NEPAL 032512 Hello from Chitwan National Park

Hello All

Well happy me, there is WiFi here at the Parkview Hotel -- which we later christened "The Potato Palace for its delicious and abundant supply of the vegetable at mealtimes -- where Gopal, the staff naturalist, has arranged a busy three days for us to explore the park.

We started out today with (1) packing, (3) a walk to see where Karma lived during his year in Boudha studying at a Buddhist monastery (The area is so changed that the building where he lived has been replaced by a larger structure), (3) a little stupa-side shopping, and (4) coke and momos at a rooftop restaurant next to the stupa to fortify ourselves for our journey here.

We got a taxi to the airport and had one of those "You know you're not home when ___ " moments when we noticed the prayer wheel on the dashboard.  You'll notice in the picture one reason why Nepali traffic seemed chaotic to us:  the influence of the former British Colony to the south (India) persists in the drive-on-the-left traffic pattern.

Once we were in the air -- we had been "helped" through the teeming and seemingly chaotic national terminal by some willing and very tippable guys :-), our flight in a Beech 1900D (that's for you Charles !:-) lasted about 45 minutes as did the taxi ride through rice paddies (women transplanting seedlings by hand) and wheat fields and vegetable patches (women weeding with hoes) and rural villages(women moving firewood and fodder in bicycles and on baskets).

Women transplanting rice.  The clumps of "weeds" in the water are bundles of seedlings being tossed into the paddy by the woman standing on the far right of the image.

After lunch we took a nature walk and saw the elephant stables where this fellow of 45 years lives and many colorful birds as we walked with Gopal along the Rapati river near the hotel. 

We also saw this site near some outdoor, riverside cafes where the dugout canoe rides along the lower reaches of the Rapati River are launched.  That's Gopal chatting with the man in the front of one of the middle boats and our friend Karma on the bank on the right.

Up for 6:30 breakfast tomorrow followed by a Dugout canoe ride  from a "private" site, a jungle walk, lunch, and a jeep safari.

I'll say "Good night" before there are more typos than words spelled right!

Namaste, Marian