Okay, so I haven't actually seen any yaks yet... but there are yaks on Nepalese currency! And I have seen baby elephants, camels, wild pigs, and rhinos, and those should count for something, right?
My journey in Nepal started with my first foreign overland border crossing, which of course involved some palm grease from our tour leader to "speed up" the process. We got through without further incident, though, and my passport is sporting a shiny new Nepal visa.
Upon crossing into Nepal, some differences from India were immediately apparent, including the availability of beer. So far I've sampled Everest Lager (with Tenzing Norgay on the label) and Nepal Ice (The Coolest Beer!) Interestingly, in many ways Nepal seems more Westernized than India did - but more on that later.
Our first sightseeing activity in Nepal was Lumbini, the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, otherwise known as The Buddha. The Maya Devi temple (named after his mother) marks the exact birthplace of the prince, and is an important pilgrimage site for Buddhists. The temple was a beautiful, serene place, and in the garden surrounding the temple hung thousands upon thousands of Tibetan prayer flags, which was a spellbinding sight.
After Lumbini, we boarded the most outrageously decorated bus I have ever seen - it made the handpainted Northern California VW hippie vans look like like Toyota Camrys. Fringe hung in the windows, the ceiling was painted in trippy patterns, and incense burned on the dashboard, just below a "No Smoking" sign. Though the bus was pretty chilled out, the ride was absolutely terrifying. I've never seen anything like Nepali driving. I *guess* they drive on the left in Nepal, but in reality, this isn’t really true because they actually drive in all lanes at once, honking their horns wildly all the time, and only swerve to the left at the last moment to avoid a head-on collision at 40 miles an hour. Add in the treacherous Himalayan mountain roads with 1000-foot drops off the side where the only guard rails, if there even are any, are sporadically placed 3-foot piles of rocks secured with chicken wire, and you have a pretty serious recipe for white knuckles.
The Nepalese Hippie Love Bus
Somehow we arrived in one piece at Chitwan National Park, one of Nepal’s most popular destinations. It’s located in the Terai, the plains of southern Nepal. The landscape was striking, but it wasn’t at all what I expected Nepal to look like. It looked more like what I expect Kenya to look like: grassy plains dotted with huge, exotic looking trees.
The view from our safari lodge
In Chitwan, we visited the government-operated elephant breeding center to play with the baby elephants. They were absolutely adorable. One mother had twin 4-month-old calves, which is extremely rare.
Twin elephant calves
Begging for treats
The following morning, our group went back to the national park for an elephant safari. Apparently the animals in the park aren’t intimidated by the elephants and so it’s by far the best way to see wildlife. It’s also probably one of the least comfortable ways ;-)
The morning commute in Chitwan
All aboard!
On the hour-long safari, we saw wild pigs, two types of deer, peacocks, monkeys, and wild rhinos, which was my personal highlight. They are incredible animals.
After the elephant safari, we headed back to our safari lodge to wash the elephants in the river. I kept thinking of the old Goofy cartoon… “I’m gonna WARSH Dolores!” It was so much fun to ride the elephants bareback and into the river. I did much less washing of the elephant than she did of me, spraying me with trunkfuls of water and playfully rolling onto her side and dumping me in. It was a wonderful experience – the elephants are massive, but so gentle and playful.
As we were washing the elephants, a horde of local kids came running to the river to check out the tourists. They stripped down and jumped in the river with us, and once the elephants left, water fights quickly ensued. After a time, a sweet little Tharu girl that couldn’t have been more than 3 years old attached herself around my neck and wouldn’t let go. I didn’t mind at all – she was the most adorable little girl I’ve ever seen in my life and it was all I could do to fight off an attack of Angelina Jolie Fever and not stuff her in my backpack to take home with me! She didn’t speak English, but I managed to learn that her name was Sanjaya.
Sweet little Sanjaya
That evening, we enjoyed steaks cooked in ginger and garlic at our safari lodge as the sun went down and fireflies came out. It was a magical ending to our visit to Chitwan. Next, we were headed for the mountains and a beautiful lake in Pokhara, Nepal’s resort town.
Riding home at the end of the day in Chitwan
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