Birthday boating in Bardia.

Hello again. You're going to think that we are on one long holiday here but this blog is in answer to some questions by Elise (Mel's Niece) and Sharon (Steve's sister) and will also serve as an update. But first, a question from Luca (Mel's oldest nephew):

How hot is it in Nepal?

Well, Nepal is varied. In some parts it is high mountain (where it is freezing) but where we live it is flat and hotter. At the moment it is summer and also the rainy season. This means that some days it is hot and reaches 40-45 degrees centigrade. Other days it is much cooler because of all the rain clouds (down to about 25 degrees). We are expecting the rains to finish in a week or so but then it will start to get cooler. We are told that the temperature drops to 10 degrees in December.

What did you do for your birthday?

Due to a day's festival, we were able to head off to Bardia National Park, which lies about 5 hours bus ride away. We stayed in little rooms that were built in the Tharu style, of mud and wood. Here is a traditional Tharu house, owned by our guide, Sitaram:

The Tharu are the original inhabitants of the therai (the flat part of Nepal where we live). 60 years ago, this area was composed of just swamp and jungle, in which the Tharu people lived in forest clearings. They are reportedly resistant to the dangerous form of Malaria that used to lurk here. In the recent past, however, the forests were logged, the swamps drained and the mosquitoes killed with DDT (a nasty chemical). As a result of this 'progress', other groups, from the hills and India, moved in and the Tharu now mostly work hard on other peoples' land. They are frequently exploited and poor.

The highpoint of the Bardia visit was a raft trip down the rain-swollen rivers into the heart of the park. We stopped at various points to climb watchtowers and observe nature at its grandest:

We saw lots of interesting birds, insects and deer but the highlights were this very rare Gharial crocodile basking on a mud-bank:

And this large, wild bull elephant with two youngsters in tow:

There are also wild rhinos and tigers here but we didn't see those. All four creatures, and more, used to live all over the terai but, due to the above mentioned 'progress' are now very rare outside of national parks. We were, in fact, filmed by the army (who were very excited to find us as we were the only tourists that weekend). They wanted to ask us about our opinions on security and anti-poaching methods in the park. Now that so many rare and endangered animals are concentrated in the park, poaching may lead them to extinction. Poachers are usually poor and these animals dead bodies are very valuable in some traditional medicines and as ivory. The army is doing its best to protect the animals but they also cause their own problems and we found mounds of rubbish near their old camps.

Did Steve make Mel a birthday cake?

Yes indeedy! It was supposed to be chocolate but that ran out so 'Bournvita' had to substitute. There was no room for the candles but the 'miracle oven' gave it a funky round shape:

What birthday traditions are there in Nepal?

Although the date of birth is very important to many hindus (due to the importance of horoscopes) there are no real birthday traditions, for adults, in this part of Nepal. One thing that often happens is that people take 'mithai' (sweets) into work or school to share. Mel tried this but the office was closed due to yet another 'bandh' (strike). We had to eat all the mithai ourselves, which was a real nuisance as you can imagine!

Anyway, apart from the above birthday news, the only interesting thing to report is that we were recently in a small earth tremor. We were having dinner at the time so didn't rush outside and it only lasted a few seconds.

Schools have started again and we're starting to get out and about for work again. No doubt, there will be more school related blogs soon (which will answer more of your questions).

Until next time, we hope enjoy the photos in the album.

Mel and Steve

'Mist' Opportunities

Hello again,

Blogging again so soon? Well we wanted to share a flavour of our recent short trip to Nainital, in India, with you. Before we tell you more about it, here’s a quick update.

Schools are still closed for the monsoon holidays but we’re finding work to do in the office including planning, data analysis, and drinking chiyah (sweet Nepali tea) with anyone who drops in to see us.

Back at home we have cut back the foliage a bit in the hope that the resident leeches will have fewer places to launch onto us from. The termites are being evicted after munching through some paper kites decorating our walls, and turning them to dust. We’re continuing to see beautiful wildlife in our garden including parakeets, hornbills and bee-eaters and wasps that feature in our album.

Nainital: A ‘mist’ opportunity?

After our surprise 6 day, 12 hours a day training and no weekend, everyone agreed that we deserved a break. Where to go in the monsoon though? This is the time when roads are most likely to be blocked and distant views are less than spectacular. The choice wasn’t too hard though, because we’d heard about a beautiful mountain lake in India, only 8 hours journey away.

We realized we’d made the right decision not spend our time in Nepal when we weren’t able to get a bus to the border due to a Banda (strike) on the day we left (which continued for several more days). So we hopped on a rickshaw, and off we went.

On the first day, we were laughing. Who says it's silly to come to see the Himalayas in the middle of the monsoon? Look at this beautiful weather:

And look at this lovely night time shot. We were really looking forward to our hill walk with snow peaked views the following day.

In the meantime we enjoyed the view from our hotel bedroom window from where we could watch the locals in their ‘branch offices’:

After a few hours walking we reached ‘Tiffin Top’ (does that ring a colonial bell to anyone?) After tiffin on Tiffin, the clouds cleared enough for us to get a bit of a view of the valley below.

Not Himalayan snowpeaks but even so, by the time we reach the promised panorama of Land’s End (sounds all very British), the cloud will surely have cleared and those snowy peaks will surely be peeking out:

Well there’s always tomorrow. We can’t go wrong with a trip on the cable car to ‘Snow View’. Huh! ‘There’s No View’ more like!

While the views were sorely ‘mist’, walking in the clouds did give an extra special feel to our walks. It sometimes felt as though we were walking through fairyland with the ancient moss covered trees, occasional ruins and even a fantasy castle (well okay just a pretentious looking school). Here’s Steve away with the fairies:

There was lots of interesting wildlife to see including this eagle which occasionally emerged from the fog (eagle-ly awaited).