So far everything in Austria and Germany has been very nice and we’re having a marvelous time. We don’t have anything really exciting to write about, which we think is good for a change, though you’re bound to disagree. But, I’ll write something anyway and you can skim through it.

We took a train from Vienna to Salzburg and stayed the night in an old Austrian hotel. We walked around town, saw some churches, gardens, graveyards, catacombs and fountains. We also visited a crypt from the 8^th century that lies beneath one of the churches. We saw a few sights related to The Sound Of Music (both the movie and the real life story). Salzburg is an absolutely beautiful place and we really enjoyed our short stay.

We’re now in Burgkirchen. Never heard of it? Well, that’s because it’s a tiny, unknown village in the middle of nowhere. But they do have a train station, as many small places do in Germany. We’re staying with a couple who have this great house made from natural products (like tile, clay and wood – they don’t use wood here typically). We’re fascinated by their super efficient heating system which sends warm water through pipes in the walls. We still haven’t really figured it out. And they have a clothes drier that produces a couple of liters of water after every load. Ever seen that?

Well, Burgkirchen isn’t far from Munich, and one of our hosts drove us there and back so we could see the city!

We found out that the Autobahn truly is fast. Basically there are no speed limits on German highways and there are a lot of speedy cars in the left lane. Our guests have a small Fiat and it does okay, but it’s really more of a right lane car.

It’s cold here. Sure, it’s autumn, but it’s chilly and wet like November in Toronto. So we’re wearing the pants and jackets that have been balled up at the bottom of our backpacks since January. And I finally had to buy some shoes. All I had was sandals and my feet were freezing. I was hoping for a pair of runners, but I haven’t seen any (haven’t been in the right part of town). I didn’t want to buy a heavy, bulky pair of boots, so I bought a cheap pair of Croc look-a-likes. With wool socks they’re warm and they’re certainly comfy. But I’m just not sure about the color… At least I’m easy to pick out of a crowd.

We had a chance to enjoy Oktoberfest. Not too much, just enough to get an idea of what it is and decide that we didn’t need to see anymore. The Oktoberfest grounds look a bit like the Calgary Stampede, but the junk food is different and they have some really old rides and shows that were really neat. And the people wear traditional Bavarian clothes, not cowboy hats. I had damfknudle (I can’t remember how to spell it). It was like a sweet steam bun in a bowl of vanilla soup. Very yummy. I also tried out one of their swings (little self propelled, back and forth car thing). I saw that it could go right around, upside down, and I had to try, but it was exhausting and really difficult. It’s hard to know how to pump the swing when you get high. I just made it to about halfway, which is as far as most people get. I think I could do it with a bit more practice.

We missed the Flea Circus and traditional beheading, but we managed to explore one of the beer tents. The beer is served from 10 AM until the wee hours of the morning. The tent was packed at noon and people were already getting quite drunk – which is easy because the beer is served by the liter. The band was playing Bavarian dancing and drinking music (like Roll out the Barrel) and people were already dancing on the tables. Rich and I each managed to drink one mug each (no dancing, though).

And then we walked around the best parts of Munich for a bit, saw some old buildings and the Glockenspiel at the town hall.

And that’s about it for now! More to come soon.

It was a long, overnight flight. I watched Ocean’s 13 twice, ate dinner and breakfast, watched Spiderman 3 for the second time, played a little Space Invaders, did a Sudoku and tried to sleep without much success. So now we’ve finally said goodbye to Asia. We arein Vienna, Austria. It’s a lovely city, it’s clean, no bad odors, it’s quiet too. We’ve also noticed that the cars go a lot faster here. I don’t know if they go faster than at home, I think I’ve just lost perspective after 8 months in Asia. Doesn’t matter, there are crosswalks here. I find it surprising that the dogs here have owners and they’re on leashes (the dogs are, anyway). We’ve also noticed that every thing here works: there’s ‘round the clock electricity, toilets flush, there’s always hot water, clocks are set right, fountains are running and cars have mufflers and working brakes. And not a single person has tried to sell us something or asked us for money. It’s such a huge change and we’re absolutely thrilled about it. Actually, Richard doesn’t desperately want to go home anymore (at least not today). Even after eating some Austrian pepperoni that triggered a migraine, Rich has decided that Austria is wonderful in everyway. I like it too.

It’s expensive though, and we’ll be lucky if we can stay under $50 Canadian a day for the next couple of months. The worst of our expenses is transportation. The rail network here is great, but pricey. For example, Vienna to Salzburg is a 2.5 hour trip that costs about 45 Euros, or $60 dollars. It’s actually cheaper to fly… but it’s not as easy and you don’t get to see much scenery from a jet.

Fortunately, we managed to buy a Eurail pass online and have it mailed to a European address. It’s costing us just over $1300 CAD for a two month rail pass. It’s a lot… and that’s for EACH of us. But it gets us unlimited travel in 18 countries for two months. It works out to about $22/day. There are cheaper passes that would probably work for us, but we don’t have the next two months planned out enough to know what kind of passes we should buy. And we figured we probably wouldn’t save enough to justify the aggravation and confusion that comes with trying to follow the restrictions. So, with our travel passes, we’ll probably be more or less living on the train for two months trying to get more than our moneys worth.

Of course, the rail passes aren’t going to get us far within cities, so we’re going to be doing a lot of walking. But, as we’ve discovered in Vienna at least, walking in the cool, Autumn air on smooth sidewalks is such a joy, we are really looking forward to long strolls all over Europe.

Walking is about all we’ve done in Vienna. We’ve enjoyed it so much and the buildings and gardens are so beautiful that we didn’t feel compelled to do much more. We tried out a few cafes and restaurants – they aren’t really cheap, but the food is delicious and the quantities are generous. Richard is going to have to quit drinking Coca Cola now. It was so cheap in Asia, about 25 cents for a small bottle, but here you can pay more than $3 for the same tiny bottle. Wine, on the other hand, is very affordable. It’s probably the cheapest beverage you can get at any restaurant other than tap water and beer. Of course, since tap water is potable, and free, we’ll probably be drinking quite a lot of it.

We are hoping to save a lot of money in Europe by couch surfing. Here in Vienna we’ve been staying with an Austrian family. They have a lovely apartment in an old building. For the first time in 8 months, we’re remembering that old can be good. This place has character, high ceilings, wood floors, plaster and huge doors. And the building is on a nice canal within walking distance of downtown. They’ve not only been generous hosts, but great tour guides as well. And we’ve had a chance to enjoy some home cooking!

We’ve had a great time but we have a lot to see in the next few months, so today we’re leaving for Salzburg. We’ll be staying one night in a hostel and then we’re off to Burgkirchen, Germany to do a little more couch surfing… and experience Oktoberfest! 

I hate Delhi and I hate the people here!  Perhaps that’s a bit strong and I don’t hate the people but I hate some of the things they do and some of the things I’ve seen.  As most of you know we didn’t exactly have a great time in India our first go.  What are we doing here again you may ask?  To get to Vienna we have to go through Delhi and because we didn’t trust the airlines to get us here on time for a connecting flight, we decided to come a day and a half early.  Our coping strategy was to check into a descent air conditioned hotel, preferably with a pool and internet, and to never leave.  That didn’t work out.  The place we wanted to go to was way out of our price range (ironically it was the YMCA).  That of course was our fault for not doing our homework first.  We then threw ourselves to the dogs and had a taxi drive us around to look at some other places.  You’re never supposed to do this because the driver probably won’t take you where you want to go.  Instead they take you to their brother in-laws place or some other place that will pay them a commission.  And as soon as we asked to be taken to a certain place the guy said it was bad and full but fortunately he knew of a better place.  We didn’t let him get away with that and he did take us to the place we wanted to go.  But it did suck!  He then took us to a travel agent.  Again you’re never supposed to go to a travel agent because they don’t send you to good places but rather to the places that give them the best commission.  I went in to talk to the travel agent man.  He of course had the perfect place for us.  All I had to do was pay him for our 2 nights accommodation up front and he would send us on our merry way.  Not seeing a room in India before you agree to it is another rule and I didn’t intend on breaking this one.  After fighting with the guy a few minutes and throwing a few insults back and forth he agreed to us paying after we saw the room.  It turns out that what he was worried about was that we would negotiate our own deal directly with the hotel man.  It’s good to know that they screw each other as well as us tourists.  To get to the hotel the travel agent man had ‘his boy’ drive us.  When we first got to India we noticed that just about everybody has ‘their boy’ to do the grunt work.  At first it was just funny and we thought it was an anomaly but it’s actually really common and just sort of the way things are.

Today all we wanted to do was to mail a parcel and do some internet.  Simple right?  Not in India.  We went to the main post office.  We needed a box and fortunately there was a list of various sized boxes and their prices posted on the wall.  We inquired about the boxes and this man, I think he was ‘the boy’, took us to this little broom closet that I don’t think had been opened for the last six months.  He began rummaging around.  We asked him about the sign with the boxes listed and he told us that they didn’t exist.  He then very calmly pulled out this little cushion, put it on the floor and sat on it and proceeded to pull out this dilapidated cardboard.  I think he was going to build us a box.  We didn’t stick around to find out.  So we began wondering the streets of Delhi in search of a box.  We very quickly found a stationary store, went in, and asked for a box.  ‘The boy’ took us to the back.  He started rummaging around but of course you can never find the right sized box.  He finally found one.  It was full of stuff.  He then proceeded to dump all this junk out of it into another box.  Mom, when you get you’re parcel from Delhi, if it actually makes it, you’ll notice that there are little beads stuck in the bottom flaps of the box, now you know why.  With the box in hand we proceeded to go to McDonalds to pack it.  We’ve learned that you can get away with just about anything at McDonalds including hogging a table for an hour and a half to pack a box even when the place is packed.  With our packed box in hand, and our stomachs full of yummy McDonalds food, we headed back to the post office.  This is where the crap really began.  In India people don’t know how to line up.  You’ll think you’re standing in line and then people will just start cutting in front of you and the bastards at the counter will serve the line cutters first!  After clawing and arguing our way to the front the counter man told us we needed to have our box wrapped in cotton.  Yes, that’s correct, wrapped in cotton.  We asked why we couldn’t just wrap some tape around it like the rest of the world but apparently that’s not how it’s done here.  He then pointed to ‘the boy’ at the closet that we dealt with before.  So we went to ‘the boy’, he pulled out his cushion, pulled out some cotton and proceeded to sew our box shut. In the end, it took about 3 hours for us to send a parcel. We’re not really optimistic about it actually getting back to Canada.

Tonight, while we were on the internet in our hotel lobby (and that’s another entire story), there was a couple trying to pay for their room.  They were leaving very early in the morning and wanted to settle the bill in the evening so that they could just leave in the morning.  Sounds reasonable doesn’t it?  But that’s not how it works here.  The hotel guy reassured them that there would be somebody available for checkout at 4:45am.  During the discussion the couple found out that they were being charged for 2 ½ nights not just 2 like they thought.  The reason for this was because they checked in at 8am and checkout time is 12 noon.  In other words they got to the hotel in the morning so they were going to be charged for that extra time.  The people, who I think were Japanese and therefore entirely too polite, fought as best they could but they weren’t really getting anywhere.  I couldn’t stand it anymore so when we paid for our internet I told the couple that they were right and the hotel man was wrong and that they should keep fighting.  The hotel man wasn’t too impressed and he started to argue with me.   We said a few words back and forth and then I realized that he thought I was complaining about the internet.  I don’t know if he ever figured out what I said but the couple did and I hope they didn’t give up.  Bry and I thought the solution was simple, we would have paid for the two nights and then walked out. 

We’ve been in Kathmandu a few days now and it would be fair to say that this city has surprised us. We were told by many people that it was a dirty city and they warned us not to get our expectations up. Well, it is a rather dirty city, but most of the dirt is actually dirt. There isn’t much pavement. When it rains a little, it keeps the dust down. When it rains a lot… well, you can imagine. There’s garbage too, but we’ve seen that all over Asia (and we’ve seen worse).

The people are nice, ‘tourist prices’ are reasonable and the touts are manageable. The hotel we’re in is quite good, about $10 a night and when there’s power, we can watch TV. Food isn’t super cheap but you can get really good food for under $5 a dish. And there are all kinds of bakeries that make great chocolate pastries. You can get anything you need on the main street of Thamel, from toilet paper to travel agents. The internet is only okay (once we found a place where our laptop worked, that is). So all in all, Kathmandu is an easy place to hang out for a few days.

But we were shocked to find out how old Kathmandu is; it’s so rich in culture and character. We’ve just been walking around and there are old buildings, stupas, temples, carvings and shrines on every block. There is so much history here that the locals don’t even recognize it. We’ve seen thousand year old lingas and Buddha statues used as laundry racks.

Since the people here are friendly and not always after our money, we’ve had a chance to chat with some locals. We’re still really confused about the political situation in Nepal, but as it turns out, so are the Nepali people. It’s also interesting to hear what the locals think about the caste system here. They don’t really have an opinion about whether it’s good or bad because they simply don’t know any different. The caste that you’ve been born into determines everything you can and can’t do for the rest of your life (unless you manage to leave the country). Nobody can change their caste except by marriage, but even then, they can only move to a lower caste. I find the concept intriguing, insane and unfair, but to the Nepalese we’ve spoken to, it just is what it is.

Today there is a festival starting today (or ending, we’re not sure). It’s a women’s festival called Teej, but it’s not about the women at all. It’s actually a chance for women to honor their husbands. The women wear red saris and fast. I don’t know any more about it, but it doesn’t sound all that appealing to me, so today I wore brown and ate a really huge lunch. While I was looking up info on the festival, I learned that men in Nepal can legally take a second wife if their first has not borne them any children after 10 years. But I’ve explained to Rich that it doesn’t apply to tourists.

I’m thrilled to find out that Nepal is a great travel destination even if you aren’t trekking. I’d love to go trekking, of course, but there are so many reasons that I haven’t done anything more than a day hike; too much rain, no gear, no trekking companion, Maoists, leeches, the cost and lack of time. I considered a 3 day hike near Kathmandu, but I couldn’t get past the idea of wearing rented boots and I really don’t like leeches. I hope I can come back to do some trekking someday, but I’ll come prepared and it will be in the dry season.

So I’m okay with not trekking on this trip, but how does one visit Nepal without catching at least a glimpse of Sagarmatha? Even those of you who don’t know it by its Nepali name can probably guess that I’m talking about the highest mountain peak in the world. Everest. Yeah, we admit it, we wanted to see it. Who doesn’t? But it isn’t very easy to get to on the Nepal side. You can fly to Lukla, but the base camp is still a good 8 day trek from there. Someday, I’d like to go, but NOT with Richard and not by myself (anyone interested? Let me know). Anyway, we aren’t the only lazy tourists in Nepal dying to see Everest. There are more than enough rich, lazy tourists to fill an airplane or two, or seven, everyday. The planes fly out to Everest and back from Kathmandu. The whole trip isn’t much more than an hour. The airlines guarantee that you will see Everest; if you don’t, you can try again another day or get your money back. So, for the whopping price of $136 USD per person, we decided to take a mountain flight to Everest. Not good for our budget, but it’s Everest. It really is the only way Richard could see the mountain as he will probably never don a pair of hiking boots again.

So we got up at 4:30 AM, caught a taxi to the airport, figured out we were at the wrong terminal, walked to the domestic terminal, paid our flight taxes, checked in, got frisked three times and then waited. We didn’t actually board the plane until an hour after our scheduled departure. Once we were on the plane, we just sat there and waited a little longer. They told us nothing. Eventually, the stewardess announced that the first mountain flight of the day had reached Everest and were reporting that the mountain was completely clouded over. They were canceling the flight.

So we got our tax refunds and signed up to fly again the next day. And today we got up at 4:30 and did it all over again. Richard says he’s starting to enjoy getting frisked. We waited in the terminal for nearly two hours this morning and both of us were sure they’d cancel the flight again. But they didn’t. We got on our plane and took off around 8 AM. The flight to the mountain takes about 40 minutes. At first, we didn’t see anything but clouds and we were disappointed. We weren’t sure what the airline considered an acceptable view of Everest, but we weren’t very optimistic.

Everybody gets a window seat on the mountain flights. Rich had the left side, I had the right. About 20 minutes into the flight Rich turned to me with a surprised look and said, “I see it.”

“Yeah? And?”

Richard was slow to tear his eyes from his window a second time, but when he did I could see he was impressed. “It looks pretty much how you’d expect it to look.”

From my side of the plane, I could see another mountain, but it’s peak wasn’t much higher that the cloud line. But then it was my turn to visit the cockpit and get a good look for myself. And I was surprised. Everest is really big. The clouds obscured its base, but the top half of it was really amazing, white and sparkling with just a hint of a cloud trail streaming from the peak. And it wasn’t below us. We were in a plane, flying above the clouds but I was looking straight out the cockpit window at it. I think I finally understand why people flock to it, climb it and become obsessed with it. It’s mesmerizing and compelling and unattainable. Seeing it wasn’t at all satisfying. The experience has left me with nothing but a sense of longing. I mean, I don’t want to climb it. That’s too much work. But I think I have to add Everest Base Camp to my short list. I just started making a list today.

The tourist busses in Nepal really aren’t much better than the local busses. We found this out on our way here to Kathmandu. As we were passing our packs up to the guy on the roof, they asked if we wanted to ride up there. We laughed and said “no way”. The people in Nepal do this all of the time. I’ve even seen goats and cows riding on the roof of busses. It’s simple really, just too many people and too much livestock to get it all on the inside. So I was a little concerned when they asked us if we wanted to ride on the roof, because I noticed the bus looked rather full and I was worried we wouldn’t get a seat.

But we did, thankfully.

We made a new friend in Chitwan, a wandering Scotsman named Chris. We ended up traveling with him to Kathmandu. He said something about an addition to his ‘greatest fears list’ on his travel blog; hurtling down the highway on the roof of a Nepalese bus. In other words, he didn’t want to ride on the roof either.

The bus ride wasn’t too exciting for the first couple of hours – just the way we like it. But then good things always come to an end earlier than you’d like. Up ahead on the highway, I saw a line of busses and they didn’t look like they were moving. When we got closer, we could see that they weren’t. In fact, they were empty and there were people and goats walking around, sleeping in the shade, splashing around in the small water falls and reading books (the goats weren’t reading books). So when our bus stopped at the end of the line, Rich and I got out and found a spot to sit and tried to stay cool. It was really hot and we ran out of water rather quickly.

Eventually we heard that the townspeople up ahead had set up a roadblock. The reason never became clear to us - the story kept changing, but essentially a child had been killed on the highway a few days before. We heard they wanted blood money, 70,000 Rupees (1000 CAD), but we also heard that wasn’t true. We walked to town and saw the barricade and the big crowds of people ‘negotiating’. It seemed rather peaceful, hardly any shouting, nothing physical. The Nepali people wandering the highway were really calm about the whole thing - they are used to it.

After a couple of hours we went back into town to buy something to drink. The prices were reasonable, which confused me a little, I was expecting the prices to have risen much more, but I also noticed that the Nepali people were just drinking from the waterfalls.

Then we saw people walking through the roadblock to the other side of the town with their packs and baskets hoping to catch a ride on a bus that was turning around and heading back the way it came. A few tourists were walking through with their packs too.

When we got back to our bus, our friend was getting his pack down from the roof. He and some others were getting ready to look for transportation on the other side of the roadblock. We’d been there 4 hours by then and nothing had changed. We didn’t want to get separated from our group and we really, really didn’t want to spend the night on the highway, so we decided to join them. Thankfully, the sun was behind the mountain, so it was finally starting to cool down a bit.

We ended up walking an hour to get to the other end of the traffic jam. We’d been asking drivers if they’d consider turning around and taking us to Kathmandu, but we weren’t having any luck. Somebody said there were local busses heading back, but we must have been too late. Some other luckier travelers on our bus had disappeared and we saw others driving by – they were gloating, waving and grinning, shouting ‘see you in Kathmandu!’ After an hour of trying, we found one minibus willing to turn around for 5000 rupees, and we would have paid our 1/3 of that, but the rest of the group thought it was too much.

People seemed to think the whole thing would be over at 5pm, which was quickly approaching, so we waited a bit longer. Still nothing.

For lack of a better idea, we decided to walk to the next town. We thought we could at least get dinner and still catch a passing bus if one decided to turn around or if the road was opened. And, worst case, we thought the village would be a better place to spend the night if it should come to that.

For those of you who are wondering; Kathmandu was still 88 kms away, so walking was out of the question.

Suddenly, a couple of busses came our way. They were full, but there was still some room on the roof. The first one slowed for us, but we shook our heads and it kept going. Our friends, however, were climbing onto the roof of the second one (you see where this is going). It only took about 10 seconds to decide we didn’t want to get left behind, so we ran to the bus and climbed the ladder.

The luggage rack on the roof of the bus was packed. We had arms and legs intertwined with the limbs of strangers. The base of the rack is just widely spaced bars, not really made for sitting, so we sat on packs and shoes and whatever else was handy. For the first couple of minutes, even though we were very uncomfortable, we were really happy to be moving. We basically just held on to the rails of the luggage rack and watched for low hanging power lines. We quickly realized that the swaying of the bus is magnified several times when you’re sitting on the roof.

Richard’s note:  The top of the bus was really packed, no I mean really.  It was so packed that to be able to move you would literally have to grab someone’s foot or leg and move it, ask them if it was ok and then move you’re applicable appendage to the open spot.  At one point a felt a foot resting on a sensitive part of my anatomy.  It turned out to be Bry’s. She gave me a questioning look and I said, “yeah, those are mine.”

After just a few kilometers, we stopped. The driver turned off the bus and we moaned and asked ‘what now?’ It turns out they were negotiating a price for the trip. We just sat there and waited for the Nepali people to figure it out. I’d rather have a Nepalese person do the negotiating for me anyway. Eventually they settled on a price of 180 rupees per person. That’s only about $3, so we were ecstatic, even if the locals weren’t.

So we were moving again. A guy climbed up onto the roof of our erratically driven bus and, like a monkey, skirted around the outside of the luggage rack collecting our money.

I have to admit, the world looks different and rather amazing from the roof of the bus. The scenery is so vivid and the mountains were beautiful. Of course, it was getting late and we only had daylight for the first hour into the trip, but even in the dark, the lights scattered in the valley below were prettier from where we were sitting. The weather was fantastic. We also got a great view of the bus wreck that was being winched back up the cliff and onto the highway. I pointed out that the crashed bus was identical to ours… It was one of those times when I should have kept my mouth shut.

We stopped once for dinner, though most of us tourists settled for drinks. We had a chance to stretch our legs and adjust our seating arrangements a bit. Chris inflated his sleeping mattress and kindly shared with six or seven other people. The rest of the trip was much more comfortable, which was good, because we ended up parked on the highway yet again for a while because of road repairs.

The people on the roof were a 50/50 split of tourists and locals. The locals were really nice, translating when necessary and allowing us big westerners more than our fair share of the rack area. One of the guys didn’t speak any English, but he pointed places out and told us ‘things’ that we didn’t understand. The poor guy was crammed into the corner of the luggage rack for most of the trip, but he never complained. He sang a few folk tunes and, when he got chilly, he leaned up against Richard for warmth. (Men are rather comfortable touching other men here.) He kept saying Jado, which we later found out means cold. Rich didn’t say anything, though I did see him roll his eyes once when the guy rested his head on Richards shoulder.  Richard joked that the guy must have at gotten to at least 2^nd base with him.

Eventually, we crawled into Kathmandu. I think it was around 9:30pm. We’d been traveling since 6:30am and we were exhausted. The last thing we wanted to do was look for a hotel. We ended up following Chris to his hotel where they had one room left for us. It cost more than we would normally pay, but money was the last thing on our minds. We weren’t even hungry anymore, which was good because the restaurants were closed. We just wanted to sleep.

It was a long, difficult day and I never want to do it again, but it wasn’t all bad. We now have a deeper understanding of how things work in Nepal. We were able to experience ‘hurtling down the highway on the roof of a Nepalese bus’ (so you can add that to your ‘Amazing Experiences’ list Chris). We got to our destination safe and sound (not too much mental anguish). And of course, we got to spend some time with some great people. But a short disclaimer: riding on the roof is in fact dangerous. So please, given the chance to ride on the roof yourself, JUST SAY NO! 

We’ve had a very exciting couple of days. Not all good… but definitely exciting.

To start, we booked a trip to Chitwan National Park. It’s a jungle in the south of Nepal about halfway between Pokhara and Kathmandu. We heard Chitwan is full of wildlife and that it’s the best place in the world to spot a wild Bengal Tiger. We managed to get a two night all-inclusive package for $115 USD each. We researched the resort before we booked it and it sounded okay, but we were very concerned about the transportation. The local busses in Nepal are horrible and there was no way we were going to spend 4 hours on one. But we were assured it would be a tourist bus. The tourist busses aren’t much better, but they don’t pick up people every 2 minutes and put them in the aisles and on the roof. Generally, tourist busses have only tourists on them and therefore fewer goats.

Well, we don’t know what went wrong – maybe there was no tourist bus the day we left – but we ended up on a local bus. We are still steaming about it, but for a local bus, it wasn’t too bad. We had seats and leg room and no goats (just chickens).

When we arrived at the resort we were told we’d have to walk a bit and wade through some mud and water. So… okay, off we went. We had to carry our backpacks because nobody offered to help. Then we were told to get in the boat. Again, no help. I was starting to wonder what kind of resort we were going to.

We sat in the boat for quite a while, not moving. It turns out we were waiting for a few more guests. We waved a hello as they approached. They were laughing and cracking jokes about what an adventure they must be in for once we actually got to the resort. They got in the boat and asked if we spoke English. I said, “Oh, sorry, yes. I guess we’re just a bit dumbfounded.”

Rich added, “We lost some of our verbal skills on the way here.”

The boat ride was interesting just because the boat was so low in the water and the river is very high and very fast. None of us moved an inch during the trip, afraid that we’d take on water.

The resort itself wasn’t bad. It’s starting to show its age, but our room was very clean. We had to live without power for most of the day and because of the monsoon, everything was wet and smelled like mildew. By the time we left, all of our belongings were wet and smelly too. For that matter, I think my hair was wet for a full 48 hours.

The food was terrible.

But… I really had a good time – for two reasons; we met some great people and we saw a lot of wildlife.

About an hour after we arrived we were climbing onto the back of an elephant. We spent a couple of hours ducking under branches and keeping our eyes peeled for animals. We saw, and heard, a rhinoceros. We were amazed at how big and fast he was. We also saw a couple of deer. The barking deer barks, just like a small dog. Rather interesting. Our mahout also pointed out some birds, but we weren’t all that interested.

It rained all night. We had about two hours of lighting and a constant roaring thunder that kept some people up a lot of the night. I just had trouble sleeping on a damp bed.

We were up a dawn for another elephant safari. We saw a few rhinos, but we weren’t nearly as lucky as the people on the other two elephants. They went a different direction and stumbled upon two tigers. They said one was huge, maybe 8 feet long, but the tigers don’t mess with the elephants, so they weren’t in much danger.

Later that day we did see some tiger tracks out in the jungle. Not as exciting as seeing the tiger itself, but it’s good to know they exist.

We both picked up a leech, but I managed to get mine off before it sunk its teeth in. We discovered that salt is very effective at getting them off once they’re attached. Rich bled for a few hours – the anticoagulant in leech spit really works.

We also saw a crocodile on the river bank. It wasn’t all that big, I don’t think, but it was quite far away, so who can say.

And then my favorite part of the trip, swimming with the elephants. They are so intelligent and so much fun to play with. They sprayed us with water and trumpeted and rolled over in the water to throw us off. They are very well trained too. They understand many different verbal commands and when they were told, they would stand, kneel, turn right or left, turn around, pick up things we dropped and clear trees from the path. We also heard that you can get encephalitis from elephant spit, but we’re both feeling fine.

And that was about it. It was a short trip. I’m glad we went even if the bus ride was terrible. Speaking of which… we had quite the adventure getting to Kathmandu. Make sure to watch for the next blog entry. I’ll post it tomorrow or the next day.