Reporting from Somewhere in Nepal

Hello, as you have probably noticed, my prophecy of limited internet access in Nepal has proved to be true. So true that by the time I finally get to an internet cafe, I have forgotten what has happened since I last blogged. Keep a hand-written diary did you say? Pshaw, that'd be WAY to easy of a solution. Anyways, my writing-time dramatically decreased whenI got my hands on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I finished reading it about two hours ago which is why I'm struggling to remember what we have been up to over the past week. I want to say that we escaped Voldemort at the ministry of magic but I think I'm getting my worlds mixed up... and yes, I'm officially a nerd, thank you very much.

Two days ago we left the farm located near Royal Chitwan Park, located in the Terai region of Nepal. I had high hopes for this place -- Chitwan is home to one-horned rhinos, tigers, and elephants -- however, the beauty of Chitwan was overshadowed by the beauty of our last farm. The last farm was set on top of a mountain with beautiful views of neighboring hills, lakes, and snow covered mountains. Chitwan is in a sub-tropical flat region where the morning fog does not clear until around noon. The region is pretty, nonetheless, and the family we stayed with was lovely indeed, however, it was a hard transition considering we had been spoiled with beauty at the last farm.

The harvesting season had passed at the farm in Chitwan, so we spent our first day clearing grass, plants and weeds from some of the plots near the house. We learned that we were making space to plant sunflower seeds that had been sent to the farmer by a previous volunteer. The next day we needed to go to town to get money for an elephant ride that our host, Balarm, told us he could arrange. The round trip, he said, would take 3 hours. It took 7. We didn't get anything done on the farm. In town, however, we succeeded in stuffing our faces with samosas and buying what seemed like an endless supplies of cookies, peanut butter, and chips. On the ride to and from town, which we were told was a 45 minute ride but was actually 90 minutes, we successfully got sick of riding on top of busses. We had to fight our way through a crowd onto the bus that would bring us back to the farm. I managed to get a seat on top of a thin metal rod (on top of the bus) which REALLY hurts after 10 minutes of bumpy road.

To tell you a little bit about these buses, Anthony and I counted enough seats in the bus to accomodate 28 people if the bus were to be operated in the U.S. (i.e. one set per passenger). We estimated that said buses were probably holding around 75 people since they stuff the bus full of people and load the top of it with people too. We counted about another 20 on top of the bus with us when we returned to the farm that evening.

We did eventually make it to Chitwan for the elephant ride but because we lost track of time when we got to see a tiger (in a pen, of course) our elephant ride was cut short. Elephants are impressive creatures. Since they don't move all that quickly, I thought they'd be great animals to take self-portraits with, however, I negleted the fact that elephant heads are very large and it is impossible to get an entire elephant head in the frame when the camera is held a human-arm-length from said elephant. I'm glad I tried. I think that by the end of this trip I'll know all the pros and cons of taking self-portraits with different animals -- so far I've only attempted them with dogs, kids (baby goats), and elephants.

Now I am in sitting in an internet cafe in Butwal, Nepal, which is located 43 km north of Lumbini, which is where Buddha was apparently born. We're not going to make it to Lumbini, instead we are going to cycle another 400 (or so) km west to cross the India-Nepal border. We are thinking we will be in India in 10 days or less, which means we don't know where we will be for Christmas. All I know is that we will probably be in a place where we can eat a lot (I'm thinking a Christmas feast is in order).

Butwal seems to be the last major city on the map before we get to India, so there probably won't be any updates for another 10 days or so, which means, I wish you all happy holidays!!!!