Seeing More of Nepal

We have taken a few days just to travel around the country here. We left on Wednesday and took a bus to Chitwan National Park. The bus itself was an experience. Our first restroom stop was by the side of the road. No problem for the men, but us women had to fend for ourselves! It is a good thing I have experience from my hiking in the forests of Oregon!

When we got to Chitwan we had a ride on an elephant into the park. It wasn't the smoothest ride I have ever had, but we saw some amazing wildlife: Rhinoceros and young, crocodile and young, monkeys, peacocks, 3 types of deer. We also were treated to a cultural program of the Tharu people.

Thursday we took a local bus to Pokhara, near the Annapurna range of the Himalayan Mountain Range. The bus ride was again very interesting, but very long. It is amazing to see the village people doing all their everyday chores manually. Women and bathing in the local water fountain and men plowing fields behind two cows. Produce in abundance were oranges, cauliflower, lentils and rice.

The views from Pokhara are awesome. The mountains rise up so sharply. We took a taxi to Sarangkot, a village on a local hill before sunrise. As the sun rose it shone brightly on the peaks of the Annapurna Range. Our next adventure was to go to the Bat Cave. It was like walking into the many caves we have in the States with thousands of bats on the ceiling. As we began our exit we climbed up on some rocky path and then the young guide points up and says, "This is the exit, very difficult." I looked up and saw we were going to have to rock climb out. I made it with the guide and Tim's help from below!

We also visited an amazing resort with views of the Annapurnas, and went to the International Mountaineering Museum. The museum had exhibits on the different mountain peoples and the 15 highest mountains in the world and the teams that were the first to summit.

We are back in Kathmandu and everyone is getting ready for the ordination of Vijay, the pastor that we are staying with. We are honored to be able to be here for it.