an additional 40mins developing new bruises.

At the next stop, the promised jeep was beaten to it by public transport and we were loaded onto yet another bus. However, this one was full of Westerners who had had quite a cosy non-stop journey from Pokhura. This just added insult to injury since they'd come twice as far in the same amount of time and had no war-wounds to show for it.

The most comfortable transport yet

10mins later we got off the bus and realised how unecessary an organised tour was. There were loads of touts for various hotels all clamouring for business. Having side-stepped this decision, we were finally bundled into a jeep and whisked away to our Hotel.

The Rainbow Lodge didn't look too bad and we signed in over a 'welcome drink' before heading to our thankfully clean room for the first hot shower we'd had in a while.

Lunch wasn't the a'lacarte affair we'd been led to believe it was and we were soon handed our spaghetti filled pancake roll, chips, cold veg and a slice of melon to ponder over. We weren't sure of the function of the melon but were saved from the quandry of deciding whether it was decoration, dessert or part of the main event by discovering it was too hard to eat anyway.

We took a walk past the hundreds of almost identical hotels offering almost identical packages and down to the river. On the other side of the river was a great big crocodile basking in the sun. It was so unexpected that we almost didn't see it. We gazed at it for a while and chatted to a lovely German couple who were travelling with a little girl.

We went back to the hotel for our first excursion. We intially weren't very impressed as it started out the back of the hotel, but our guide, Anu, soon won us over. We walked through a Tharu village, talked about traditional Tharu village life and learned how rice grows.

Anu then took us to the 'elephant village' where we saw lots of elephants chucking dirt over themselves and preparing to go out. It was so impressive to see how well trained they were. All of the elephants had 3 specific people that they worked with and if I remember, I'll find out their names and roles when I get online. Anu also showed us elephant sweets: a combination of all sorts of lovely elephant goodies including rice and salt which they wrap up in grass. I got to feed one.

One of the poor elephants only had one tusk because wild elephants had come to the village and attacked him. He looked all wonky but not too sad. They seemed so much better cared for and loved than the ones we'd seen before.

As we left, we passed a group of Nepali woman who were carrying their handbags on their heads the same way that they carry baskets. It was really comical to see them all in saris with Gucci handbags strapped around their foreheads but we couldn't take a picture without looking rude.

We took a walk  around the edge of the park and saw more man-eating 'mugger' crocodiles. After realising just how real it is that dangerous animals live in this place I've started to feel less enthusiastic about seeing a rhino, tiger or bear.

We sat by the river for a while before going to the 'visitor's centre'. It was very basic but actually better than I expected. And it was small, which was nice.

After sunset and a little bit more riverside sitting, we realised it was getting dark and headed back. The darkness came quickly and I was very grateful that our guide was as skilled as he was. It was fascinating to watch him with his senses on full alert. Thankfully, we saw nothing but deer.

After another foul meal (I miss street food!) which reminded me of my all-inclusive holiday to Spain with Nic, but with no choice, we were chucked into a jeep to attend the 'Cultural Programme'.
We knew we were going to watch a traditional Tharu stick dance and had learned a little about their lives so we were expecting a ride to a village, have a cup of tea in a tent and a watch few oldies perform around a fire.  Not quite.

We arrived at a type of village hall and were seated on the back bench behind the large number of people who were already there. We were giggling about how it felt like we were about to watch a school play when the narration started. I would have loved to have seen the guy speaking because he sounded like a young country gent crossed with an old Nepali guy and mixed up with a cumputer generated voice where all the pronunciations had been mixed up.

When the young male dancers came on we were quite amazed. The skill, dexterity and accuracy they showed was very impressive. Some of the dances were a hybrid of morris dancing and 'Strictly'. Claire and Jane would have loved it.

There were some other stranger dances. One was apparently a dance for if a young man had died in the village but it was quite farcical. It seemed to involve one boy beautifully dressed as a young woman and very gracefully ballet dancing whilst trying to escape the clutched of a crazed Andy-Pandy style character.  Another was a boy in a giant peacock costume. I couldn't see much of his legs because of the crowd but I did see him fan his tail out and that was quite impressive.

Finally, there was a rousing group dance with crowd participation where we were highly entertained by a Japanese fella who stole the show. It got a little awkward because when the dance finished, all the people who'd been on stage just walked out and were followed by their friends from the spectator benches. The Tharu dancers whirled their sticks one last time and knelt down in formation just in time to see the last few people filing out of the door.