Chitwan

I awoke early after my night of barely any sleep because of food poisoning. We had to walk through the streets of Pokhara. Luckily, I found a bathroom on the way because it could have been bad. Uncle Jim hooked me up with some immodium and that seemed to do the trick after that. It was a good thing because I was going to be on a bus all day long on our way to Chitwan National Park on the southern border near India. It was a fight to ride those buses. I did not fit, my head was on ceiling and my knees were slammed in the back of whoever was in front of me. I did not look good or feel good. There was one point where I looked around and every other person on the bus had someone sitting with them except me. I did not take it personally because the way I looked and felt, I would not have sat with me either. I just rested my head on the window and tried to "enjoy" the ride. We got to our destination late morning/early afternoon. I got a little angry when I got off the bus that it was such an effort to just ride and all the taxicab drivers were harassing me. I just yelled “Leave me alone” at a few of them. Everyone wants something from you because you have white skin in Nepal. That was the one thing that drove me crazy was constantly being asked stuff like (Do you smoke?). We still had Norbu with us, so he arranged our ride to our resort. It really was a resort, but really the price was ridiculously cheap. We had a whole cabin to ourselves and were served lunch when we got there. I refused to eat because my stomach was not ready for it. After lunch, we went for a village tour. It was so amazing. This was definitely one of the poorest sections of Nepal. This was a true village with stacks of lentils outside huts. These people were so poor, but still had a smile for us as we walked by. Cousin Alanna met us and it was great to see her. She was completely compassionate to all of these people while I was just experiencing it for the first time. We saw some of the most beautiful little girls that Alanna bought some cookies for mere pennies to give them as a treat. Amazing that so little money could be so hard to obtain for so many people out there. Then we went to the Elephant Breeding Ground which was actually sort of depressing. There were a bunch of elephants chained to posts. I mean it is interesting to see elephants, but they were definitely treated worse than they would be in a zoo. A walk through the village back to our resort seeing the more domestic animals like goats that many people had for the milk and butter they would provide. That night, I did eat a little bit of soup to get a little food into my system. I still did not feel hungry, though, but was enjoying our spot in the jungle.
Next morning we were up early to do a jungle trek. We went for a walking tour first where our guide told us the technique of scampering up a tree if we managed to run into a rhino. We didn't see one on the walk that took us to a canoe. We got in and rode through the river. I was amazed to see a crocodile on the shore of the river we were riding in. I knew I did not want to fall out of this canoe. Alanna wanted me to see the humanity of the place also as she pointed out the woman using the river to bathe. You really realize the privilege of being a westerner when seeing sights such as these. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for us, though, so we were sure to enjoy it. The canoe took us to a spot that we could get something to eat or drink. As we were sitting there, the people were bathing the elephants in the river below us. Alanna asked about it and found out that we could partake in it by riding an elephant into the water for a small fee. The goal was to try to stay on top of the elephant as it flipped over in the water. Another girl joined us later on in the process also. It is quite an experience to fall into the water and then have an enormous elephant fall into the water right by you. Luckily I was young and trusted the fact that this beast was not going to crush me. That was fun! After lunch, we did an elephant ride to look for more wildlife. This time we climbed in a wooden box where Uncle Jim, Alanna, Norbu, and I rode with an open wooden box between our legs to keep us from falling off. The elephant moved very slowly as the handler drove it along. We saw monkeys again and peacocks, but the most exciting thing we were able to see were rhinos. We found two rhinos very close up. They were awesome. They are so prehistoric looking like they came from the time of the dinosaurs. A sheet of armor and eyes that worked to let them just run into and over things as they walked. Lots of other life spotted as we spent three hours on the back of this elephant while it farted, ate leaves, and got whacked on the cranium by the driver. We finished our tour in time for a beautiful Nepali sunset and a small dinner. Then at night we saw the native Tharu village stick dance. It reminded me a lot of our Native American dances. It was definitely a great day doing something that I had no idea I would even experience in Nepal walking out of the plane in Kathmandu just a few days earlier.