chitwan national park

Wednesday, June 26


so our trip to Chitwan national park was really delightful. That place is gorgeous. 
however, we got off to a rocky start,
and by rocky I mean the freaking boulders just kept falling....

to begin, we had to catch a bus in Thamel at 6:30am in the morning. 
When we woke up that day, it was not only torrentially downpouring (hmm..I spot a trend in our weekend)  but there was also a Bandah happening. 
Now if you don't know what a bandah is, well, lucky you. 
It's a ridiculous thing that happens here in Nepal where some group decides to protest about something, and the military acts like it's WWIII and sends like, oh...I don't know, THEIR WHOLE NATIONAL SECURITY out to pulverize the puny little protest.
so on bandah days, the city shuts down and no one goes outside.
fittingly, there is a slogan in KTM that says "bandah ruined my life"

so we're chuggin along in our little taxi (which had holes in the floorboards, so the four of us are getting soaked) and then the taxi mysteriously stops 
and the driver is like "finished" 
and we're like "uhhhh we're not in Thamel" 
and he's like "finished". 
we took that as our cue to exit. 

so we've got like 10 minutes to catch our bus, we're a 20 minute run from thamel, and you guessed it, it's still raining like a cat on a hot tin roof.  
talk about a hot mess...we're literally sprinting through the streets of KTM, splashing through puddles (which i'm sure consisted of about 100% germs, a fact that ran circles in my mind), and by the time we found a bus going to chitwan, you might as well have thought I had just got baptized by the entire pacific ocean. 

oh the joys of a 5 hour bus ride when you're in wet clothes, the bus is leaking more rain water,
and there is a women banching wailing the whole trip. 
A serious hindu praise and worship sesh right there. 

so yeah, we arrived. 
and it just kept getting better and better. 
and by better I mean we found a massive ant hill in the bathroom,  a tarantula on our wall, and a toilet that leaked water on your leg if you got anywhere near it. 
immediately I ran over to our friends bungalow to see if theirs was any better. the minute I walked in a giant caterpillar was crawling across their pillow. 
paradise. 
{I was so traumatized by the spider that Kev had to accompany me to the bathroom in the middle of the night to make sure the spider didn't attack me.} 

the next morning, the fun continued. We went out onto the crocodile infested river in a canoe. 
it was pouring rain. our guide stopped the canoe and the four of us got out onto land to do a "safari walk". 
now granted, we are in a WILD animal reserve (emphasis on wild)
at any moment we could have seen an elephant, tiger, rhino. 
in fact, we are given these directions 
"if it's a rhino, drop your things and run" 
"if it's a tiger, they can outrun you and climb trees so just look them in the eye" 
"if it's an elephant, they can outrun you and knock down trees, so pray to your God"
those are the directions? 
like seriously, look a freaking jungle cat in the eye and pray? 
ummm...are you sure there's no plan B? 

and to top it off, our poor guide was a sweet guy, but he was holding a stick. 
a stick! 
as if that was going to ward off a herd of wild elephants. 
after hiding behind a bush for 25 minutes in the crazy rain, we started our trek through the swamp. 
as a souvenir, kevin picked up a leech on his foot. 
good times. 

the rest of the day continued in this fashion...
rain dumped on our "elephant" safari and poor kev had to sit with a stick in his crotch, which...anyway, you get the point. 

but....

 for as much as the place we stayed was a piece of crap and it rained non-stop,
we still had a blast. 
we were with our best friends, in a wild animal park, and it was absolutely stunning.
{oh and we did have a few hours where God turned the rain off, so we celebrated!} 

God is creative, and we had so much fun enjoying his creation in Chitwan. 
if you are in Nepal, this is a MUST do! 
{just...whatever you do, DO NOT stay at the Jungle Safari lodge. consider yourself warned!} 
{at the elephant breeding center...obviously these are not a herd of wild elephants!} 
{let's not forget my obsession with elephants!}
{men holding hands in nepal is a sign of friendship.  a sign that kev and patrick are trying to get used to as a random man comes up and holds BOTH their hands at the same time. hahahha} 
{don't mind the awkward water bottle grab. hahaha} 

23 comments :

  1. That sounds like one CRAZY adventure, girl! But the pictures certainly look amazing!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, so many adventures! And some scary moments that I for sure would have freaked out over.
    I too have an obsession with elephants. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm pretty much dying over this whole post, but the hand holding has got to be my favorite hahaha

    ReplyDelete
  4. i love elephants too and your face is priceless!! what an adventure :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. This looks amazing!! I'm so happy I found your blog, you are an inspiration!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. haha, the hand holding thing must be an asian thing. They totally do that in cambodia. One time my school director gave my husband a tour of the school and held his hand for like 15 minutes. What an amazing adventure. I just love the attitude you have. Crazy things like that can happen that could have ruined the trip for some, but you guys were still able to have a blast.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, girl, what an adventure!!! As crazy as it was, it will definitely be a trip you'll never forget. :-) Sometimes those are the best memories.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, sounds like your trip was quite a doozy! But glad that you still have such fabulous memories out of it! And the elephants? Wow!

    And I'm like you...what was plan B? :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a trip!! I bet you guys made the best memories from it...but were excited to get back home. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh wow... that certainly was an adventure... man you're brave Katie! I would've lost it with the tarantula and gone back home (lol) =)

    ReplyDelete
  11. AWESOME PICS. I bet that was fun.

    would love for you to join this hop in which I'm the co-host so come link up. http://pinkowl07.blogspot.com/2013/06/i-am-eve-blog-hop.html

    ReplyDelete
  12. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Oh Katie, you crack me up! You two (er, four) are such good sports! Also, I laughed out loud and committed to using your, "look a freaking jungle cat in the eye and pray," comment as a common reference in our house when we're faced with a difficult situation. I love you and I love reading about your life:)

    ReplyDelete
  15. I LOVE the picture of you pointing to the elephant. Yay!! And I can't believe the directions they gave you about the wild animals. Oh my goodness!

    ReplyDelete
  16. You are such a treat...seriously!!! So I am thinking you need a proper wild adventure and I know just the place. The directions in the "veld" would be pretty much the same but no tigers think cheetahs oh and if we are lucky the odd pride of lions. Oh and I know of a stunning spot where you can "play" with really big African elephants. So come on over to my neck of the woods...

    PS I would not have had the rest of the weekend to enjoy after seeing the spider because there would only have been a little puddle of me left.....MAJOR spider phobia!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  17. This is all amazing. What an adventure. The man hand holding is so good!!!! So funny how different cultures are SOO different, but it's so much fun to just jump in and take part! I love elephants too, they are such amazing creatures!!! & the water bottle hold is hysterical. P.S. you're so much better than me...I can handle many things...but tarantulas...no..no way! :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Those are such terrifying directions! "Look a tiger in the eye"... "pray if an elephant starts charging"... my gracious! I'm glad you guys were okay, though. And it really looks like such an incredible experience! Oh, and finally, the whole guys holding hands thing... very normal in China as well. And for girls, too. There it's as common as a boyfriend and girlfriend holding hands in the States. Different cultures certainly handle things very differently! Kudos to Kev and Patrick for working on being culturally sensitive!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your trip here sounds amazing and crazy all at the same time. Those are memories you will cherish forever. Love reading all your posts :)

    Love,
    Amanda

    ReplyDelete
  20. i loled at the man holding hands pic and the water bottle grab. oooh i miss you so!

    ReplyDelete
  21. i loled at the random man holding hands pic and the water bottle grab. oooh how i miss thee!

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love your face in the elephant picture!! Girls walking around holding hands is very common in Malaysia, so I always held hands when shopping with my friends over there, and growing up, we always noticed Nepali men walking around holding hands, too. That's very different from either American or Malaysian culture!
    Man, you guys are tough. That looks so cool, but you had a rough time getting there!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wowza! That's quite the adventure you all had! haha :) The whole spider thing is freaking me out from all the way over here. hahaha Did you guys just let it live?! Creeeeepy. Yay for elephants, though!! ^_^

    ReplyDelete

I LOVE hearing from you friend:) Your comment will make my day!