Spoffords Travel

Day 6 February 21, 2024 Chitwan

After breakfast everyone but Connie walked down to the river and boarded canoes for a ride down the river.

Connie rode in a jeep to the crocodile farm and waited there. The canoe folks were lucky enough to see a male rhino. They saw lots of birds as well. The water is not very deep and there are no rapids. Everyone took a quick walk around the crocodile sanctuary before boarding jeeps for a safari ride through the jungle.

This is a very large national park. It covers hundreds of acres of land. If you are caught killing an animal from there you will serve 5-10 years in jail. We saw numerous kinds of birds, lots of deer and one lizard. No tigers even though 125 of them live in the jungle. Since they are a nocturnal animal our odds were not good. We made one stop for coffee, tea and biscuits. Then more safari before heading back to the lodge for lunch. After a short rest the naturalist talked about many of the jungle animals. There are 369 rhinos in the park, three kinds of deer, alligators and numerous birds. Then some folks went for a bird watching walk. The response was lots of birds in flight.

That evening before dinner some of the locals performed various local dances. For the last dance they invited all of us to join them.

Day 5 February 20, 2024 Kathmandu to Chitwan

This morning we flew to Chitwan which is to the south and in the low country. The flight lasts about 30 minutes. A bus takes us to our lodging about an hour away. We are really out in the country side. Crops are in small fields and include mustard, wheat and potatoes predominately. They can grow as many as five different crops on the same land in a year. Housing is varied with some really nice and others very basic. Our lodging is located in a river resort.

The rooms are in duplexes. They are small but clean and well maintained. WI-FI is available only in the main lodge. Although the outside temperature is rather warm the inside is cool. Glad we are here now because summers can get temperatures over 100 degrees. Lunch is served at the lodge where we sit looking out to the river and jungle.

After a brief rest we follow the local naturalist to where four elephants are kept. He talks about elephants and we each get to feed one. They have prepared a packet of rice, corn and salt wrapped in grass. One of the elephants has been trained to pick up paper money with her trunk and pass it up to her handler. After the presentation the elephants head to the river. Our group walks around a small part of the village learning about their life.

Housing is small. If they are lucky at least part of the house is made of concrete. The other major building material is a mixture of clay and cow dung. The people seem happy. Everyone seems to have at least one cow, a couple of goats, and several chickens. Gardens separate the houses. Lots of different plants.

In one field women are harvesting mustard. Sure glad I don’t have to do that. Eventually we get back to a paved road. More tuk tuks here than elsewhere. Dinner is again at the lodge. The evening has cooled off which is nice. We heard some jackals howling but didn’t see them.

Day 4 February 19, 2024 Kathmandu

We are up early this morning for a flight to see Mount Everest. We are warned that flights maybe delayed or canceled based on air traffic and weather near the mountains. We bussed out from the terminal and boarded the plane. The flight was delayed forty-five minutes based on air traffic. Everyone on board gets a window seat. The aircraft is a prop plane so the wings are above the windows. Fog or smog lies over the city but the plane can get above it. The round trip flight takes about an hour. The flight attendants handed out a pamphlet showing the largest of the mountains and then pointed them out as we passed. Mount Everest was the furthest away so once we passed it the flight turned back and the other side got the view. The tops of several of the mountains were covered with clouds including Mount Everest. We did get to see the majority of it. They are quite impressive. We learned that all five planes scheduled to fly did so today. That is not a common event. We were very lucky. Then back to the hotel for breakfast before beginning the tours for the day. After about an hour of driving uphill we arrived at a monastery. The road really was something. It was quite narrow, steep and winding. It’s a wonder the big bus could make it up. After we got off the bus, we had a steep walk up to the monastery itself. We were met there by a monk who explained about their daily life. The grounds are beautiful and so are some of the views. We stayed for tea and biscuits (cookies) before heading back down the hill to the bus. Our next stop was where we were to get a blessing at the Temple of Kumari, home to Nepal’s most important living goddess. Unfortunately the Kumari wasn’t available. She may be after two. This girl is chosen at a young age and will retire when her menstrual cycle begins. She must meet 27 qualifications. Her family lives in the temple with her. She can only leave the temple during festivals. Her feet never touch the ground when she does go out. When she retires she returns to her original home. So off we go to Durbar Square where Hanuman Dhoka, the ancient palace of Nepalese Royalty is located. This is a very large square with many shrines and a few British architecture buildings. A very odd combination of buildings. Once again many are surrounded by scaffolding so they are not as visible as they could be. Today is a holiday and the square is full of people and salesmen. The second tallest temple in the country is located here. It’s about nine stories tall. Once again it is like a pagoda decorated with Hindu gods.

Everyone seemed willing to skip lunch so after an hour looking at all these buildings we headed back to be blessed. The Kumari was in so those who wished could remove their shoes and receive her blessing. Those who did received a red dot on their forehead. Rob got a red dot.

Our last stop for the day is at the monkey temple. It is located on top of a hill and is believed to be the oldest Buddhist stupa. It also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site. The walk up the hill looked somewhat steep so Connie opted to stay on the bus with three others. Rob did go up. He said not a lot of monkeys like we had seen in India. We took the optional dinner and cultural show. About a fifteen minute walk from our hotel was a Nepali restaurant. All during dinner up to four performers did various dances from around the country. Dinner included a local wine poured from a brass vessel with a long spout. The drinking vessel was a very small clay bowl. It only held about two tablespoons at most. The pourer would start close to the bowl and then lift the vessel up to the level of her head without spilling much liquid. Next came a bean soup. Then Mo Mo which are dumplings. A black bean soup came next. Then they brought out a dinner plate sized brass plate. Rice was placed in the middle and then various foods around that. They included a green vegetable of some sort, mixed vegetables, chicken curry and a pork dish. They kept bringing the food around so you could have as much as you wanted. Dessert was rice pudding.

Day 3 February 18, 2024 Kathmandu

We are to meet in the lobby at 8:30 after eating breakfast to proceed to the orientation meeting. There we met our guide and the others in our tour. Twenty six of us all together. After a short break to gather travel stuff we loaded in a bus and headed for the sites. The city streets are narrow and run every which way. Most of the vehicles are local buses, scooters and motorcycles. They drive on the left side or the middle of the road. Sometimes the road is only one lane wide. Occasionally there is a traffic cop in the middle of a major intersection. I don’t remember seeing a traffic light. All kinds of businesses line both sides of the street. Living quarters are above. Power poles line both sides of the road with numerous power and telephone lines. Sometimes the lines go no where. Oh yes I forgot to mention that the city is built on small hills. So the roads go up and down and have sharp turns. People are everywhere. Men dress in western clothing while women wear a mixture of modern and Indian. Early in the day and late in the day traffic is quite light, but in the middle of the day it is very dense. We followed a river for a while. Not much water currently because this is the dry season. Lots of trash is in the river. After about 30 minutes we arrived at our first stop. The area is known as Bungamati. We stopped on the street and then slowly crossed the road. Now cross walks rarely exist and traffic still goes. Everyone just slowly walks across and the vehicles move around you in both directions.

As we walk down the alley our guide points out things of interest. Some of them include markings in front of the door or on the sidewalk. He talks with residents and has them tell about themselves. One of those was an elderly gentleman who had a small gold earring. This was given to him by his family when he was 77 years 7 months 7 days and 7 hours old. (Now Rob needs an earring.) A second earring will be given if he makes 88. The alley is composed of uneven cement blocks so you need to be careful as you walk. We walked for 20-30 minutes to reach our first shrine. Nepal has experienced two major earthquakes. One in 1934 and one in 1972. They caused damage to buildings all over. Many of the shrines are under renovation so they are surrounded by scaffolding. Seeing them is not easy. Most are made of hardwood and are Hindu. Over 80% of the population is Hindu with the next largest group being Buddhist. The shrine is located in a small square surrounded by the city.

Back on the bus and off to the next stop Khokana. Here is where mustard oil is made. Mustard is a huge crop in Nepal. You can see it growing almost everywhere. Mustard oil has many uses including cooking and health care.

Next stop is the ancient city of Patan known for its fine arts. This location used to be a royal palace and has a much larger square. There are numerous shrines in varying sizes with a pagoda architecture. Temples to various Hindu gods and Buddha are scattered throughout the square. The crowds are much larger here. The group split up somewhat with those wishing to explore more and those wishing to have lunch. We chose lunch. We went to a cafe that supposedly did fast food. Well it didn’t seem very fast. We had a chicken burger and a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Neither was like home. The French fries were much the same however. The restaurant is small and very crowded. We are back on the bus for a drive and short visit to a carpet factory. Having seen this numerous times we chose to remain on the bus. That night we had a welcome dinner in a restaurant a short distance from the hotel with the entire group. Surprisingly dinner included a glass of wine or beer if you wanted it.

Day 1-2 February 16 & 17, 2024 Boise to Kathmandu

We got up at 3:00 am to catch a 5:15 am flight to Seattle. From there we flew nonstop to JFK airport. After about a four hour layover we boarded a Qatar Airlines flight to Doha Qatar where we changed to the flight to Kathmandu. We asked to upgrade to Business Class but it was full. That would have cost us $2200.00 each. Not so sure I would have paid that anyway. Can’t say I was favorably impressed with Qatar Airlines. The seats were more narrow and at least one of us had an interior seat. The temperature seemed be too hot with an occasional too cold. The food was terrible. The entertainment system was strange to operate and the headphones kept sliding off your head. Our seats didn’t recline without help from a flight attendant. The Doha airport is beautiful. All that oil money I suppose. After 22 hours of flying we arrived at the Kathmandu airport at 1:00 am local time. The aircraft parked out on the tarmac and we were bused to the terminal. We needed an on arrival visa. Instructions and assistance were not plentiful. We did eventually figure out that we needed to get in the line to pay for the visa. Luckily the paperwork Rob completed on line was good unlike some of the others. Then we waited in another line to actually get the visa and enter the country. Next came baggage claim. What a zoo that was! Three kinds of people were on the flight. Tourists who had an average amount of luggage, US military who had several large bags each and locals who had big bags and huge boxes. Luggage and packages were everywhere. Rob had air tags in our luggage. Mine showed up as with us but Rob’s showed as being in Cairo Egypt. Therefore we were expecting extra effort, but magically both bags appeared. We were so thankful because the lost luggage storage area was full of rats. Seriously, lots of rats. We collected our bags and proceeded to the exit. A guy from Gate One was waiting for us. We were the first of nine to arrive. Once we were all assembled we boarded a van and arrived at the hotel at about 2:30 am.

November 16, 2023 Day 40 Jackpot Nevada to home 183 miles

Oh dear it’s very cloudy outside and looks like it could rain. Fortunately too warm to snow.

While we were eating breakfast in the hotel breakfast room a police officer came in and went down the hall. A few minutes later the paramedics arrived with a gurney and went down the hall. After we finished and were headed back to our room the paramedics were taking a young woman (I think) on the gurney out to the ambulance. She looked very pale. While we were packing up a second ambulance arrived and she was put in that ambulance. We left before they did but the ambulance passed us a few miles down the road. Lights flashing but no siren. We think they took her to Twin Falls.

Only a few miles out of Jackpot we crossed into Idaho. So glad to see that sign. We soon came to a very large solar farm. There were panels on both sides of the road and more being installed. A large crew was working on the project. No doubt they are also trying to beat the snow.

We fueled at the Costco in Twin Falls and then headed for the freeway. The back roads from here are significantly further and include dirt roads. We cruised at 55MPH and did not cause any traffic problems.

Construction crews were working on the Perrine Bridge on the north end just as traffic going toTwin Falls gets to the bridge. Traffic was backed up from there to the freeway. Then just as we got on the freeway more construction. It didn’t affect us much but it really did the east bound traffic. That was backed up over a mile.

We saw several roadkill deer. Another form of deer hunting I guess.

Off in the distance we could see numerous windmills but none of them were turning. We also saw parts to a new windmill going in the opposite direction. Those blades are so long.

We arrived home about 1:30. Good to be back. Looking forward to a familiar pillow tonight.

Some final numbers:

40 days

22.23 average miles per gallon

$3.95 average price per gallon of gas

6 flat tires

2 destroyed radial tires

5 destroyed tubes

2 new tires

4 new tube

1 big rock chip on windshield