Will we get to Chitwan?

The journey to Chitwan National Park was very, very eventful; the bus we were scheduled on was cancelled at the last minute, so Kul came speeding to the station in his car to tell us he had to arrange something else... he then sped away. Not 5 minutes later, he's back... only he hadn't made it clear he would be back, so Andy had run back to the restroom. We had 5 minutes to get to another station for another bus. Evan ran to get Andy, both ran back to Kul's car, and we sped off to be quickly pushed onto a bus without tickets. On being asked for said tickets by the conductor, Evan simply said we didn't have them... Nanohana Lodge (Kul's hotel) arranged it. This seemd to satisfy him. We were scheduled to meet Temple Tiger Lodge (our place in Chitwan) staff at a city called Narayangat. The bus dropped us off, and there was nobody to meet us... we had no idea where to go, and we had arrived on the "wrong" bus, so chances are the staff members weren't looking for us in the right place. We wandered up and down the road a bit to no avail. Well, randomly, this old man says "you go Temple Tiger?" "Yes." He points to some unknown location across the street. We look clueless. He motions for us to wait. He comes back with another man who asks again about Temple Tiger and we again affirm that is our destination. Anyway, we do find the transfer staff, and we are both suspicious that the other is not who they say they are. In the end, we in fact make it to our jungle lodge by off road jeep with dodgy steering and overheating radiator and then dugout canoe.

It's fantastic... the real deal... thatch huts in the middle of nowhere. We aren't there for an hour before our first safari on elephant back. We see 10 to 15 rhinos, 2 types of monkey, and beautiful birds. The food is delicious at the lodge; typical Neplai lunches and western style breakfasts and dinners. Night time on the viewing deck overlooking the wetlands is great; sounds of rhinos eating while watching the fireflies.

Day two is our full day there. We go on another elephant safari, a jeep and boat safari, and a jungle walk. We saw: more rhinos, peacock (in flight), barking deer, spotted deer, elephants, paradise flycatcher, and gharial crocodiles (an endangered species). On our jungle walk we saw a bear cave and a tiger footprint. We think we were relieved to have carried on in the opposite direction, though it would be fantastic to see a tiger. Took Andy this long to realize our nightly escort to our hut wasn't excellent service but to ensure we weren't attacked by a tiger, rhino, or sloth bear.

Leaving the lodge today, we saw a jackal. Our trip back was less eventful, though we were never issued paper tickets due to all the fuss, so that was interesting... all worked out, though...as these things seem to here. Andy took 2 muscle relaxants, so despite the extremely bumpy and swerving ride, he slept most the way, slapping his own face to wake himself up near the end.
Chitwan was truly amazing. We could have stayed longer. So peaceful. Really glad, though to be back in Pokhara. Looking forward to teaching tomorrow.

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"It's time to have fun and the rest will follow. Boredom is the enemy, not some abstract failure." (Timothy Ferris)