Trails and Treasures

This is my last post about my trip to the Himalayas, and I’ve saved the “highest peak” for last. 

The one-hour flightseeing tour to Everest was a regular commercial flight from Kathmandu.  I was booked on the first flight of the day at 6:45 a.m. in order to maximize my probability of seeing the peak.  That meant I had to be at the airport to get in line for when the terminal opened at 5:30.  Like all my domestic flights in Nepal, it was late.  The Buddha Air Everest Experience flight with its 19 passengers didn’t lift off until 8.

I could try to identify the mountains in the photos, but do you care?  The link above from Buddha Air will help if you do.

Mt. Everest is over 29,000′ high, and the plane flies within 5 nautical miles of the peak.  It’s the one with the clouds already forming on it in the following pictures.

The one-horned Indian rhinoceros is the most famous animal in Chitwan.  You could see them from the viewing platform, but on the elephants, you could get much closer.

One-horned Indian rhinoceros

We also saw spotted deer and rhesus macaques, but you wouldn’t recognize them in my photos.

What we didn’t see was the elusive Bengal tiger.  Of course, after not seeing any jaguars in Manu, my expectations of seeing one weren’t very high.  However, we did see proof of their existence if the guides were correct in their identification of these paw prints.

When we first left the main road, the road was paved and wide enough for cars to pass.  But it eventually turned to dirt and narrowed to more of a track than a road.

At first the road was paved

The paving ended

The obstacles on the road could not be simply circumvented

Along the way, I saw piles, and piles, and piles, and piles.

Piles of rocks

Piles of bricks

Piles of hay

Piles of manure

There were new buildings, not yet completed buildings, and well-used buildings.

A new, brightly painted home/shop

Under construction next to a corn field

A farmyard with hay drying everywhere. Note the sleeping platforms on the veranda.

It was the very end of March, and everyone was busy trying to get ready for the monsoon season.

A typical farmyard. Note the outdoor oven.

Note the water pump on the left. These people appeared to have wells.

Roofs were used for drying all sorts of things

It's too hot for a wool hat!

A quiet front porch

There were also lots of people working in the fields.

My back hurts just looking at her

Is she heading to or from her rice paddy?

 This well-dressed man in his white shirt was a rarity.

Relief from the sun

T-shirts were much more common.

Ouch, now my feet hurt

We eventually reached the park, which was surrounded by a fence and had a guard to check us in.

Welcome to Chitwan National Park

When the park was created in 1973 in order to save the wildlife and their habitat, more than 22,000 peasants had to be removed from within the park boundaries.

From the park entrance, we bounced our way over a narrow track to a landing stage on the Narayani River where the ground was covered with pink petals.

A floral carpet

The day after flying back from Pokhara to Kathmandu, I flew to Bharatpur, the nearest airport to Chitwan National Park.  The trip to Chitwan from the airport took about two hours.  The first part of the trip was through the urban areas of Bharatpur and Narayangarh, followed by a number of crossroads with rural markets and bus stations, until we reached the Kasauti Bazar and turned off the main road.

Located in what is called the terai, “a belt of marshy grasslands, savannas, and forests at the base of the Himalaya range”, in southern Nepal just to the north of India, it was HOT and it was dusty and smoggy.  Going to Chitwan, I rode with a couple from Toronto in a really old, delapidated jeep with a non-functioning window that limited my picture taking and fresh air.  Returning, we three shared an old bus with three young Indian-Americans whose parents had stayed in India visiting relatives.

These photos should give you an idea of what “urban” Nepal is like outside the capital of Kathmandu and the tourist town of Pokhara.

First, the traffic.  There aren’t nearly the number of automobiles.  Buses, rickshaws, bicycles, and motorcycles are far more prevalent.

On the road in the Terai

The bus "station" in the middle of nowhere

Need your bike, but it's too far to pedal? Ride on top of the bus.

Bikers

Note the variety in women's clothing styles

Note the group of rickshaws in the background, building materials, and tower of tires

For the most part, the paved road was pretty good.  I’m not sure what these obstacles were for; we didn’t stop for a police checkpost or anything like that.

An obstacle coarse on the main highway

Trash appeared to be collected in central locations–like the middle of the street.

Trash collection or dump?

Housing varied a lot, from the two-to-three story apartment buildings in the background of the above photo to freshly painted, if not new, nice-looking homes.

Some houses were brightly painted

Shopping opportunities ranged from the shop fronts like those found in Kathmandu to rural markets to bicycle and cart entrepreneurs with some unique goods.

I didn't remember seeing a metal bucket in the city, only plastic.

Note the bottles in the case that look like shampoo and laundry detergent.

A roadside market or bazar

This woman seems prepared to cook your vegetables if you want

A cart filled with spools of ribbon. Note the man in the background with his sun shield.

And this was my favorite.

Balloon? Pan? Plastic collander?