NEPAL 032912 A Day of "B's"

Dear Everyone,

Today we returned to Boudha.

Breakfast on the deck at the Hotel Park Side began our last day at Chitwan National Park.  With our trusty Starbucks Via packs -- Colombian and Italian Roast -- or "milk tea" (for me), we savored our last day on the breezy second floor dining room deck.  Breakfast was accompanied by a great variety of bird songs and the sound and bright colors of traffic on the adjacent village road.

Baby elephants were the main attraction at the Elephant Breeding Center, our last field trip stop with Gopal. The smaller baby in the picture was born only eight days ago and was still learning how to use all FOUR!! of his brand new legs. The larger baby was sort of the center's mascot and chief pest.  We saw him snatch a bundle of specially prepared "nutritionally correct" elephant snack food from a pile next to the mahout who was making them just outside the enclosure's fence. We also saw a pair of spotted owlets in the stable where twin male "babies" of one year of age were with their mom still and chafing at their new chained up status.

NEPAL 032812 More Elephants and a Whole Lot More Water

Hello All, 

This morning started with a refreshing, open-air ride in the back of a small pickup through the “really downtown” area of Sauraha – restaurants, shops, hotels, bars, etc. – to the outdoor “embarkation lounge” for elephant rides through the jungle.  There were several towers like the one pictured below that eager tourists climbed to sit in what was essentially a big wooden box on the back of a willing elephant.  

Each of us straddled a corner post of the box for a gently rocking ride through a stream and onward into the jungle.  

NEPAL 032712 Water and Elephants

Dear Friends

Today was a marvel of pleasant ways to watch nature.  We started with another dugout canoe trip on the Rapati River. Instead of walking left out of our hotel to catch the boat for the short ride that had so captured our imaginations, we met out boatman near the riverside cafes for a three-hour float into the realm of colorful Nepalese water birds.  In the silence of the boat we could hear the bird calls and see them at their level, a much different experience from looking down on them from a jeep, and I felt myself relaxing into the experience deeper and deeper as the distance between us and the resorts increased.  Donna sat in front with Gopal and they went through the bird book -- amazingly he knew which page to direct her to for most of the species we had seen -- and they estimated that we saw at least 65 different birds.  

NEPAL 032612 A Chitwan Day of Birds and Rhinos

Hello again from Chitwan National Park

We began our day of looking for and enjoying wildlife on the Rapati river in a dugout canoe being poled along as Gopal, our naturalist guide, pointed out one colorful bird (could be a Kingfisher) after another (perhaps a Bee Eater, an Oriole, or or the Indian Roller).  It was quiet except for the sound of water sloshing along the sides of the boat and the bird sounds (and our whoops and hollers of delight when we saw yet another fabulous bird). 

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.

NEPAL 032412 An Amazing Saturday in Kathmandu

Hello Dear Ones

Today (Sunday 0325 here) we fly to the Terai, the lowest elevation region of Nepal, to visit the Chitwan National Park where we will look for wild game from the backs of elephants instead of from Land Rovers.

Yesterday Karma suggested that we go to central Kathmandu to Durbar (Palace) Square and then walk to the other big stupa in the area, Swayambhunath.  We began and ended this exploration with thrilling taxi rides from and to our neighborhood, Boudha.  The taxi left us off to walk into the pedestrian area of downtown, and on the way we met a parade featuring this formidable dancing figure.

Durbar Square is a spectacular center of traditional 17th & 18th century Newari architecture including the former Royal Palace and many important temples and religious sites.  The temple shown below is typical of the fabulous Newari wooden building style that became to model for pagodas throughout Asia.

NEPAL 032312 Friday in Boudha = WOW!

Hello all :-)

Yesterday afternoon we arrived at our hotel in Boudha which is an area east of Katmandu where there are many Tibetan refugees  living.  This area holds about two dozen Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and nunneries and the famous pilgrimage site pictured below, the enormous Bodhnath stupa around which thousands of pilgrims and Boudha residents walk each day in devotion to Buddha. It is a breathtaking site and an example of the power of religion in the life of these people. This morning we will visit the stupa again and some of the monasteries.