Bardia National Park, Nepal

Bardia National Park

I had the front desk at Garden Buddha set me up with a taxi at 6:30 am in order to catch an 8 am flight to Nepalgunj. There was a small group of folks from a wheat watch perspective that I met on the plane and just after that I hitched a ride to their Hotel Siddhartha. The hotel is one of the nicer in the town and there aren’t that many. They were super nice and helpful and pointed me in the right direction to pay for a ride to the Bardia National Park entrance and to a suggested guesthouse, Wild Trak Adventures. I still hadn’t made contact until the power went back on In Bardia when Sitaram’s phone could be charged and call me. I was being driven in a brand new Siddhartha Hotel luxury four-wheel drive vehicle by Mr. Raj a kindly Nepali with Indian roots.

We had to pass through a couple of military checkpoints because there are areas where stopping, taking photos or getting out of your car are forbidden. The checkpoint is a time stamped paper that you must delivery to the other end. You can’t speed or go too slow because they generally know how long it takes from one end to the other. You can be questioned and your vehicle searched, it’s up to them.

Sitaram greeted me and showed me to my spacious room and dropped my bags off and went and chatted for a while about the park and what’s around it. Obviously the park is broken in two one where you can’t go at all and one area you can go in with a guide or driver. There was a family from Melbourne a couple houses/bungalows away and they were very fun and the kids entertaining. They mentioned they were headed down to the elephant camp on the confluence of a branch of the Karnali River. When I arrived elephants were crossing the river. A mother elephant being ridden by a worker had a baby elephant trotting along her side out of the water. More elephants emerged from the jungle on the far side and followed in line back to where they spend the night.

Some of the elephants have been moved from Chitwan National Park to Bardia National Park. Once upon a time Bardia National Park received many Rhinos from Chitwan but 10 years ago the Mao political party and the Nepali Government had a civil war and the Mao group went into Bardia National Park and killed 80 Rhinos and cut the horn and sold them. In two years Bardia may be getting some more.

 The baby elephant is a product of the domesticated mother having a fling with a wild elephant. Apparently it happens with regularity.

The river water is clear and swimmable but there are crocs, bigger the further up river you go I hear. A couple rivers back when I crossed a bridge in the car I looked below to the edge of the water and saw a few Garials, also known as Gavials, half in the water and caked in mud. I’m rather tentative to go for a swim if the locals aren’t in it doing washing or taking a bath.

The following day I teamed up with the Aussies to share in costs for a half-day jeep trek inside the park. We saw Spotted Deer, Swamp Deer, and I think Hog Deer all in a grass pasture below a lookout tower. These towers are for the park guests to get a vantage point over the high grasses and spot animals moving about. There are quiet a few of these towers throughout the park. Otherwise, we’d park the jeep and walk to the riverbank and look out for animals crossing or getting water.

 Johnny got back from a trek with a friend from England and they were sun burnt and peeling like they had been microwaved on the thicker than normal snow over the pass. They learned not to hike in the afternoon because the snow melts and you end up ‘post-holing’ each step taking that much more energy and moving that much slower.

We packed water and lunch and took a day hike in Bardia National Park looking for the bigger mammals still in the wild. There are large populations of Rhino, Elephant, Tiger, wild boar and five species of deer. The park caters to the deer in order to help keep the tigers localized with a centralized and growing food source. Sitaram led us through the park crossing rivers in the shallows and considering the possible encounter of one of two types of crocs the Muggers and the Gavial. Both get big. The Gavial is considered endangered or close. From my geographical perspective there’s plenty.

With sweat dripping down our faces a park ranger phoned Sitaram and gave him some area directions to find a lone bull elephant. I’ve been told there’s a herd of about twenty-five but I’ll settle for what I get. He stood at the edge of a clearing eating the grasses toward the middle. We stood a good distance away. Trying to be quiet is almost impossible because the ground is covered in a few layers of dry brown crunchy leaves. The elephant can hear every step we take.

We moved away and sat in a natural hide on the riverbank cliff and watched for animals to cross over. As we did the old bull moved on down to the river and got a drink and cleaned his teeth by spraying them and spitting out some of the water he had taken in. He stood by the river for a good half an hour before heading off across the river to disappear in an instant with legs like tree trunks and a body the color of many tree limbs cracked with shadows. Gone.

The Rhino was the same way. We found this female taking a long quiet mud bath before we came along and disturbed her with camera clicks and trying to be quiet as you tip-toe across a round river rock exposed shoal, marbles and rolling stones with moss on them. There was no reasonable way to take a good picture of this animal so John took a really nice one of her head from maybe 10 meters while hiding behind a grassy sand bar. I got the other end and out of focus to boot. She agilely turned and ran up a hillside like a tank into the underbrush also gone in seconds.

We found tiger tracks everywhere.

We walked out of the park in the late afternoon sun. The heat of the day subsided into a tranquil night of stars with a nearly full moon.

Wild Trak Adventures is a great place to stay with clean rooms, great food, and you step into the local culture naturally. Johnny Sparshatt is British and partnered with Sitram and his family and they are in their element. John is a Bio jungle bug with a passion for big mammals, birds, spiders, bugs and life in general. They are prepared to take you out of your element and live to tell the tale. http://www.wildtrakadventure.com/

Upcoming; a raft trip, a five day trek, and an EARTHQUAKE!!!!!

www.davidcdagley.com

Katmandu, Nepal

Katmandu

Leaving Bangkok is always a sad experience no matter the fact I’m coming back in awhile. I bought a cheap ticket to Nepal including a long layover in the Delhi International airport transit lounge. Mosquitos molested me more so in the Delhi airport than anywhere in Thailand. I realized part of the problem was I was wearing a black shirt. To them it looks like a good place to hide.

The plane to Katmandu was delayed an hour due to low fog in Katmandu and below minimal standards set by the safety branch of the Jet Airways but managed to take off and land like a 4-wheel drive Jeep Cherokee with wings. Applause from the back seats sprouted smiles up and down the isles of Premier class and economy. Just FYI, if you’re staying for a while and want a SIM card Ncell at the airport is popular. I didn’t think about it at the time and was whisked off to the Buddha Garden Hotel in Thamel. (ph. # +977-1-4229935, email: thebuddhgardenthamel@gmail.com). The garden does have a Buddha in it and the garden is also the restaurant and bar. The food is great and I’ve had my fair share of sweet tea sitting under the trees and canopy relaxing out of the dust and chaos of the streets. I was told by a trekking guide friend to get a 3-month visa in Bangkok rather than stand in line and deal with it at the airport.

Thamel is a major tourist area with many levels of accommodation, shops, markets, restaurants, and live music venues tucked in the alleys. The streets don’t have sidewalks and are narrow so there’s a constant health concern with motorbikes, cars, rickshaws and people all walking and moving in different directions. There is a pretty steady blaring of horns and I’m not exactly sure why, some are warning blasts and others are full on when traffic comes to a confusing stand still because a cow lay down in the street.

I planned to stay in Katmandu for three days and make a loose plan. With the help of friends and acquaintances a plan bloomed and I’m on it but I wanted to see the city before I left. Knowing I’m coming back through this way more than once I don’t have to Katmandu all at once but there were a few things recommended to me that gave me something to start my exploration.

I met a great guy with a motorcycle who had a government tourist certification and was finishing up his emergency training to on an emergency rescue squad but until he received his final grades he was still making a living as a tour guide. Bishal is his name and I found out how knowledgeable he was about his country and the religions that worship side by side without quarreling for centuries.

I was about to attempt walking to Patan Durbar Square from Thamel when one of the managers at the Buddha Gardens looked at me funny and recommended I take a taxi. I pushed on into the street and realized how difficult it was walking a few hundred meters. I asked a taxi driver how much to take me to Patan Durbar and he said 700 rupee. I smiled and said thank you and walked away. He hollered after me, ‘How much you want to pay?’ Bishal was walking out of a teashop to intercept me and spoke in good English politely asking me where I wanted to go and I told him. He thought about it for a minute and offered more sights, a history lesson and translations if need be including Patan Durbar for a 3000 rupee, $30 USD, and all on a motorbike with dust mask and helmet. My time is short here and I saw this as a way to take in some points of interest in half a day. It was high noon and there were some thunderclouds on the horizon. Bishal’s phone number is +9803171826 for anybody who wants a quality guide with a sense of humor and more information than your brain can handle in a day or two. We took off for Swayambhunath Temple, aka, the Monkey Temple where there are three types of religious architecture all sharing a hilltop opposite Katmandu City and overlooking a majority of Katmandu Valley.  A Nepali wood building, Tibetan Buddhist Stupa with eyes facing in the four directions, and a Hindu pillar, aka Sikhara, which literally translates ‘mountain peak’. There’s also an enormous Vijra, or Thunderbolt Septor cradled at the top of a set of stairs that are said to be approximately 500 stairs. It’s a long way up. The original stupa was destroyed and then this stupa was built on top of it almost 1500 years ago. There are obviously a lot of ‘holy’ monkeys roaming around. Prayer flags are stretched out over a second tier of Stupas on the roadside of the hilltop.

Our second stop was Patan Burbar Square. The roads in Katmandu are a mix of dust and rubble and then sections of pavement on the more arterial roads in and out of the city center. Katmandu is made up of three separate kingdoms that grew together over the last six hundred or so years. Patan Burbar was one of those kingdoms. The red brick and intricately carved tropical hardwoods are really something let alone the multiple points of worship. Even the Kama sutra is honored on a fertility temple adjacent to one of the palace entrances on the square.

To get into the square costs 500 rupee and the pass is good for a month or just wear it in and they aren’t going to bother you if you return after a month. It’s not high security and it’s rightfully free for the Nepalese. We wandered around for a solid hour or more. There is so much to see and lots of cafes bordering the fringe.

We moved on to the river where there are ceremonial cremations of family members. Flat rounds about two meters across made of concrete punctuate the walkway where bodies are placed and then burned. The ashes are then often put in the river. We went to separate places were this happens. The first one was quiet but the second area was very active. Tourists and foreigners aren’t allowed on the same side of the river so most watch from the far bank. We entered from down river and it instantly hits your nose.

The thunderheads were upon us and it was time to get back before the rain started to fall. It began about halfway home and we got a flat. Pulling in to a small shop two twelve year olds attacked the back wheel and I stood out of the rain and watched these two boys take care of business. Before the rain got heavy we moved on after about twenty minutes. The rain hit and we pulled over and stood under an eve with everybody else. The wind picked up and a twister hit the deck spraying water horizontally. Branches flew of trees, chunks of bamboo fell in the street and the wind swirled pushing people into open doors and shops. Lights flickered and the wind and rain passed after twenty minutes and the sun popped out and we made a dash for it. The rain gutters began over flowing; purging and spewing blacken rainwater up and out of the gutters on to the streets turning a few areas into instant lakes 5-6 inches deep. We drove on and Bishal dropped me off at my hotel. I took down his number and said I would get in touch if I wanted to do anything the next day or in the future visits to Katmandu.

I was supposed to meet some people at a bar called Sam’s Bar and I quickly showered, changed and wandered down to it. Sam’s is an upstairs bar with an open-air patio, excellent music and a professional owner/bartender nicknamed V. There is no food just good solid drinks, music and a great place to sit and chat with friends. On Fridays and Saturdays a lot of locals also come to Sam’s and it can be standing room only between 9 and midnight when the bar closes. Most of the shops close around 9 pm so don’t forget to eat.

Heading into the jungle near Bardia in the far west of the country to the National Park. My trek friends recommended Wild Trak Adventure run by a guy named Johnny who specializes in nature and photography. http://wildtrakadventure.com/. I’ll let you know how it goes.

www.davidcdagley.com 

Bangkok Bayous and the Floating Market

Bangkok Bayous and the Floating Market

I arrived in Bangkok and it was hot with no relief in the shade. I decided to take a canal tour just to see what lies behind what you can see from the road or the main river that runs through Bangkok, Chao Phraya (river), and dumps out in the Gulf of Thailand. I figured the only place to get a good breeze would be on a long tail boat over water. For two people the cost is about 1200 baht. Since I was by myself the lady gave it to me for 800 baht. I paid it because I wanted to go explore. The tour was going to be about an hour. Across from the pier is a river barn where a long tail popped out and crossed over to me.

I boarded and we headed down the Chao Phraya in choppy water due to traffic in all directions up, down, left, right, diagonal, whatever, for about a kilometer before the driver veered to the far side and entered a pretty wide canal with numerous untitled lefts and rights. There were river signs and major intersections and fewer long tails but more local boats working or transporting goods or family. The further in the more narrow the waterways became.

Wildlife utilizes the floating plant life for hunting where aquatics shade under it. I noticed quite a few different bird species, chubby monitor lizards, frogs, turtles, and of course fish breaching the surface for food.

There were a few traveling restaurants that had regular stops and the odd tourist long tail that stops them for an ice cold soda or beer or rice and curry, whatever their selling.

The jungle is close where new construction isn’t going in. Abandon homes are returning to the undergrowth beginning with vines and small trees until the weight becomes too much and they collapse and are instantly buried.

Every now and again we drove past completely manicured gardens or a wat where the monks take pride in their gardening skills and the beauty of flowers. And again we would press on past mystery water ways seldom used but still functioning in a sneaky way, most likely with row boats and not long tails with props.

We eventually popped back out on the Chao Praya a bit further down river and made our way back to the same dock where I got off and went my way.

I ended up going to the floating market for further exploration which was fun and interesting but a little over the top with tourists and not really a floating market like the ones I’ve seen on Enle Lake in Myanmar (Burma). Then again Enle Lake has floating villages where everything floats including their vegetable gardens.

For around 300 Baht a van will come to your guest house or hotel and drive you an hour west where another system of canals exist and I’m sure at one time there was a true floating market that the locals used to get supplies for maybe a day or two and then go back to the floating market and do it again.

Today it more of a thriving tourist destination with both shops on both sides of many canals, bridges, and boats that tourists can hop in for 150 Baht more and get a more personal experience being among the locals selling everything from cut coconuts with a straw to furniture and fabrics.

You don’t have to get in a boat and be apart of it, you can also walk among the shops lining the edges and watch others. For photographs and pure observation I opted to take a walk.

Along the edges there are a lot of shop owners pushing a hard sell and make you feel bad if you don’t buy something. I pushed on with what little Thai language I hold and respectfully decline. The look in their eyes is not one of compassion.

My favorite thing about the floating market was the assortment of hats not just for sale but that the elderly women wore everyday to stay out of the searing sun.

The floating market can be done in conjunction with the Tiger Temple or going to the River Kwai and visit the World War II cemetery and pay respects. There are a few other options and your guest house/ hotel or local travel agent can help sort out what you want to see and what you don’t depending on how much time and money you want to spend. It can be a full day or two if you choose.

Tonight I fly off to Nepal for two months. I’ll be in touch.

www.davidcdagley.com