Tharu Stick Dance/Cornish Morris dance
So after my "getting to know you" session with Kathmandu, It was time to leave the capital and head to warmer climes - into the JUNGLE BABY! The hostel had arranged for me to catch the bus from Kathmandu to Chitwan National Park (in the far South of Nepal - near the India boarder) and then for me to stay in one of the lodges they recommend. Now, you all know me and wildlife, Ive been very spoilt...well at least with the lodges anyway......until now.
The lodge I washed up in was obviously a very very backpackery type place (in fact I later found out they use it mostly for volunteer programmes). I was also...youve guessed it...they ONLY GUEST. As shivers of rememberance of Jaisalmer and Camels went through me, I buckled down to being the sole central attraction for the 8, yes, 8 young male staff...most of whom had started at the lodge 3 days ago...had never met a foreigner...and didnt know jack spit about wildife.......
Luckily, I found a shared interest with them and Hindi bollywood movies, so I didnt have to suffer meals on my own. They mearly added a TV and DVD player to the opposite side of the table to me - and played an endless loop of squeaking Hindi movie hits. I learnt to eat quickly....
Aside from the set up at the lodge, I did have quite an interesting visit to the NP. The boys duely arranged for me to go into the park on an elephant - a very good overall experience, except slightly marred by the other elephant rider, who was obviously a small Indian family. The "Dad"'s mobile phone kept ringing..just as we were creeping up to some interesting wildlife...so off it went. The ringtone was SCOOTER....and he ALWAYS answered it......
The following activity was a lovely river canoe trip - where we saw lots of birds and crocs. The guy from the lodge with me didnt know ANYTHING about birds ("thats a white bird...") and I was saved by the driver who had tagged along, and seemed to know a few bird names. After that, I was taken to the Elephant breeding programme - which had to be a highlight. Lots and lots of mummy and baby elephants all being very well looked after. The very informative museum there also told all about the rearing, breeding and training for the ele's in the forest here. Very interesting, and of course, very cute.
That evening, I heard I was in for a treat - a CULTURE SHOW. Now, of course I was in a funk about the state of my Chitwan experience up to then...and the last thing I needed was a load of people dressing up in national cosume and prancing about for the tourists....so I nearly didnt go..BUT...I did in the end...and it turned out to be the total highlight of my trip to Chitwan! The show was in a little ramshakle theatre in the village - about a 100 tourists crammed onto wooden benches looking onto a dusty and very large stage. The MC spoke the weirdest and funniest English I have heard (since Ramooji film city) and the show was a revalation. Most of the "acts" were group dances of about 30 young men in traditional dress performing different Tharu stick dances. These are across between morris dancing and very very difficult ninja style martial arts. Its a wonder to me they didnt do themselves an injury at every turn. It was genuinely very impressive. These bits were interspersed with bollywood style duets done with 110% conviction by the young people singing and dancing thier hearts out. In the middle of it all was a "traditional mourning dance" which turned out to be a ladyboy show. THEN to top it all off, the last act was the dance of the peacock. This was a person bent double inside a peacock costume. A bit like the guys you see in Panto "riding" a big yellow chicken or something. The peacock dance was inspired, funny and very well done. I was in tears of happyness when it finished. What a show to remember!! SO glad I went.
Next day, I spent extra money to go into to the National Park proper by jeep - to try again to see a tiger. The trip was really really crap. First of all, we didnt go into the park proper. We only went into the buffer zone (same place as where the elephants are). We then stayed on a main road where there was almost zero hope of seeing anything let alone tigers or rhino. The "guide" was a wide boy from the hotel who knew NOTHING about wildlife, and who proceeded to want to go WALKING off path - which we all know is TOTALLY ideotic and franky insane in tiger country! I put my foot down and stayed in the jeep. I was quite hoping by then that he would get mauled and I could have a laugh and take pictures.
The whole experience made me realise that I now know what great stuff DI do - wow its SO different to the rest of the crap out there.
I escaped Chitwan the next morning and headed out for Pokhara which is in the West of Nepal. Its a little town which is based around a beautiful lake, and is mostly famous for being the gateway to a lot of Nepal's superb mountain trekking - a stonesthrow away from the reputed Annapurna circuit and lots of amazing places. The bus journey was interesting to say the least - we picked our way around not ONE, but TWO major crashes on the road - one was a head on with two large load carrying lorries, and the other was a bus overturned...and the people were still spilling out and trying to help the others squashed beneath...nice.
When I got to Pokhara, I stationed myself in a SUPERB small hotel right at the lakeside, which, for 200 rupees (about GBP1.75 per night) got me a clean lovely room with huge picture windows on two sides - one facing the spectacular mountain range, and the other facing the equally spectacular lake. WOWEEEEEeeee it was marvellous. I then spent several very lazy days walking about the lakeside, reading my books, having my hair cut and generally pampering myself. One of the days I hired a canoe and decided to paddle round the whole lake. After 4 hours, I was right at the other end from Pokhara with a headwind against me!!! I paddled back with much determination (by this time I had given up the antic of getting right the way around) and made it back for nightfall. Boy, that lake is bigger than it looks har har! And I got a rather bad case of sunburn. The day was the best day I spent in Pokhara though. The lake is so peaceful and beautiful - floating along on reflections of clouds and mountains. Also, the little communities on the lakeside were really fascinating to watch - all the daily lives revolving around cattle, the lake and the family.
For two days after that, we had massive storms in Pokhara - thunder and lightening - the works - I spent the time under my duvet with a book watching the natural show from my ace windows. The only small problem is that Nepali houses and hotels dont have heating. Oh well, I had lots of blankets instead.
During my time in Pokhara, I managed to get in touch with the crowd of people DI use (a small chain of top comfort/quality hotels) in Nepal - and I was invited to visit thier MD and stay overnight in the Pokhara lodge. Wahoo! a touch of luxury. I had a british racing green landrover, with two uniformed staff pick me up at my hotel - and drive me up and up and up to the beautiful lodge above Pokhara. From the lodge, you could see the whole mountain range which wasnt visible from the bottom where I was before - totally gobsmacking. The central lodge had an open lounge area with big log fires and quiet, attentive, lovely Nepali staff. Tea and biscuits later, and a briefing with the lodge naturalist (oh JOY!) I had been aquainted with the wildlife of the area and shown around. My room was a spectacular small lodge on the hillside overlooking the whole mountain range and the whole of Pokhara. NOW I was at home! The rest of the day was spent with the MD bloke talking about the new DI trips etc etc and then a very pleasant evening was spent with the other guests there - who were older, cultured, intelligent and very talkative. AH if only I could travel like this all the time!
Well, that pretty much brings us up to date - I got the bus back to Kathmandu this morning at dawn (the lodge woke me with Himalayan grown tea and a lovely boxed breakfast to have on the bus...) and am now going to finalise my visa for going back to India tomororw. Then..its white water rafting for a day or two, then "home" to India on 18th.
The lodge I washed up in was obviously a very very backpackery type place (in fact I later found out they use it mostly for volunteer programmes). I was also...youve guessed it...they ONLY GUEST. As shivers of rememberance of Jaisalmer and Camels went through me, I buckled down to being the sole central attraction for the 8, yes, 8 young male staff...most of whom had started at the lodge 3 days ago...had never met a foreigner...and didnt know jack spit about wildife.......
Luckily, I found a shared interest with them and Hindi bollywood movies, so I didnt have to suffer meals on my own. They mearly added a TV and DVD player to the opposite side of the table to me - and played an endless loop of squeaking Hindi movie hits. I learnt to eat quickly....
Aside from the set up at the lodge, I did have quite an interesting visit to the NP. The boys duely arranged for me to go into the park on an elephant - a very good overall experience, except slightly marred by the other elephant rider, who was obviously a small Indian family. The "Dad"'s mobile phone kept ringing..just as we were creeping up to some interesting wildlife...so off it went. The ringtone was SCOOTER....and he ALWAYS answered it......
The following activity was a lovely river canoe trip - where we saw lots of birds and crocs. The guy from the lodge with me didnt know ANYTHING about birds ("thats a white bird...") and I was saved by the driver who had tagged along, and seemed to know a few bird names. After that, I was taken to the Elephant breeding programme - which had to be a highlight. Lots and lots of mummy and baby elephants all being very well looked after. The very informative museum there also told all about the rearing, breeding and training for the ele's in the forest here. Very interesting, and of course, very cute.
That evening, I heard I was in for a treat - a CULTURE SHOW. Now, of course I was in a funk about the state of my Chitwan experience up to then...and the last thing I needed was a load of people dressing up in national cosume and prancing about for the tourists....so I nearly didnt go..BUT...I did in the end...and it turned out to be the total highlight of my trip to Chitwan! The show was in a little ramshakle theatre in the village - about a 100 tourists crammed onto wooden benches looking onto a dusty and very large stage. The MC spoke the weirdest and funniest English I have heard (since Ramooji film city) and the show was a revalation. Most of the "acts" were group dances of about 30 young men in traditional dress performing different Tharu stick dances. These are across between morris dancing and very very difficult ninja style martial arts. Its a wonder to me they didnt do themselves an injury at every turn. It was genuinely very impressive. These bits were interspersed with bollywood style duets done with 110% conviction by the young people singing and dancing thier hearts out. In the middle of it all was a "traditional mourning dance" which turned out to be a ladyboy show. THEN to top it all off, the last act was the dance of the peacock. This was a person bent double inside a peacock costume. A bit like the guys you see in Panto "riding" a big yellow chicken or something. The peacock dance was inspired, funny and very well done. I was in tears of happyness when it finished. What a show to remember!! SO glad I went.
Next day, I spent extra money to go into to the National Park proper by jeep - to try again to see a tiger. The trip was really really crap. First of all, we didnt go into the park proper. We only went into the buffer zone (same place as where the elephants are). We then stayed on a main road where there was almost zero hope of seeing anything let alone tigers or rhino. The "guide" was a wide boy from the hotel who knew NOTHING about wildlife, and who proceeded to want to go WALKING off path - which we all know is TOTALLY ideotic and franky insane in tiger country! I put my foot down and stayed in the jeep. I was quite hoping by then that he would get mauled and I could have a laugh and take pictures.
The whole experience made me realise that I now know what great stuff DI do - wow its SO different to the rest of the crap out there.
I escaped Chitwan the next morning and headed out for Pokhara which is in the West of Nepal. Its a little town which is based around a beautiful lake, and is mostly famous for being the gateway to a lot of Nepal's superb mountain trekking - a stonesthrow away from the reputed Annapurna circuit and lots of amazing places. The bus journey was interesting to say the least - we picked our way around not ONE, but TWO major crashes on the road - one was a head on with two large load carrying lorries, and the other was a bus overturned...and the people were still spilling out and trying to help the others squashed beneath...nice.
When I got to Pokhara, I stationed myself in a SUPERB small hotel right at the lakeside, which, for 200 rupees (about GBP1.75 per night) got me a clean lovely room with huge picture windows on two sides - one facing the spectacular mountain range, and the other facing the equally spectacular lake. WOWEEEEEeeee it was marvellous. I then spent several very lazy days walking about the lakeside, reading my books, having my hair cut and generally pampering myself. One of the days I hired a canoe and decided to paddle round the whole lake. After 4 hours, I was right at the other end from Pokhara with a headwind against me!!! I paddled back with much determination (by this time I had given up the antic of getting right the way around) and made it back for nightfall. Boy, that lake is bigger than it looks har har! And I got a rather bad case of sunburn. The day was the best day I spent in Pokhara though. The lake is so peaceful and beautiful - floating along on reflections of clouds and mountains. Also, the little communities on the lakeside were really fascinating to watch - all the daily lives revolving around cattle, the lake and the family.
For two days after that, we had massive storms in Pokhara - thunder and lightening - the works - I spent the time under my duvet with a book watching the natural show from my ace windows. The only small problem is that Nepali houses and hotels dont have heating. Oh well, I had lots of blankets instead.
During my time in Pokhara, I managed to get in touch with the crowd of people DI use (a small chain of top comfort/quality hotels) in Nepal - and I was invited to visit thier MD and stay overnight in the Pokhara lodge. Wahoo! a touch of luxury. I had a british racing green landrover, with two uniformed staff pick me up at my hotel - and drive me up and up and up to the beautiful lodge above Pokhara. From the lodge, you could see the whole mountain range which wasnt visible from the bottom where I was before - totally gobsmacking. The central lodge had an open lounge area with big log fires and quiet, attentive, lovely Nepali staff. Tea and biscuits later, and a briefing with the lodge naturalist (oh JOY!) I had been aquainted with the wildlife of the area and shown around. My room was a spectacular small lodge on the hillside overlooking the whole mountain range and the whole of Pokhara. NOW I was at home! The rest of the day was spent with the MD bloke talking about the new DI trips etc etc and then a very pleasant evening was spent with the other guests there - who were older, cultured, intelligent and very talkative. AH if only I could travel like this all the time!
Well, that pretty much brings us up to date - I got the bus back to Kathmandu this morning at dawn (the lodge woke me with Himalayan grown tea and a lovely boxed breakfast to have on the bus...) and am now going to finalise my visa for going back to India tomororw. Then..its white water rafting for a day or two, then "home" to India on 18th.
1 Comments:
Well said.
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