Hello all, hope everyone is good, its a big one today as have hadn't had Internet access and also being having lots of fun. So woke up early in Beach Camp Site, didn't sleep well at all. Had been raining all night. The scenery however in the morning was awesome, mist surrounded the mountains and hills, great site to wake up and with the river now fast flowing due to rain, the soothing sound of the water and the quietness of the valley you couldn't ask for a more peaceful start to a day. We had breakfast set off for Chitwan National park where we are going to be spending the next 2 days. The drive again was about 4 hours. However it was a wet journey, would seem Josh has a few holes and due to the rain most the window seats were wet. I managed to get one that had water still dripping in as it was raining, my left leg was soaked with 20mins, though didn't bother me, its part of it, at one point i switch the other side of the bus to get more awesome scenery pics within 10 Min's my right leg matched the left, at least it didn't look so odd now. We stopped in a small town for diesel, as like all the towns we passed through and even Kathmandu we were the center of attention, people just stare, some smile, some try and sell us food and fruit. We arrived in Chitwan just in time for lunch. 'Rhino Lodge' is the name of where we are staying, is pretty cool with a main restaurant were we have all our meals, the room nice and clean and the whole complex is full of green vegetation, again very chilled and quiet, which Jodie the leader advised to make the most of as we head for India tomorrow and its going to be hectic. So we had lunch and set off on a 2 hour safari, we had 2 open jeeps and we were looking for the elusive Bengal Tiger, there is only about 100 in the park but i think i knew as did everyone else that i had more chance of sleeping with Olivia Wilde than seeing one, i am not going to say much about the Safari, it wasn't that great we didn't see anything but Deer and came back with bruises from all the jolting around.
Dinner was at 7, a few of us decided that we would have a few beers as we didn't have to travel tomorrow. There were lots of little shops just outside lodge area, so rather than use the bar we bought spirits and mixers. Myself and Joe bought a big bottle of whiskey for less than a tenner and a bottle of vodka, i could see the night getting messy. Myself, Joe and Gunar or Fredrick has he likes to be called or as Aussie Kate nicknamed him goon bag, went for a beer before dinner at a local Bar. Gunar is from Sweden, probably in his mid to late 30's he works for Ericsson and works on the telecommunications side on the switches so had something in common, he quite quiet but a good guy an when you getting him talking he comes out of his shell. Dinner was good but wasn't feeling too hungry. After dinner we found a table in the Garden and around 9 of us began playing Ring of fire drinking game, within 30mins the whiskey was gone, i cant really tell you much after this, things are slowly coming back to me, most went to bed after the game but myself Joe, Kate and Caroline stayed up late drinking and attempting to chat, all i can say was that Joe and Kate sounded like they had a good night ;o).
Woke up at around 10am the next day, chucked some clothes on and went to see who was about, the sun was out and it was hot and i mean hot. As i was chatting to a couple of the guys randomly an elephant walked through the complex garden with a man guiding him, he waved me over and suggested me to follow him, he was off to the river to wash the elephant, he asked if i wanted to join, at this point i'd better mention that we had already been told that this wasnt permitted due to the river that the elephants are washed in are infested with crock's, now, still being pissed from the night before of course i thought that this was a great idea and followed the elephant down to the river, Claire one of the girls of the group also came down, we trudged down to the river through thick mud and stood taking photo's, the elephant boy beckoned me in the water, i guess he was about 10m out, i looked at Claire and asked if she was coming, i think no way was the answer, i slipped my shirt off and in i went, the river wasnt deep at all and at deepest were the elephant was, was only knee high. The elephant lay on its side basking in the sun intermittently spraying water on itself while myself and elephant man scooped water on him, the man then offered me to stand on the elephants belly as it lay on its side, i hopped up and luckily Claire was taking pictures. Claire by the way, is a Kiwi and before this trip was working in England as a teacher, she is now on her way back home.For the firtst 2 days i thouhght that her naqme was 'Cle' or cleo', at the end of the 2nd day she asked me what i thkught her name was, 'Cle' i asid hesitantly, she laughed, and said in her best english accent 'claire' whoops!!. The elephant man then asked if i wanted to ride the elephant in the water, i started to now realise that this may cost some bucks, so i politley declined and waded back to shore. what an awesome experience, not every day you get to wash an elephant in a croc infested river, which by the way in my still slightly drunken state didnt even cross my mind once.
So we headed back to the lodge, it was now so and humid that i was dripping with sweat, everyone was, you could even breathe without getting a sweat on. I showered, which turned out to be futile, within minutes i was again in a pool of sweat, oh well so i thought a drop sun soaking was called for, Joe joined me, within 10mins it looked as if we had both just stepped out the shower, not pretty but i guess we should be thankful for no rain. I was hoping it would cool down for the afternoon as we were on a elephant trek at 3. 3 o'clock came it was no cooler. We had 4 elephants between the group with 4 on each elephant sat in a square shaped crate, you each sat in a corner with your legs hanging over the side. I didn't have high hopes after the safari however 10mins in we came across a Rhino. Its the first time i have seen a Rhino in the flesh, it looked like a tank, must have weighed near on a ton. We trekked for another 1 hour or so, pictures in abundance were taken, i think in the last few days i have taken well over 500 photo's. we saw another Rhino and its baby pretty cool and then just wondered round, again looking for the elusive Bengal Tiger, no chance!!!
We were leaving the lodge first thing in the morning, so we all chilled for the rest of the day, went to dinner for 7 and then were treated to some local traditional dancing, was pretty cool, even if it was over 85% humidity. Again a few of us stayed up having a few drinks but definitely nothing like the night before. At this point i need to tell you about another guy on the trip, Karl. Karl is 27 and from London, he is without doubt the character of the group. This evening he would have me and the rest of the guys in stitches, he likes playing games and when i say games i mean just random games that he makes up. His favourite is a game called 'The compliment game', the idea of the game is that you have to stare in the eyes of the other person and give them a compliment, this can be a truth or just something random, the loser is the one that laughs 1st after you give them the compliment. We went round the table, Karl beat everyone, his facial expressions, tone and some of the comments he came up with literally had us all nearly wetting our pants, he is a fun guy who so far as kept us all entertained. I think one of the funniest things he said was when Aussie Kate randomly offered him a plank off, just before they started, he said stop and announced that he couldn't do it until he had a 'number 2', we thought he was joking, but he was soon skipping back to his room, what a legend!
Sorry for the long blog but after 2 great days in Chitwan we had a 10 hr drive across the Nepal border into India, which was interesting and i had to pay out 850 rupees due to not having the right visa!! I'll update you on this in the next blog, and also i will describe in detail, OK maybe not in detail the worst hotel i have ever stayed in, Gorakhpur! all i can say is WTF!! keep well all.
Dinner was at 7, a few of us decided that we would have a few beers as we didn't have to travel tomorrow. There were lots of little shops just outside lodge area, so rather than use the bar we bought spirits and mixers. Myself and Joe bought a big bottle of whiskey for less than a tenner and a bottle of vodka, i could see the night getting messy. Myself, Joe and Gunar or Fredrick has he likes to be called or as Aussie Kate nicknamed him goon bag, went for a beer before dinner at a local Bar. Gunar is from Sweden, probably in his mid to late 30's he works for Ericsson and works on the telecommunications side on the switches so had something in common, he quite quiet but a good guy an when you getting him talking he comes out of his shell. Dinner was good but wasn't feeling too hungry. After dinner we found a table in the Garden and around 9 of us began playing Ring of fire drinking game, within 30mins the whiskey was gone, i cant really tell you much after this, things are slowly coming back to me, most went to bed after the game but myself Joe, Kate and Caroline stayed up late drinking and attempting to chat, all i can say was that Joe and Kate sounded like they had a good night ;o).
Woke up at around 10am the next day, chucked some clothes on and went to see who was about, the sun was out and it was hot and i mean hot. As i was chatting to a couple of the guys randomly an elephant walked through the complex garden with a man guiding him, he waved me over and suggested me to follow him, he was off to the river to wash the elephant, he asked if i wanted to join, at this point i'd better mention that we had already been told that this wasnt permitted due to the river that the elephants are washed in are infested with crock's, now, still being pissed from the night before of course i thought that this was a great idea and followed the elephant down to the river, Claire one of the girls of the group also came down, we trudged down to the river through thick mud and stood taking photo's, the elephant boy beckoned me in the water, i guess he was about 10m out, i looked at Claire and asked if she was coming, i think no way was the answer, i slipped my shirt off and in i went, the river wasnt deep at all and at deepest were the elephant was, was only knee high. The elephant lay on its side basking in the sun intermittently spraying water on itself while myself and elephant man scooped water on him, the man then offered me to stand on the elephants belly as it lay on its side, i hopped up and luckily Claire was taking pictures. Claire by the way, is a Kiwi and before this trip was working in England as a teacher, she is now on her way back home.For the firtst 2 days i thouhght that her naqme was 'Cle' or cleo', at the end of the 2nd day she asked me what i thkught her name was, 'Cle' i asid hesitantly, she laughed, and said in her best english accent 'claire' whoops!!. The elephant man then asked if i wanted to ride the elephant in the water, i started to now realise that this may cost some bucks, so i politley declined and waded back to shore. what an awesome experience, not every day you get to wash an elephant in a croc infested river, which by the way in my still slightly drunken state didnt even cross my mind once.
So we headed back to the lodge, it was now so and humid that i was dripping with sweat, everyone was, you could even breathe without getting a sweat on. I showered, which turned out to be futile, within minutes i was again in a pool of sweat, oh well so i thought a drop sun soaking was called for, Joe joined me, within 10mins it looked as if we had both just stepped out the shower, not pretty but i guess we should be thankful for no rain. I was hoping it would cool down for the afternoon as we were on a elephant trek at 3. 3 o'clock came it was no cooler. We had 4 elephants between the group with 4 on each elephant sat in a square shaped crate, you each sat in a corner with your legs hanging over the side. I didn't have high hopes after the safari however 10mins in we came across a Rhino. Its the first time i have seen a Rhino in the flesh, it looked like a tank, must have weighed near on a ton. We trekked for another 1 hour or so, pictures in abundance were taken, i think in the last few days i have taken well over 500 photo's. we saw another Rhino and its baby pretty cool and then just wondered round, again looking for the elusive Bengal Tiger, no chance!!!
We were leaving the lodge first thing in the morning, so we all chilled for the rest of the day, went to dinner for 7 and then were treated to some local traditional dancing, was pretty cool, even if it was over 85% humidity. Again a few of us stayed up having a few drinks but definitely nothing like the night before. At this point i need to tell you about another guy on the trip, Karl. Karl is 27 and from London, he is without doubt the character of the group. This evening he would have me and the rest of the guys in stitches, he likes playing games and when i say games i mean just random games that he makes up. His favourite is a game called 'The compliment game', the idea of the game is that you have to stare in the eyes of the other person and give them a compliment, this can be a truth or just something random, the loser is the one that laughs 1st after you give them the compliment. We went round the table, Karl beat everyone, his facial expressions, tone and some of the comments he came up with literally had us all nearly wetting our pants, he is a fun guy who so far as kept us all entertained. I think one of the funniest things he said was when Aussie Kate randomly offered him a plank off, just before they started, he said stop and announced that he couldn't do it until he had a 'number 2', we thought he was joking, but he was soon skipping back to his room, what a legend!
Sorry for the long blog but after 2 great days in Chitwan we had a 10 hr drive across the Nepal border into India, which was interesting and i had to pay out 850 rupees due to not having the right visa!! I'll update you on this in the next blog, and also i will describe in detail, OK maybe not in detail the worst hotel i have ever stayed in, Gorakhpur! all i can say is WTF!! keep well all.
fantastic reading lee.. keep up the good work,
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