Friday 19^th October

We were up at 8am and after removing the large (15cm long) millipede from Sarah’s bed we went off for tea and breakfast of scrambled eggs.  After breakfast we wandered over the bridge to explore.  All manner of people, animals and vehicles were crossing the 160m trail-bridge which although secure felt like something from an Indiana Jones movie – Goats, dogs, motorbikes, people carrying bundles of logs, and kids running.  From here we had a great view of the camp and river below.  On the other side of the bridge was a small village leading up to the main road, which you pass through to reach the home of “The Big Fig”, a Banyan tree with 50 or more aerial roots - the locals feel it has powerful karma.

We then crossed back to pack and wait for the new arrivals, joining us for the day.  We were all really keen to get going having had such a good day yesterday, but the group was delayed because of festival traffic.  When they did arrive we rushed to get going – they got a quick briefing and then we were away.  The new group was a school group of teenagers from the International School in Saudi and were accompanied by 2 teachers who joined us in our boat.

In our boat we had Dietician Claire and Neurophysio Benfrom Australia, Warren from London, and Ron from Australia who was an interesting character to say the least.  He had a heart of gold but lacked any ability to listen to anyone else and had a terrible habit of repeating things over and over and over……..Teachers Jen from Perth, and Paul from Ireland probably weren’t too sure what they had come to.  Ron was keen to swim again so we didn’t hesitate to encourage him overboard.

2 and a half hours of rafting was excellent fun, we had bigger rapids today, and got wetter as the morning went on.  I could have happily carried on, but we reached our finish point and landed.  A quick change into dry clothes behind a rock that offered little protection (do I expose myself to the people on the other side of the river, my fellow rafters or the bus loads of locals passing on the road had to choose one???!!!) and then lunch which was again prepared by the guides.

The fabulous Himalayan Encounters who have booked all our tours for us have always come up trumps with their organisation and we have never had any complaints, but this time there seemed to be a bit of a problem.  The intrepid group and the school group both had pre-booked buses to take them on, but as independent travellers we did not have this facility and despite trying to persuade the school group to squeeze us into their bus going to the same destination as us it was not to be.  The guides seemed pretty relaxed by all this and said they would get us a bus.  I have learned since being here that even though everything feels disorganised it is usually ok in the end so I put my trust in them to sort it out.

Once up on the road the guys then spent an hour trying to flag down a bus going the right direction – an impossible task during Dashain as all the buses were packed and also had people sat on the roof, which for the 2 hour journey we had we weren’t so keen.  Eventually they flagged down one of the TATA trucks which are the delivery trucks in Nepal.  They are all brightly decorated with ribbons and pictures of the Hindu god Shiva.  They all have messages such as “speed control” and “road king” written on the bumpers and the cabs have about 6 extra seats in and are used as a very common method of transport for the locals.  It is definitely not normal for westerners to hitch a ride.  Anyway after long discussions between the driver and the guide a price was fixed of 200rs each (about £2.30) for the 2 hour ride.

We climbed aboard, bags and all to find the driver already had 4 Nepali young men in the cab – not sure if they were sons/friends/strangers as none of them spoke English.  We conversed in the universal language of boiled sweets and the word “toilet” which was the only English word they knew, and all was well.  Being in the cab was a great experience for all concerned.  The ride was sparkly, colourful and comfortable and the views were amazing.  I lost count of the number of double takes we were getting from on-lookers.  I was glad we weren’t with an organised group or we would never have done this – a real highlight.

We arrived at Saurachok where were getting out for Chitwan National Park – we had no idea where we were, nor what we were supposed to do once we got there.  However, as soon as the truck pulled in, 2 guys from our Chitwan hotel “The Royal Park Hotel” miraculously appeared to take us there – It always works out in Nepal, although this time we were pretty astounded to say the least.

So thoughts of abduction gone, we boarded the car to drive the 7Km to the hotel.  On arrival we met Radha the hotel manager who showed us to our room, which was more like an annex of staff accommodation away from the main hotel, and was well below our expectations and should have been significantly cheaper than the price we had paid – he was very apologetic and promised to move us in the morning.  All meals are included here so we went to watch a cultural display which was 30 boys dancing with drums, fire and singing.  Then to dinner for a buffet.  At dinner we met a nurse from Holland who seems to come here every year to volunteer with the local doctor, Dr Raj.  It was her last day working and she was going to spend the next few days with a family of 5 orphaned children.  Dashain is a family orientated festival and she was going to take them to buy new clothes for the festival and food to eat – a really lovely gesture.

Then to bed under the mossie net again as this was another bug prone room, I just hoped Sarah would be ok on the other side!