Today I said goodbye
to the Children’s home, was such an awesome experience for me.
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| Me and a few of the kids :) |
I’m still in awe
at how eager the kids are to learn, they get so much done during homework time,
it’s incredible. I can’t imagine seeing anything like that in NZ schools. I’ve
put the question “what do you want to be when you grow up?” has answered with
doctor, I get that it’s the answer they think I want to hear but they really do
work so hard… much more motivated than I was in school! I took Maya, Dev and
Adam (the three that run the home) out for a meal as a thank you to OR2K, it’s
a pretty good vegetarian restaurant in the Tourist area of Kathmandu, always
pretty busy :)
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| Dev, me, Maya & Adam at OR2K for dinner |
The weekend before
last I got a bus from Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park. It was the most
terrifying drive of my life, the road winds down hills and there's a 200m cliff
drop without any kind of barrier. As the German guy behind me put it “It’s like
a rollercoaster but better ‘cause it’s dangerous!” Nepal is apparently home to
one of the World’s Most Dangerous Roads and that is definitely one of them! We
survived and arrived at the Rainbow Safari Resort, it was so so terrible, that
it was funny, my room didn’t have a ceiling, it was thatched and huge clumps of
dirt would fall out, one landed on the pillow next to me! The food was pretty
bad & one woman spent the first night very unwell after eating lunch and
dinner. I made friends with a Dutch couple who thankfully spoke fantastic
English and we made the most of it. (I expected it to be bad and not as nice as
the brochure but I really should have lowered my expectation haha). The
activities however were fantastic! The dugout canoe was similar to the idea of
a waka although less stable and we floated down the river in the morning mist
spotting crocodiles and brightly coloured birds. After visiting the baby
elephants at the breeding ground we went down to the water for my warmest
shower yet!
The jeep safari was
the first time we actually crossed the river and into the National Park. It was
a bumpy four hour drive through the jungle and we spotted a couple of rhinos,
More gorgeous birds
including peacocks in flight!
There were deer and a
bear and even more crocodiles but the definite highlight for the 7 of us was
seeing a wild tiger. I’ve seen and touched plenty for captive cats but to see
such a powerful animal so close and so free was a serious highlight!
I think it’s been the fantastic people that I’ve met this trip that have made me fall in love with Nepal, even the taxi drivers are awesome! I had a great rickshaw experience this morning and many of the waiters and shopkeepers are so friendly and helpful. Admittedly I have met a few assholes but no one too horrible! Bumped into a fellow kiwi this morning, she’s just finished the Everest Base Camp trek that I am doing tomorrow and has kindly lent me her waterproof pants! Apparently there will be snow on the mountain! I’m very nervous but definitely excited to give it a go! Wish me luck!
