Rhinos, Whitewater and Motorcycle Riding Owls

As my final days in Nepal continue to dwindle away it is time to recount my travels over the last couple of weeks. My first stop was to visit the jungle in Chitwan National park in the south of Nepal. My journey started off on sketchy footing when I was asked by the guy who I booked the trip through to transport a box of "sweets" to his colleagues in Chitwan. Every horror story I have ever heard of tourists becoming unsuspecting drug mules started flashing through my mind. Not wanting a stint in Nepali jail to become a part of my travel experience I politely declined.

Arriving in Chitwan I was greeted by the blasting 40 degree Celsius tropical humid heat. It is places like these that renew my appreciation for the Canadian winter. I scored a room with air conditioning which is the only thing that made sleep possible for me. The only problem being the unreliable electricity meant having to for the power to come on for the room to cool down.

My arrival in Chitwan also coincided with my first bout of the dreaded stomach bug that always catches up with you at some point when traveling. Fortunately, the magic red antibiotic pill had me feeling better in less than 24 hours, but not before puking my guts out in the resort parking lot in front of all the hotel staff.

My favorite part of my visit to Chitwan was a full day jungle walk that I went on with a guide and his assistant. The jungle in this area is home to rhinos, tigers, elephants and numerous other creatures. The heavy wooden sticks my two guides carried did not make me feel a whole lot safer. We wandered through the grass and forests looking for animals. My guide had an incredible ability to spot rhinos from the slightest movement in the bushes. We watched a couple of rhinos foraging in the bush making sure we stayed upwind so they wouldn't smell us. It is an eerie feeling having nothing separating you from such massive animals. Especially when they start crashing through the bush and you see their true strength and speed. We had one moment of excitement when we were walking along a path and all of the sudden we heard a very loud snort come from the brush beside us. I saw a brief glimpse of fear on my guide's face as we all turned and ran back the way we had come. We had a good laugh once we were a safe distance away, but I think it got everyone's heart beating. Later we found a great spot on the edge of a riverbank and were watching a couple of rhinos cooling off in the water below. We could hear rhinos fighting in the distance and all of the sudden clouds of dust appeared as two rhinos burst out onto a plain across the river o e chasing the other. My guide made me climb up the nearest tree as a safety precaution in case the chase continued up to where we were. It was fascinating watching all of the action. A really incredible day. My jungle experience was rounded out by seeing huge crocodiles on the river bank, monkeys, a wild elephant and numerous birds.

After sweating it out in the jungle it was time to cool off by taking a four day whitewater kayaking course. This definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone as the first thing my instructor did was flip me upside down. As water rushed in through my nose I realized it was going to be a tough four days. Being trapped upside in a kayak does not fall into my category of fun activities. Along with another Canadian and an American I spent four days building up my skills on progressively bigger rapids. It was refreshing spending our days in the water and I swallowed more than my fair share of dirty river water. I got close to learning to roll the kayak back up while upside down, but never quite got the kayak all the way up. The rapids were fun and after tipping over a few times I was comfortable ejecting from the seat and riding my water logged kayak back to the shore. After the final day my body was completely destroyed. Every muscle hurt and I had bruises all over my shins from panicking while trapped upside down.

It was one last final bus ride back to Kathmandu with a baby goat nestled at a woman's feet on the bus before saying goodbye to traveling solo for the next 10 weeks and joining up on a group tour. My itinerary for the next 70 days involves driving from Kathmandu through Tibet and China and finally ending up in Mongolia. It is going to be quite the journey as there will be a mixture of camping and hotels with a group of 19 other people. Over the past few days I have been getting to know everyone as we head towards the border between Nepal and Tibet. Yesterday we had a day off from driving and did a full day trek through some small villages. The highlight of the day was meeting a man who was riding a motorcycle with a baby owl perched on the handlebars. It was bizarre talking to him as the owl just calmly sat there. When he took off the owl leaned into wind in takeoff position and they disappeared from our view.

Well, that is the update of my travels for now. Jungle pictures are posted at https://plus.google.com/112392129776163836192