Over the past 5 days we've wrapped up our time in Kathmandu and journeyed to Pokhara, Chitwan National Park and are now near the Indian border for New Year's Eve in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha. Tomorrow we cross over to India. We've really enjoyed having a varied experience of Nepal, from the beauty of the snow-topped Annapurna mountain range near Pokhara, to the bright yellow mustard flower fields in the Chitwan National Park.
Long drives and bumpy roads are part of the experience, along with very different ways of driving than we are accustomed to. A vehicle in front of you will honk and indicate when they want you to pass them, a vehicle coming towards you will honk to let you know he's coming through and you shouldn't pass in the gap, and all drivers generally pass where ever possible. We'd experienced this type of driving in Morocco, so were largely able to relax and trust that the drivers knew what they were doing!
While in Pokhara we awoke bright and early to drive/climb up to a viewpoint where we watched the sunrise light up the Annapurnas. The sunrise was worth the steep climb before breakfast! Pokhara is a beautiful location, with rich tree-covered hills, snowy mountains and a peaceful lake. We arrived in town in time for the start of a New Year festival, so Michael and I enjoyed watching a lively procession of people in different traditional costumes.
From Pokhara we drove 5 hours to the Chitwan National Park, where we stayed in a "village lodge" which felt more like something you might experience in Africa – flat land surrounding, with a river where villagers washed their clothes and themselves, dry fields interspersed with yellow mustard fields. We enjoyed an elephant ride through the forest, where we came upon a couple of rhino peacefully hanging out, as well as deer, a vivid blue kingfisher, prissy peacocks, devilish jackals, and an alligator, who thankfully disappeared from the scene as our elephants crossed the stream where he was lazily swimming. I loved coming upon rhinos in a reasonably natural setting. Another highlight for me was elephant washing, where I helped a trainer bathe an elephant in the river near our lodge. This involved lots of falling off the elephant into the river (me of course, the trainer had better balance than I!) It was awesome to be so near such an amazing creature. We hired bikes with the rest of our tour group and spent a couple of hours cycling in the national park, concluding our time in Chitwan with a delicious Indian/Nepalese meal at a local restaurant.
Now we are in Lumbini where we plan to celebrate New Year’s Eve with our tour group and leader, Bhupendra. Buddhists aren’t meant to drink alcohol, so we imagine the town won’t be welcoming the New Year in any dramatic fashion, but we’re planning a bang with lots of fireworks unseen in NZ for a long time. Happy New Year!
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