Nepal ~ a Taste of this Himalayan Country

Wow – what a country !

We arrived in Kathmandu to find the city fogged in with pollution.

They only have electricity 84 hours per week, and usually not during the hours you need it !

They do have a very funky tourist walking district with all kinds of shops, markets and café’s.

The government is supposed to have a constitution ready in 6 weeks, but it doesn’t look like it is going to be agreed on and who knows what is going to happen ???

We drove up to the lakeside city of Pokhara at the foot of the Himalayas – it took 6 hours of hairpin turns through the mountains to get there !

It was a whole different feel than the capital – looking up at those snow-capped peaks was incredible !

After 2 days I felt like I had lived there forever … this is where my Aunt & Uncle spent 27 years as missionaries and my cousins grew up.

I REALLY wanted to go trekking, but there wasn’t enough time this trip. You need to go up the Himalayas slowly to acclimatize and avoid altitude sickness.

After Pokhara we drove down to the lowlands and made a stop at Chitwan National Park. The first day I got talked into climbing up onto an elephant in the river, and got “showered” by his trunk !

My elephant would suck in a trunk full of water and shoot it over his head at me while I was standing up, trying to balance on his back – it was an Experience ! (we did get it on video!)

The following day we went on an elephant safari through the park and saw one-horned rhinos, monkeys, deer, and crocodiles – quite an adventure – on the back of an elephant. I figured being on the top of the elephant was the least likely place to get attacked by a tiger.

They took us on a canoe safari – 10 of us in a little dugout canoe that felt like it was going to tip over – and someone in the back kept losing their balance and rocking the boat as we paddled down the alligator infested river !

We visited an elephant breeding center and met the first set of twins to survive – they were adorable and came right up to us looking for food with their trunks.

I will be coming back here to try my hand climbing the Himalayas !