Nepal's Terai

After our trek, we spent some time in Pokhara, Nepal; a tourist destination famous for its lake view of and proximity to the Annapurnas. You won't see those classic views here, as we experienced very hazy weather. The cynical bunch might have suggested a false advertising scam given all the other tourist touts going on; but we enjoyed our time there even with just brief foggy glimpses of the peaks---after all we'd personally inspected the range (see previous posts).

A Baba asking for alms, spare change in Pokhara.

Mayla and Amaya Dance Party in the Nirvana Guest House

Row Your Boat on Lake Phew, the center of Pokhara

I swear this was not our idea! Our friends convinced us to take Amaya rafting down the Seti River. We were informed that it was a simple "float"; however, as we hit the first phases of white water which totally soaked us, Amaya gave the WTF? look as in "just what are my Mom and Dad gonna do to me this time???" Luckily her soul sis was there to hold her hand. To their credit, the rafting company, Paddle Nepal, added a lifeguard to ride with our guide in the raft in addition to a separate kayaker who picked out the rafting course and a pontoon raft serving as our gear boat. The excitement of the river took over---and we had a blast!

Our Sweet River Camp

The rafting Co did an amazing job taking care of us; we had tons of food. At breakfast they over did themselves... above you'll witness the largest bowl of porridge ever provided to a kid amongst many other items---Amaya was stuffed to the gills.

Yet it was not difficult to forget, there were kids coming into camp from their villages that had very very little by way of food. We were like space aliens, especially our girls. We learned that this was the first year that children were allowed to raft the Seti; the looks on the faces of the villager kids and how they stood back and stared at Amaya and Mayla made us think: perhaps this is their first encounter with little blondies?

We weren't the only aliens in camp that seemed to come from a different planet--above a Praying Mantis.

We then left the river and headed further into southern Nepal, into the plains know as the Terai, boarding India. We then visited Chitwan National Park, which is a zoo of tour-ons more than anything else. Our first visit was to the river for some Elephant Washing.

Amaya swims with the elephants in lieu of allowing them to hose her down.

The the traditional elephant safari had to be checked off the list. This 34 year old elephant took us into the jungle to view some wildlife. Unfortunately, they beat the old guys into submission... and a lot of the 'wildlife' was basically in an area frequented by 1000s of tourists like ourselves... but Amaya did not appear to mind. We were way up there!

Baby Rhino and her Mum. Her central horn was gone! We wondered if it had been brutally poached off of her; or removed in order to save her life? Hmmm... life in a park. And we will post some pics of the wild tigers after we visit a zoo; we did see a number of crocs, peacocks, large deer, wild boars and many hoards of tourists dressed in the latest safari fashions...

So it is said, Nepal is a country of great diversity. My last visit in 2000 took me on a fast forward trip into the Himalayas where I trekked in the Makalu and Everest regions and flew right back out. I never got the chance to visit with the amazing people and see wildlife that live not so far from those huge famous mountains in environments so disimilar as to keep the traveler wondering: just where am I?

note: I'm updating this from Delhi, India... where computers move just a little faster. I will try to update more later, but we will be on the move quite a bit... Hope that all is well with everyone back home! Please email us at tbusby1@yahoo.com; mickeyfrey@yahoo.com; we'd love to hear what's up.