DRIVE (Day 14)

Life apparently began around 5 am, as determined by the many honking trucks and yelling people outside. We had to be in front of the hotel at 8:30 but obviously some other people had earlier busses. Starting at 6:30, one of the hotel guys came knocking on many of the doors for wake-up calls... every 15 minutes.

We had some breakfast on the rooftop then headed down to wait for our bus. We learned there was also a bus heading directly to the Royal Chitwan National Park, which would save us much time in going all the way to Kathmandu and then backtracking. But we only had a few seconds to make up our minds. We tossed our bags on the almost completely empty bus and headed off. The man charged us extra (once we were on the bus) even though the trip was shorter.

There were almost no cows (and certainly none in the road), no camels with carts, and very few obstacles such as tuktuks, dogs or pedestrians. The scenery was quite lovely, filled with water and green fields. Everything seemed very uncluttered and much cleaner. Passed through tiny villages, the houses and shops were fairly similar to those in India but with different decorations and patterns.

The bus filled up very quickly and in no time many people were standing in the aisle. Since the driver couldn't see who wanted on or off, another guy hung in the doorway, banging out signals on the side of the bus to tell driver to keep going on not (1 bang = stop, 3 bangs = go). There was music on the bus but it was neither blasting nor forced through crackly speakers.

Huge forest hills loomed up quickly as we began our ascent. At one point, the driver pulled over in the middle of nowhere and hopped out of the bus. Most of the men joined him, lining both sides of the road for a short 'break'. We continued on through rows of misty jungly hills. There were many people working alongside the road. Many sat hammering rocks into smaller and smaller pieces while others transported wood. The men would carry one large log over their shoulder while the women and kids carried large bundles on their backs with help from a head strap hooked around their foreheads.

It was very slow going uphill and there were plenty of trucks. Eventually we reached the top and began a quick descent. The scenery changed to banana and papaya trees and lush fields. Even the dirt changed color to a dark reddish brown.

At one stop, a woman boarded carrying a baby with dark black make-up around its eyes and red make-up smeared on its forehead. We later learned this was to distinguish between a male or female child (the female being the painted one).

We reached the end stop of Tadi Bazaar and were shoved off the bus with no idea of what to do next. But we didn't have much time to worry since we were immediately pounced on by a dozen or more people all trying to get us to go to their hotel. We ended up choosing the only guy who promised that he wouldn't charge us for the ride and yet we wouldn't be obligated to stay at his place if we didn't like it upon inspection.

So we squeezed in the open-topped little jeep and started our bumpy ride to the town of Sauraha next to Royal Chitwan National Park. Several bumpy roads and a moderately wide river crossing later, we arrived at Mother Nature’s Resort, a large resort complex filled with many trees and small thatch-roofed bungalows scattered about. It felt like a garden paradise. We met the Dutch owners and decided to stay.

After settling into our bungalow, we then to the restaurant to have a traditional lunch of dal bhat, a local dish consisting of rice, soup-like dal, and mixed curried vegetables. Supposedly the locals eat this twice a day, EVERY day, for entire lives. Granted it was yummy but not THAT yummy.

In the evening we took a tour of the town with Mahendra, a local who worked at our resort. We walked to the very wide, flat, slow-moving Rapti River, with the national park on the other side. Mahendra told us that there were currently no crocodiles, but during the monsoon season, there are two types... with the smaller one being the dangerous one.

Mahendra at the river

We continued through the town. There was a beer garden and plenty of lovely shopping opportunities. There were two small museums all about the national park. In the first museum, we learned about the Tharu, the area's indigenous human population. The second one discussed the local animal populations.

But we didn't get very far because suddenly there was a big commotion outside. We all rushed out. Rhinos had entered the village! Down by the elephant-loading the platforms, the elephants were making a big display of knocking down some trees to drive of the rhinos that had wandered into the area. By the time we arrived, all the locals had scrambled up the trees to safety. Only us naive tourists remained on the ground taking pictures. But eventually the rhinos got bored and wandered off.

A local up a tree with a rhino in the background... Mahendra found a sturdy vine.

We watched the sun set from a rooftop restaurant in town, enjoying the lovely evening temperature. There was a slight breeze which carried with it the smell of wood fires. After an appetizer of yak cheese, we had a lovely egg curry and vegetarian chow mein dinner. It was only when we wanted to return to our resort did we realize that there where no lights anywhere to show us the way. We wandered around in the pitch black, getting lost in fields and following many wrong paths... but eventually we found our way back and immediately resolved to take our flashlight with us at all times.

We went with some of the other guests to watch some local dances.

For the war dance, 16 dancers, each carrying a long thin fighting stick, formed a circle around three drums. They walked slowly around, banging their sticks together very rhythmically. They started in a simple pattern, being partners with the person next of them and "fighting" with the people both in front and in back of them. As the dance progressed, things kept getting more and more complex and they fought in groups of four and then six. Next was the Tekera dance (a dance for the holy festival). Each dancer started with two short sticks. and the ensuing dance was very similar to the war dance. Next came an ancient dance where they used a special instrument made of round leather tambourine with peacock feathers sticking out the top. The Dongfu dance consisted of tribal songs and the Jilly dance was used for weddings or special occasions. For the last dance, the crowd was invited to join in.

We left after that, but even back at our bungalow, we could hear they were still carrying on. One of the resort employees asked if we wanted to be awakened if a rhino came into the resort in the night, especially since one had been seen in the garden the night before. This was not a reassuring thought when I had to go use the facilities in the middle of the night... which were located in a separate building down the path. Fortunately the rhinos had better things to do!

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