Catching up on our sleep at delhi airport

Last night, we had the chance to witness a part of the celebration of the dawali festival. The house fronts were decorated with colourful paintings and kids were going from door to door singing and getting a few ruppees.
We stayed in town in a disco until the police came and cleared the dancefloor shortly after midnight, because of governmental curfew.... The night was short since we were up again at 6.30 to make it to the airport. After more than 4 hours delay we left Kathmandu... That's when we finally found some time to catch up in our sleep since we have about 12 hours waiting time till our flight to Kuwait.

Down to the Nepalese Jungle

After our trekking experience and the insight into temples and architecture, we decided to see another face of Nepal and travel to the jungle. Our drive to the Chitwan National Park at the border with India is another 7 hours from Kathmandu. We arrive in a complete different world far from the snowy mountains and traffic jams of Kathmandu where houses are mainly made of mud and straw.

The lodge where we are staying is directly on the river side and looking into the park which brings a great relief from the hectic of Kathmandu.

Our first excursion is to an elephant breeding center, but the conditions in which the elephants are kept are not the best one could think of.

Elephant ride is on the program for the first half of the second day, and although it is very touristy, we manage to spot some wild animals including some rhinos in their natural environment.





After the walks, the elephants get their daily wash in the river just outside our lodge.



Our last excursion starts with a canoe tour followed by a walk in the jungle.

Our guide "Schuhman" warns us, we may not see any animal and it's not only for fun: each year a few people die including some tourists. Yet, as protection, he only carries a stick and gives us a few tips:

a) if we see a Rhino, climb a tree and if you cannot climb, hide behind the tree
b) Sloth bear, stay together in the group, since the bear will not charge on the group
c) Tiger: well, there's not much to do here, the tiger just chooses its prey...

On these reassuring words we start our walk and we are lucky enough to spot a sloth bear for a few seconds.


Here our last drink watching the sunset, before returning to Kathmandu.

Back to civilisation

After our 10 hour drive back to Kathmandu in jeep without any suspension, we are invited to Sujit's place in Dhulikel, about 1.5 hour from Katmandu with public transportation (40c ride by the way). But before the party starts, Sujit has invited me to make a presentation in his University which is about 1km from his house.

The University and his house are only separated by some rice fields almost ready to harvesting at that time of the year.

After dressing Yvonne with traditional clothes for the evening, we enjoy fantastic food including a famous chilly Chicken, the best we've ever had. And of course some dancing to Nepalese music.

The next day, we do a bit of cultural site seeing with the town of Bhaktapur, on the way back to Kathmandu. It's an old town showing traditional architecture.







Back to Katmandu, we take an afternoon to visit the famous "monkey temple", a Hindu temple on a hill just outside of town. Make sure you're not afraid of monkeys since there are a LOT of them and they tend to be pretty cheeky, especially if you have any kind on food in your hands, they wont hesitate to get it from you.