Chitwan and Lumbini

I just wrote most of this and then there was a powercut... I best try and write a more condensed entry in case there's another. There'd already been one tonight so I thought I was safe.


Chitwan:

Arrived in Chitwan despite oversleeping and almost missing my bus! I'd sat next to a German girl called Katarina and ended up going to the same hotel as her - Jungle Adventure World. The individual little cottages were very cute and I claimed the first one I saw. On my way to discuss price I noticed 2 elephants out back so, grinning like a maniac I went to pet them. They were very... rough... But cute nonetheless. I explored the town a little, it was fairly dull and dusty.

The next day was a lot more eventful with a canoe ride at 7am where we saw multitudes of interesting birds as well as crocodiles. On embarking I commented on how wobbly the boat was and our guide said not to worry as the boat was named titanic. It would have been funny had the boat not been sat quite so low in the river after 10 people were sat in it. This was followed by a jungle walk with 2 guides with nothing but big sticks to protect us from an tiger, rhino or sloth bear we encountered. We started hunting for rhinos in long grass, and thankfully found none. Next we walked through the forest and saw interesting insects and more birds and 2 different types of monkey. Thankfully we did not encounter any tigers or sloth bears. Some may view this as a little disappointing - but I didn't fancy meeting one of these deadly animals without a stick of my own.

We arrived back at the hotel following a quick ferrying back across the river and had to instantly go and change so we could ride and wash Pinky the elephant- one of the ones i met the day before. She was most obliging, maybe because of the man with the metal stick with a pointy hook on the end. I still don't know how I feel about elephant domestication... but I'm pretty sure it's wrong. I didn't feel comfortable (morally) sat on Pinky. I just felt guilty really. I didn't go on for a second go. I hope she's happy.

We had a break for lunch - I just read Terry Pratchett though (I can't believe I've come to him so late! He's awesome) - then we went out for our elephant safari. Because of some mix up with our tickets, Katrina and I had to wait about a bit and went on a younger elephant that only takes 2 people. It meant we were faster than a lot of the bigger elephants. We were the first to see the spotted deer and the rhino - which I was still scared of even on an elephant. We saw a mongoose and more interesting birds and even a deer playing in a puddle. It's great how wild animals don't seem to notice you when your atop an elephant... The ride was more comfortable than I had expected and I thanked Laxmi, our elephant, as well as the rider at the end.

Katarina and I watched the sunset in the evening, then later I went to the Tharu cultural show which was just like lots of people dancing with sticks. It was ok, but I wasn't overly enthralled, perhaps a little lost on me. Also the guy introducing all the dances had quite an annoying accent.

Lumbini:

Another long (6hr) bus ride to another place. The bus ride itself wasn't so bad - at least they were proper roads but I think the driver was a bit of a maniac ignoring all the slow signs on a way down a particularly swervy hill.  I also ended up with some dust or something in my eye which now means I have blurred vision in my left eye. It has led me to contemplate how lucky we are to have 2 of everything otherwise I would be semi deaf and semi blind just 3 months into my trip. I have some eye drops that I bought for 20Rs from a pharmacy and it doesn't hurt quite so much anymore so I'm thinking it'll be ok.

in this temple is the stone that Buddha is said to be born on

We arrived and I shared a taxi from Bhairawa to Lumbini with 2 women and a 4 year old I met on the bus. I also ended up sharing a room with one of the ladies - Queenie - she's from the Philippines. We only share a room and don't really do anything together as she goes off with the other 2, we do keep bumping into each other in the only restaurant in town though. I don't mind because I appear to also have developed flu like symptoms and don't really want the hassle of having to talk to people.

Today, as it's my last real day in Lumbini I thought I should probably go and have a look at the temples - I rented a bike and cycled around all the temples for about 3 hours. I expected Lumbini to be a really peaceful place where I could sit and pray and chill out. But there weren't really any comfy looking sitting areas and there were swarms of pilgrims. A lot of the temples were under construction and it was quite dusty. The grass was dry and the weather hot. And I felt ill. After 3 hours exploring I had seen most of the Lumbini monastic grounds - although missed out on the Peace Pagoda and the crane sanctuary. When I realised I didn't bother going back as it was about 4km away.

I returned the bike and had some dodgy looking samosas which were quite tasty in this little fly infested popular local haunt. I then went for drinks and met Queenie and the others in the restaurant before going back to the hotel for a nap and to finish my Terry Pratchett book.

In other news:

So tomorrow, if there is no strike, I shall be off to India. My phone will no longer work - although I do have that other international sim... I'm not sure if I'll bother with an Indian sim card. I'm there for 2 months before heading off to some other Asian countries. This wasn't part of my original plan but I couldnt get a 6 month Indian visa which meant my flight to NZ was more expensive. I object to paying 200 more pounds when I'm doing the same travel - so I thought I'd spend that 200 pounds and probably a lot more on going to Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. Then NZ. And everybody said I should plan more... well here's to not planning.

I hope I can find more Terry Pratchett books in India.... I'm reading one by the Dalai Lama now. He says I must love everyone the same and not have favourites. I always thought I was quite good at being a generally fairly loving person... but Everybody has favourites... I'm not sure it's human not to have favourites... There's something for you all to think about.