Chitwan National Park

Arriving at the hotel, Jungle Lodge, was great. We were seated in an outdoor area, given tea and coffee, and given a run down of what the next couple of days would entail. We could clearly see from an adjoining table that there was only one other couple at the hotel. Perfect after our time in India.
We were given a short time to get our bags in our rooms and rest and then we were off for a tour around a traditional village. The tour was very short really as we looked at one traditional house only although our guide was great. He was very relaxed and informative. He said we may have some time to walk by the river for sunset so we followed him. As we headed towards the river we passed an elephant breeding center. We stayed to check out the elephants and feed a few. It was pretty cool, but the smoke of elephant dung hung heavy in the air. All that shit has to go somewhere. We walked on towards the river and the fading light. After walking for a few minutes our guide told us to stop talking and move faster. We crested a small rise by the river and through the reeds could see a rhino drinking from a pool on the other side. It was not but 30 feet away from us, but we felt safe enough since the river separated us. After watching for a few minutes the rhino entered the river, took a quick pee, and then started to come over to our side. Of course we quickly moved away and the rhino kept coming slowly. After a few times playing this game we decided that was enough for the day and headed back towards the village, stopping off on the way at a riverside café to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. We enjoyed a beer with the other couple, Ariel and Johnny, and watched the sun go down into the jungle. After eating dinner at the hotel we were escorted to the Tharu Cultural center. Here we were to watch a traditional dance by the native people, the Tharu. I thought that this would be cheesy, but in fact it was quite good. The dancers had obviously worked really hard and their dances were interesting. So much in fact that the next night we asked if we could go again, but it was a sold out night. After the show we went out for more beers on a rooftop restaurant and then called it a night.

The next morning we were up just after sunrise and jumped into the back of an open jeep to get to the park for an elephant ride through the jungle. There were a few other people with us. The elephant ride was great. We shared an elephant with Ariel and Johnny and away we went. Although the elephant appeared to be going slow, as we looked around the jungle we could tell how fast we were really going. Its amazing how big elephants really are. As I dodged tree trunks and spider webs we went deeper and deeper into the jungle. In the silence of the early morning we saw lots of animals such as monkeys, deer, sleeping boars, and birds. It was great. We spent about 1 ½ hours in the jungle before coming back to the base. We waited for a bit, the rest of our group came back, and we loaded back up. Johnny and Ariel are both ethnic Chinese, but Johnny is English and Ariel is from Hong Kong. I never thought about it before moving to China, but you can certainly tell the difference between Chinese mainlanders and those from other parts, like Hong Kong and Taiwan. As the jeep pulled away one of the kids threw a piece of trash over the side of the jeep (in a national park!) and his parents jabbered away saying nothing to him. I kind of felt like throwing him over the side of the jeep.
After arriving back at our hotel Ariel said something like, you would never believe what they were talking about in the jeep. Apparently the Chinese group had said something to the affect of, “that was so fake, they must drive the animals out into the jungle in the morning so we could see them. Where do you think they keep them? If our nature hike today is the same thing lets not go.” Ungrateful! I couldn’t believe it, but wasn’t surprised. It has been my experience that mainland Chinese have some of the most ridiculous notions of what is real or reasonable. Why in the world would the Nepalese need to fake having a jungle full of wild animals and why would anyone suspect otherwise? Because in China, that’s what people would do. That is why Chinese people think that way.
We headed back to the hotel for lunch and a nap and in the afternoon went down to the river to get into a punt and head down the river. Our guide was very helpful identifying birds along the river, especially the bald headed northern European we saw bathing itself along the banks. Haha. It was a really nice ride down the river and in 45 minutes we were getting out on the banks a few kilometers south, but not before seeing an alligator basking itself on the bank, clearly placed there by park officials. We then took a hike around the grassland and up into the jungle towards the elephant breeding center. We didn’t see too much wildlife along the way, just some monkeys that must have been driven out of their cages for our benefit. We also saw some rhino tracks by a watering hole that were sooo fake. (Did you read my sarcasm?)

The elephant breeding center was cool. There was a small museum with good explanations of the center and an elephant skull which was roughly the size of an...elephant skull. It was big. Outside there were about 20 elephants on the grounds. There were lots of mommas and babies, but no males. When we asked about this our guide explained that wild elephants come by every so often to “have some fun”. Haha. We headed back to the river for sunset and then had a nice meal at our hotel. Because it had been a long day we packed it in early. At 9 the next morning we were on a bus back to Kathmandu sorry to be leaving Chitwan behind.