O, man, Nepal!

My last day in Nepal was bittersweet. While it was time for me to return home to face the obligations that I’d accumulated for myself and to check progress on my home renovations, I was disappointed to be ending this lovely adventure. There is much more of Nepal to experience and spending the time in Nepal with Ayreen and her friends was making the thing just so much more rich and engaging. I normally don’t mind travelling alone – have done so for years – but I was revelling in the difference that having a social circle to engage in the new environment with was making. Ayreen had a last meal with me at Sudesh’s New Orleans restaurant before I left for the airport from the Kathmandu Guest House. The trip out to the airport was typical of cab rides in Kathmandu, but as I’d left in plenty of time, I arrived in good time and everything went as smoothly as one could expect. Importantly, as we climbed out of Kathmandu in the airplane – and it was a steep ascent! – I was looking down on Kathm

Today was a social day on this adventure. Anything social is thanks to Ayreen and the circle of her friends that we caught up with in Kathmandu. After a morning spent hanging around the hotel, Ayreen collected me to head to a music festival with her friends before we went back to the Blue Note to hang out with that group of friends while some of them played music. The garden courtyard in KGH from outside my room An interesting map hanging in the KGH that shows all of Nepal in a helpful way Those of you who know me will know that I am not a regular music festival attendee. Indeed, I struggle to remember the last time I went to a live music gig in the outdoors. It was pretty certainly last century! Anyway, from what I know about “festivals,” it was pretty low-key (suited me) though clearly going off for all that. One day, one stage, and a line up of fantastic bands. We were there to hear Gauley

When I woke and went out onto the balcony this morning, there was a rhino grazing directly across the river from our part of the resort. Definitely getting the jungle resort vibe. We had a slow morning only getting down to breakfast at the time we were due to leave in the car. One of the good things of the driver arrangement was that he was on our time, so he politely waited and never mentioned the delay. We set off on the trip back with a slightly different route in mind to visit Chandragiri, a town outside Kathmandu from where you can see Everest (on a clear day!). The drive was pretty much the same as all the other car trips on my adventure in Nepal – hot, bouncy, slow, and in a too-small-for-me vehicle. But the only alternative for this trip is a bus, which would at least be large enough for me, but no more comfortable in the long-run. Chitrawati main street (I think) Our driver eventually stopped at a very impressive looki

This day was the busiest of our tour of Chitawan, by design. We had breakfast early and joined another couple and Babu in the foyer to drive around to the canoe trek starting point. The morning’s activities were to involve a float down the River Rapti on the canoe spotting wildlife. Then docking on the river bank and walking up to a crocodile breeding centre and then home. Some of the local residences near our resort The landscape behind the resort – farm paddocks (rice paddies, currently sown for corn) with Nariyana town in the distance Floating down the river on the canoe in the jungle quiet and the cool air on the water was really pleasant. The jungle landscape on the side opposite the resort – within the Chitawan National Park – was wild and beautiful. We saw a rhino as we were boarding the canoe and it was only really moments before we started seeing wildlife on the river bank (on the resort