Just for the record, it was Andrew's turn to write this one...but he ditched out. Can't say I mind tho, cuz there are a few pretty funny stories that he probably wouldn't have shared with you. Shall we? ...
Last time we wrote, we had just got back from the Everest trek. So much has happened since.
We hope everyone, friends and family reading this, are doing well. We think about you often and talk about things from home all the time. For any of those concerned, I am still on the hunt for salt and vinegar chips!!
So, before we left the craziness of Kathmandu behind for good, we headed out to a place called the Last Resort. We spent the first day rapelling down some waterfalls and relaxing in our tent. I'm not sure Andrew was able to fully relax though, because the plan for the next day was bungee jumping off of a 160m high bridge (the bridge that we had to walk across to arrive at the resort). The morning of the jump, we woke up and went for breakfast. Normally Andrew is the chirpy one in the morning and I am the complete opposite. However, we both learnt a little something about each other that morning. When Andrew is nervous, he does not say a word. When I am nervous, I do not shut up. The conversation at the breakfast table was a little one-sided to say the least. Anyway, after breakfast we headed out to the dreaded bridge. Andrew had decided to try out the rope swing and I decided on the bungee. To Andrew's surprise, those doing the rope swing got to jump first. And, Andrew was lucky enough to be the first rope swinger of the day. He got geared up and onto the little ledge. Here, you are supposed to shuffle to the edge, listen to the man count to three and then jump. Andrew was a bit reluctant, but with a little encouragement he went. All that was heard after that was his yell of bravery echoing in the canyon. I was ready to throw up at this point. At least 40 minutes later, it was my turn to jump head first off the bridge. Needless to say, we both survived. Afterwards, I think Andrew was relieved and overjoyed to have both feet planted on the ground. I on the other hand, wanted more and decided to give the rope swing a try. We spent the last of our time at the resort hanging out in the hammocks. We ended the trip with our first bus ride on the roof back to Kathmandu.
The next stop was a one nighter in a little place called Manakamana. We got on a minibus that drove us along the craziest highway I have ever experienced in my life. Just as I was wondering how the heck we hadn't got in an accident yet, our bus drove straight into the back of a chicken truck. The van was pretty damaged in the front, but no one was seriously hurt. Being the only whities on the bus, we had no idea what was going on. So, being the good tourists that we are, we took a couple pictures and hopped on a different bus that was going the same way. After the little bus adventure and a cable car ride up, we were in Manakamana. Our motive for going there was to witness the process of sacrificing a goat. Not only did we accomplish that, we also had our first run in with cockroaches. I could go into detail with the story, but it's probably not really that necessary (even though my immense fear of big bugs tells me that it is). All you need to know is, I'm scared of bugs..Andrew's not...and I bravely survived the night with little to no support from Andrew and my fingers stuck in my ears.
From Manakamana, we continued on to Pokhara. We had been told over and over that Pokhara was the place to relax and unwind from the ridiculousness of Kathmandu. I could not wait to get there. Upon arrival, we checked in to what seemed to be a nice, clean hotel. Andrew was unnecessarily impressed with it initially. We dropped our bags and headed out right away to find some food and have a look around. We probably only got about 20 steps away from the hotel when we realized we didn't bring any money with us. Andrew ran back to the hotel to grab some, only to find the guy from the front desk in our room and rummaging through our bags. He had a few things out on the bed and ready to go, but thankfully Andrew interrupted and the guy ran away. We couldn't notice anything that might've been stolen..if anything, it was a few American bucks. We packed our bags and headed out to a much nicer place. This new place also ran a children's daycare..so we spent a couple mornings playing with the hilarious kids.
We ended up loving Pokhara, just like everyone said we would. We just relaxed, drank banana lassis and enjoyed having the lake right beside us. The highlight was definitely paragliding. We had really great pilots who took us up for half an hour each. We weren't able to do the parahawking that Andrew told everyone about before we left...the birds are too fat to do their thing right now and are in training. Maybe next time..
We left Pokhara on yet another bus to head to our last stop in Nepal- Chitwan National Park. Our first day there, we got to visit an elephant breeding center where we saw twin baby elephants. The next day had a lot in store, but plans changed when Andrew got hit with the chicken sizzler that he ate for supper during the middle of the night. Andrew spent the next day in bed/on the toilet. We extended our stay and the day after, when Andrew was fully recovered, we got to hang out with the elephants again. We started the day with a canoe ride on the river. Our canoe felt like it was constantly going to tip, but we got to see some pretty cool birds. Then we got to have a bath with the elephants, which was so much fun (assuming that the only thing coming out of the trunk when the elephants sprayed us was water). Later that day, we went on an elephant ride. This was, by far, the most touristy thing we've done on the trip. There were four of us on our elephant and we were following 3 or 4 other elephants. Then we came to a clearing, where we got a quick glance at 2 rhinos doing their thing. We were lucky to even see the rhinos, with about 17 other elephants (each with 4 tourists on their back) circling around them. We were pretty disappointed with it, especially after Andrew's feet got mashed by about every second tree we went past.. our elephant seemed completely blind on one side.
Early the next morning, we packed our bags and made our way to the Nepal/India border....We are in India now, safe and sound. Stay tuned....
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