CHITWAN

Having been here nearly a month and a half I decided to take a long weekend and go down to Chitwan (organised by the excellent Adrift Adventures company (http://adriftadventure.com/).  I spent Thursday night in Thamel and then Shiva, who runs the company, organised for me to be escorted to the bus bank and onto the bus.  Just as well as it was VERY early and left to my own sleepy devices heaven knows which bus I'd have ended up on otherwise.  The trip out of the valley and down to Chitwan is absolutely magnificent.  I'd organised to go rafting along the way so was dropped off at the rafting point on the Trisuli River.  Apparently this is normally a grade 2 - 3 but being monsoon season had built up to grade 4.   Being naive to these things I initially thought the supports across the middle were seats.  When told we actually had to sit on the edge my reaction was "you want me to do what?!!".  A 5 minute run down on paddling techniques and we were on our way and very quickly into the rapids.  

My bags I entrusted to the people at the centre to have transported to the drop off point but my camera and purse I put in a water tight container which was secured to the middle of the raft.  I put on my waterproofs, happily thinking they would keep me relatively dry (I travel light so didn't have many changes of clothing) but once the water got really rough  nothing on earth would have stopped me being drenched.  It was better than any roller coaster - the ride up waves and then the stomach churning drop down into the water again, all the while trying to avoid rocks and other obstacles.  Every now and again the river calmed sufficiently for us to enjoy the views and for some horseplay between the two rafts to take place, mostly involving a huge amount of splashing with our paddles.  It was a 3 hour trip that went by far too quickly!  Sadly it was impossible to take photos along the way but when we reached the drop off point I took this one.  I would really have liked one of the rapids themselves though.  

Onwards to Sauraha, a little village right by Chitwan National Park itself.  You can stay right in the park but the prices are astronomical and personally I liked Sauraha, a sleepy rather laid back little place where pony carts and elephants wandering through the streets are a common sight.


There is an elephant breeding centre here and the baby elephants are more cute than words can describe.  It is also the proud possessor of Nepal's first set of twin elephants! http://www.asesg.org/PDFfiles/Gajah/30-53-Thapa.pdf

Due to delays waiting for a bus from the rafting point to the hotel we arrived rather late and very hot and tired.  I was told that there was a problem with my room and so I couldn't spend the first night at the Hotel Rainforest, where I was booked in, but instead was being upgraded to the Westwood, just 200 metres away.  What a lovely hotel!  Every amenity I could wish for AND A BATH!! That seemed positively decadent.  The next day began with a safari into the jungle on elephant back.  Because of the time of year and the heavy rains there wasn't much game to be seen but I really didn't mind that.  I've already done game viewing in Africa although I would have liked to have seen an Asian Rhinoceros http://news.discovery.com/animals/rhinos-rebound-in-nepal-110426.html.  We did, however, see an absolutely enormous python devouring a fully grown monkey.  The mahouts made the elephants go quite close to it which upset them and they made strange whale type cries of distress.  

I thoroughly enjoyed just trundling along through the jungle on my elephant. After that it was the elephants' turn to be given a treat so off we went to the river to bathe them.  One lay down on command and the mahout helped me up onto it, along with a couple of girls who were also on the trip. Into the river we went and we all had half an hour or so of huge fun being sprayed with water by our elephant.  Eventually it just rolled over in to water and we scrambled off and gave it a good scrubbing.

 It was a thoroughly good weekend of just doing touristy things - canoeing on the river, being led through the jungle by a guide and learning about nature.  I learned that tree vines always grow in a clockwise direction, that termite heaps here are quite different to those I was used to in South Africa and I saw orchids growing naturally on trees and in such profusion!  What a sight that must be in May when they're in flower! 


While walking in the jungle the guide told me why local people are so frightened of sloth bears and why they dread meeting them.  The name sloth bear suggests a slow, rather cuddly animal.  Far from it!  The size of a large dog if they feel threatened by people they rear up on their hind legs and attack the face and especially the eyes.  While this is disturbing I think it show incredible intelligence.  What other animal knows that the best way to disable an enemy is to attack their vision?   

Spotted Deer.  I could make countless puns but I'll refrain . 4 types of deer live in the forest but we only saw these. Very little game indeed - a wild pig, the python and a lot of monkeys.  Not surprising at this time of year though as the vegetation is dense and thick and offers no end of hiding places.

This photo was taken while out in the canoe.  I've never experienced a storm quite like it - rain so fierce I couldn't open my eyes as it hurt too much. Utterly beautiful though.  

SCHOOL UPDATE

I've completed the first week of my conversational class and it seems to be going a lot better.  For the first couple of days I stood in front of the class full of boys, all looking at me expectantly, feeling as if I was in one of those nightmares where you have to give a piano recital in front of a packed audience and suddenly realise you can't play the piano!  The boys were all so optimistic but shy to speak and I found it difficult engaging them all.  I taught them to play 'Taboo' and volunteered to go first, partly to demonstrate the game but also so show them that I was willing to take part too and have fun (and make a fool of myself).  From there we progressed to 'Who am I?' which they enjoyed immensely.  They played in pairs, the only rule being that only English could be spoken and they relaxed, talked and laughed.  They finished an entire pad of Post-It notes and I was very impressed at some of the answers they had to guess eg colour, Antarctica, a sunset and, in one of my favourites, a boy had his own name pasted to his forehead.  I got off lightly in taboo - I had to guess that I was Buddha and somehow I did it!  A thoroughly good icebreaker though and now they're relaxed enough for us to move on to roleplays with scenarios like making an appointment to see the doctor.  It's still difficult to hear them all speak individually and some of them have approached me and said they would prefer 1-to-1 lessons too.  I can understand that because as it's a class of mixed ages and abilities some of the pupils with less advanced English understandably feel shy about speaking in front of the others.  Some have taken to coming to chat to me in my 'office' so now I arrive in the morning not only to a deluge of little ones bearing gifts of drawings and newspaper cuttings, but also the older pupils carrying work to be checked or just wanting to chat.  I have a 2 hour lunch break but again no sooner have I finished eating than all my companions are waiting on the doorstep for me to invite them in.  I don't mind though.  At lunchbreak today in my office  I had 2 of the boys playing a board game I taught them, 1 wanting me to correct work, 2 playing handball with me (those foam filled balls I bought from Poundland were the best purchase I made) and my senior pupil patiently waiting for his lesson to begin.. 


Tomorrow there are plans for the whole school to walk up into the mountains to a picnic spot.  The younger boys especially hardly ever get to leave the school so it would be such a treat for them to have the space to run freely and play out in the open.  Everything, however, hinges on the weather.  Some rain is obviously to be expected at this time of year but a heavy downpour would force the outing to be cancelled. Oh I'm hoping for a nice day!