Some pics of our time in Singapore: Universal Studios, Singapore Zoo, Night Safari, Singapore Flyer, Sentosa…….
At first sight it looks like the local tip, but as you walk further out onto the bridge, a small river of slow-moving murky water becomes visible. Rubbish and scraps completely cover the banks and ground near the river and continues into the river itself. Pigs of various sizes and colours wade through the sea of putrid smelling muck, looking for, and finding, food enough the sustain them. On one side of the river, close to the water’s edge, lay a dirty, smelly and rotting dead cow. Birds sat pecking at it and flies buzzed around its head. Further down the river, people are probably drinking this very same water, not knowing about the horrendously disgusting dump it has travelled through to get to them.
Riding on an elephant through Chitwan National Park showed me many amazing wonders that the park had to offer. Trying to hold on and balance three metres in the air, on a platform strapped to a three tonne elephant while it bumpily lumbered along the forest paths, was by no means easy. It also didn’t help that the platform had hard, pointy rails. We saw many animals; the wild boar; samba deer; spotted deer; garial crocodiles; but the best would have been the rhino.
A guide from another elephant ran out of the bush, yelling that the rhino was in there. Apparently, rhinos can kill humans by trampling us, so this guide VERY hurriedly climbed atop his elephant into relative safety. Our own guide then forged a new path through the bush to see it and as it ran out into the clearing, about 25 other elephants converged on it, so the rhino stormed off into the bush, but only after we had all gotten lots of photos. Later in the safari, we saw a big herd of spotted deer; some of them had massively huge horns, possibly ½ metre high. We had also spotted some very large samba deer, the biggest deer in this park and the second biggest in the world.
After 90 minutes of bumping up and down, getting scraped to pieces by trees as our elephant and guide made new paths through the bush, taking lots of photos and being crawled upon by big hairy grubs, we pulled up at a high platform and we all got off. We had all thoroughly enjoyed the elephant safari though.
We don’t always get a chance to shower every day (no facilities, no time, too tired, no hot water, or perhaps we are just grots) so when we do bother, it makes sense to make an occasion of it. This particular occasion involved Zoe being brave enough (and subsequently, Mitchell was talked into it) to get on the back of an elephant in the middle of a croc-infested river and sit there while the elephant showered her with trunkfuls (trunksful?) of water. Tashi, Pam and Dave would have been brave enough, of course, but someone had to take photos and videos, didn’t they.
Some thoughts by Zoe:
As I climb onto the elephant’s back the skin feels slimey and wobbly.. Holding on, nothing happens. Suddenly I hear a noise and I look in front of the elephant.The elephant’s trunk comes wheezing out of the river with water in it. Splash! I look down and I am covered with water. Then it keeps happening over and over again. Then the elephant turns sideways to make me fall into the river. Now I am really soaked! Finally the elephant sits down so I can slide off. It was really fun!
Chitwan National Park is major animal jungle reserve, World Heritage listed, containing tigers, sloth bears, buffalo, crocodiles, leopards, wild elephant, rhinos, and other animals that will eat you (or at least stomp on you) given half a chance, along with deer, monkeys etc etc. A common way to wander through it is to climb aboard an elephant which, presumably, puts you above attack height of tigers and rhinos (but leopards can drop from trees). Each elephant, in additional to its mahout (driver) can carry 4 squished passengers in a very comfortable howdah consisting of metal bars under, between and above your legs so that after a 90 minute safari, on a swaying bouncing elephant with inadequate shock absorbers, you are guaranteed bruises in all the wrong places. Nevertheless, it is a lot of fun, and Tashi and Mitchell had permanent smiles on their faces while Zoe added to the sounds of the jungle with cries of ‘This is awesome!’
Tashi, Mitch and Zoe were on one elephant (with another tourist) while Pam and Dave were on another (with 2 other tourists). About 100 other tourists were on about 25 other elephants that all set out together but, thankfully, split up after a while (though our two stayed together). But once a rhino was spotted nearby, some sort of teleportation device was utilised to bring all elephants instantaneously into a circle to surround the poor rhino and subject it to the stares of about 100 pairs of eyes and 100 cameras clicking. It was pretty cool though. The rhino took it all with a certain degree of nonchalance for a while, then made a dash through the nearest rhino-sized gap in the ring of elephants.
It was us kids’ first time rafting. I didn’t really know what to expect but I was pretty sure it would be a lot of fun, not knowing that I was going to get sick halfway through. Zoe looked so small in her huge helmet and fat, foam, lifevest. We were all on one raft, geared up with our paddle and safty equiptment, and followed orders regularly shouted at us by our guide. Although Dad says the rapids were pretty tame, they were really good fun to travel down. Zoe had a good time being her usual loud self and screaming at every wave. But I did get sick at the end of the first day of rafting, which meant that I couldn’t enjoy camping as much as I would have liked. We were suppplied with old-fashioned A-frame tents with extremely thin foam mats as our only cushioning from the hard ground. The area we were camped in was pretty nice, just off the beach and close to a forest, so I could watch the river go past.
Because I was sick I didn’t have to row the next day. I sat tightly clinging to the safety ropes as we plunged through the water. I did enjoy it though, apart from feeling nauseous, motion sickness and cramps. But overall I was able to enjoy a lot of the trip and it was a far better was to travel then a long bumpy trip on a bus.
White Water Rafting and Knifed Politicans
Posted: 10 December, 2011 in 2011: Chitwan N.P., 2011: NepalTo get from Pokhara to Sauraha (Chitwan National Park), we opted out of the 7 hour bus ride and instead took a bus 1.5 hours, then spent an hour trying to dig the bus out of the sand next to the river, then 2 days rafting down the Seti River (about 5-6 hours rafting total), then a 1 hour bus ride to Chitwan that ended up taking 3.5 hours after a politician (who is in jail) was knifed and his friends took exception to it and decided to blockade all the highways. So the transport in the country was brought to a halt, in our region at least, by two angry thugs armed with rocks and a big stick that he used against the side of the bus. Normally, tourist buses are allowed to continue, and at first we were able to pass several kilometres of halted local buses, trucks and other vehicles. But when we reached a town, we were stopped and we had to negotiate for an hour or so before being allowed to proceed down back roads. Apparently, the Nepalese police stay out of political issues, as there were none to be seen.
(By the way, political parties calling snap transport strikes (meaning noone can travel anywhere) is not uncommon in Nepal. Must be the Nepali way of making friends with the populace so that they will vote for you. And a pollie getting knifed is pretty tame – last time we were here, in 2001, the entire royal family was gunned down by one of the princes, who then became king, of course.)
But anyway, the rafting was fun (pretty tame river, about grade 2, but a few good rapids for the kids’ introductory rafting experience) and we were pretty well fed and enjoyed camping overnight beside the river. We were a group of 11 rafters on 2 rafts, plus 2 kayakers. Tashi got a bit sick late the first day, but she recovered over the next 24 hours with medication, and enjoyed the trip well enough.
The first day of rafting was Pam’s and Dave’s 24th wedding anniversary. A river cruise followed by luxurious accommodation and dining.
Trekking 5: Ghorepani to Pokhara
Posted: 4 December, 2011 in 2011: Nepal, 2011: Trekking, Photo GalleryDay 11, after early morning hike up Pun Hill, we returned to relaxing breaky at Ghorepani Hotel before heading downhill on the last leg of the trek, through oak and rhododendron forests, beside mountain river flowing through a narrow gorge with crystal clear water cascading into beautiful ponds that would be great to swim in, if temp was 10 degrees warmer. Walked to Ulleri, then down 3280 steps (in 2001 we walked UP them! Ugh! Down is bad enough!) to river and along to Hile, where we stayed in a dodgy guesthouse where the floor of the room leaned at an alarming angle and the roof was propped up by lumps of rock balanced right above where our heads were when we slept. Never mind.
Day 12, easy 2 hour walk along a new (incomplete) jeep track to Birethanti, got a 4WD to take us 80 mintues back to Pokhara and the same hotel room. Big non-veg lunch with our trusty porters, Kiran and Mahru, who both did a great job looking after us and 2 of our packs, and playing with Zoe and hanging out with Mitch, who played lots of cards with them during the trek and learned a few new games including Tidgy Midgy and Doombal(?).
Day 11: 300m above Ghorepani, a 45-60 minute hike, is Pun Hill, where everyone heads up to in the dark to watch the sun rise light up the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges, containing 2 of the highest 10 mountains on the planet. After a couple of days of heavy cloud cover, we weren’t real confident, but the stars were out when we left the hotel and the sky was cloudless as the first rays of the sun lit up the peaks. Very cold, we each had about 6 layers of clothing plus gloves and beanie. But spectacular view.
Day 7, up early to see the sun rise on the Annapurna peaks, then retrace our steps to Bamboo. Took 3 days up, but only 1 day down. Approx 1.5 km vertical.
Day 8, Bamboo to Chhomrong. In theory, easy, but in practice, Chhomrong is spread across/down the side of a rather large hill. You have to go all the way down another hill to cross a river, and then walk up the other side to the top of Chhomrong, using a seemingly endless staircase, several hundred metres vertical climb. Slow going. Very tiring. But at Chhomrong we had our first (and hot) shower of the trek. Luxurious and reenergising. As was the apple pie.
Day 9, Chhomrong to Tadapani. Easy flattish start to the day, then down down down to a river, up up up the other side, almost 800m vertical, to Tadapani. Cloudy, no view. Had a rat in our room that night but we got it out.
Day 10, Tadapani to Ghorepani. Generally uphill 500m vertical to Deurali Pass (not the same Deurali we had been to before… Mitchell counted 8 Deuralis on the map!). Relatively easy going along cool forest trails in the clouds. Then down to Ghorepani. Easiest day so far, until Dave strained ligaments behind his left knee and limped most of the way with two hiking poles as crutches 
(But ok the next day.)
