NEPAL + INDIA 2011
NEPAL. KATHMANDU, POKHARA AND CHITWAN NATIONAL PARK
Durbar Square in
Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal
Kumari Ghar, a palace
where the Royal Kumari lives. People believe she's the
incarnation of
the goddess Taleju
Kumari is chosen at a very
young age and it is believed the goddess vacates her body after
she menstruates
View of Kathmandu Durbar
Square
Fake Sadhu. A real one
would not pose for photos and ask for money
"How am I going to find my
motorbike?"
Don't try this at home!
Phewa Lake in Pokhara.
It's only 200km from Kathmandu but it takes 7 hours by bus
View from the World Peace
Pagoda. The mountain in the middle is Machapuchare 6,993 m
Machapuchare means "Fish
Tail". It is revered as sacred to the god
Shiva, and is off limits to climbing.
Chitwan National Park. We
took a guided walk hoping to see some of the animals living there
Spotted deer (chital)
seems to be common, because we saw a few of them
Red Cotton bugs attacking
a tree in Chitwan
Grass in Chitwan can grow
up to 8m high
Our guide looking for
animals, especially rhinos. Unfortunately, we didn't see any
Back in the village, there
was a rhino just grazing near the river!
This guy was taking his
elephant to the river
It was too cold for a bath
One of the nice houses in
Sauraha
There were also many
simple houses like this
Villagers near Sauraha
We took an elephant ride
in the forest
It's the best way to see
rhinos, because we could get closer without risking an attack
Sometimes a big male like
this one can charge an elephant
There are around 500
One-horned Rhinoceros in Chitwan. Poaching is the biggest threat
Elephant breeding centre
3km from Sauraha
Elephant trunk has 40,000
muscles
In late afternoon
elephants come back from the jungle and are chained
Elephant was taking tips
from the kids and passing it to the mahout sitting
on it's back
A line of trucks stuck for
days because of road blockades. It complicated our travel plans, too