21.10.07: - This morning we woke up to meet the others @ 7.00 to go rafting down the Mando, Seti & eventually the Tsuelli River. Our rafts were ready when we arrived at about 9.00, we pack away our belongings in water proof bags with Drew putting our camera in one of the barrels to be extra safe & after a short lesson on rafting we hop on board. I was not sure how we would feel about rafting, but both of us seemed to thoroughly enjoy ourselves. It became very relaxing in some places, where you could take in all the beauty of the valley. However the fun parts were the fast flowing rapids, with the adrenaline pumping through your body. Our lunch stop was a lovely sandy beach, just a couple of hours into our trip. We reluctantly opted to have the Tuna & Coleslaw sandwich, good news is the food was nice & fresh & we have no stomach upsets at the mo. 12.30 & we were back on the rapids, which were fantastic, although the cloudy skies made it a bit chilly @ times, no swimming for us this afternoon. 15.00 we pulled up onto a beach & started setting up camp. It is so peaceful with only the sound of the rapids gurgling away in the background. Tiredness takes over & we decide to have a little sleep in the tent. Before we knew it dinner was being called, this consisted of rice, fresh vegetables & Dahl (lentil sauce). It was extremely good; I even went back for seconds. However I did not fancy the very fresh chicken!
22.10.07: - We woke @ sunrise as normal; however the sun was covered in the haze, so it was very damp outside the tent. Being the first to wake we made the most of the silence & sat listening to the insects & the Seti river as it rolls by the campsite. Breakfast was served @ 8.30, we made the most of the eggs, fried potato’s & toast from the open fire. It was nice to have such a comforting breakfast although I was a bit worried that I would see it again! We left our campsite @ around 9.00 & had 2 hours of fun on the water. Having water fights with people on the other raft, Tony even tried to climb onto our raft but we were quick enough to push him off into the Seti. Rapids were really good & no-one tipped the raft, although close. I think our guide info said that it was a grade 3-4 rapid but our rafting grew could not confirm this. Our last river to attack was the Tsuelli, which was extremely cold. However when our guide said “swimming rapids” complete nutters that we are, we obliged & jumped right on in. Once on dry land we said our thanks to the rafting grew & headed onwards via bus to Chitwan.
We are staying @ the Riverview Jungle Lodge, which compared to the Royal park hotel is incredibly basic but comfortable. Again we had a little meeting with a local tour rep who told us what activities were available. We opted to take the Thuro village tour @ 400 rupees per person. Leaving our lodge by ox cart we took the 45mins very bumpy ride to start our walking tour. Our local guide was Herron & he showed us around his village explaining how they build & decorate their houses. How the tribe was not infected by a malaria outbreak years ago, the secret is to drink a lot of Roxy (very strong local wine) & eat plenty of garlic, I think I would e able to put up with that! Herron showed us around the fields which @ this point in time are being harvested. Whilst we were walking everyone says a welcoming Namasti. Children run up from behind, then walk with us for a short while, we even got involved in a game of tag along the way. We stopped for @ Herrons house where he introduced us to his wife Gita, his children & first grandchild who affectionately called drew Da Da meaning brother & me Di Di meaning sister. Our village walk is a memory I will treasure forever. Back @ the lodge we regroup & go out for an evening meal @ one of the rooftop restaurants guess who we bump into Kemal (Mr No Probs), well I say bump, it turns out he had been looking for us, going down to our hotel asking for us & looking in the local restaurants. When he noticed it was us he had a huge welcome & hug for us both. We bought him a beer & he joined our table for a short period of time showing us pictures of his family receiving & giving Tikka (blessing) for the festival Dasain & telling us what he had been up to in the last few days. Oh it was so good to see Kemal’s friendly face. We said our goodbyes promising we will come back again soon.
23.10.07: - Well what can I say, today started with a lay in, so that was a good sign. Drew & I headed down to breakfast @ about 8.30 & had some very nice pancakes. 10.30 we went down to the river with Catherine & Terry. We went with a mission in mind, to wash an elephant & we succeeded. We did not have to wait long at 11.00 an elephant started to wade into the river. We were not too sure what to do, so we edged our way to the water, once there the trainer called us in. Being the first ones in everyone stood around watching us & of course laughing at the elephant as it started blowing cold water over us. Buoy Buoy was the elephants name & his trainer had been with him for 9 years. Buoy Buoy understood every word & tap the trainer instructed, even falling over to one side gently whilst we were riding high on top, soon to be submerged into the water. We would like to thank Jenni for this fantastic suggestion; we had a brilliant time, one I’m glad we did not miss out on. After our drenching we headed back to the hotel to clean up & had some lunch before the elephant ride.
Cha Charn was our elephant that took us for our ride; she is 30 years old & is owned by one of the hotels, which cost them $30,000. Her trainer has been training her for 8 years. They worked together well, she is so intelligent & her big eyes were gorgeous. Whilst we were on the ride we were fortunate enough to see deer, eagles & a rhino. The rhinos here are a lot bigger than the African rhinos, they look like they are wearing sheets of amour that move awkwardly as the walk.
24.10.07: - This morning we spent on the bus traveling back to Kathmandu. We arrived @ the hotel Nirvana @ about 1400 & this time received a descent room. We unpacked our stuff & left the room after about 10mins in search of the mountain bike shop. I know, Drew is not satisfied with the trekking & rafting, we have to fit in the mountain biking as well! The owner of Himalayan Mountain Bikes explained to us what sort of routes we could do & we opted for some off & on road, in total it cost $110.00, which includes breakfast, lunch, morning biking, transfers & our aussie guide Jenny, who seems really nice. I’m hoping at this point I will be able to keep up with the pair of them!
Back @ the hotel for our 17.00 meeting where we have to hand in our evaluation form. I can tell you this, the evaluation was not that great & we have put the Geckos tour down as an experience, one that we will not repeat. If we would give advice for traveling in Nepal, it would be to fly out to Kathmandu & then organize all your tours once you get out here. Tour operators are a plenty in the Thamel area of Kathmandu & you will pay a lot less. Just a quick note about our dinner, this evening we went out to the Annapurna Coffee shop & had a fantastic burger, although it was a bit on the pricey side. A thank-you goes out to Terry & Catherine for recommending the place.
25.10.07: - Ok well today was the day of our mountain biking, we met Jenny @ 6.45 outside the bike shop. Organised our bikes & helmets then we headed out of Kathmandu to Nagarkot. Our journey took as couple of hours stopping off @ a lovely hotel for breakfast along the way. Our starting point Nagarkot is 2099 above sea level & if there had not been fog we would have been able to see Mt Everest. Never mind we should get a view from Tibet. Ok the first part of our bike ride is on the road going down the curvy steep roads our van had just bought us up. As you may be aware I am not that a biker so straight from the start I was using the brakes. However Drew & jenny are experienced bikers & they left me in their dust. Drew loved it taking the corners with skill & speed. From Nagarkotphedi we had a 1.5km ascent of which I must have walked nearly all. After the ascent we headed to the Changu Narayan where we visited a hindu temple, this was lovely as there were no tourists & Jenny knew a lot about the different gods & sculptures within. Our short visit over & we headed out towards Bhaktapur on what Jenny called Nepalese flat terrain, meaning a bit up & then down. Our last section was thrilling & I kind of got use to dodging the big holes, cattle, vehicles, dogs & people. In all we biked 42km with ¾ of it on a steep down hill course. It was excellent & we both would love to take part in a longer tour. Thank-you Jenny for such an enjoyable morning.
Today we also paid a visit to the travel agent for our onward travel to Tibet & guess whateverything has been sorted. We have our flights, permits, accommodation, transfers, visas & train tickets all for about 700.00 pounds. Which I know sounds a lot, but we opted for a hassle solution!
Oh nearly forgot I have a picture of Drew on one of the swings they put up for the festival. Thank goodness it did not break otherwise I think he would of had some very unhappy children running after him!
26.10.07: - Nothing much to report for today, just updating the blog. Will let you know how our journey over to Tibet goes soon. Take care all of you Michelle & Drew.