at chitwan

elephant ride today. they crossed river into chitwan park. we sat on
platforms on back. three to elephant. saw rhino up close. just sitting
there. another one was sleeping and let us get up close. saw herds of
spotted deer. and many kinds of birds.

Pokhara

Pokhara is quite the vacation town. This is a lake town, so boating is
popular. But boating in little row boats, where you hire the boat and the
rower. No motor boats. Some people do fish the lake, for subsistence, but
in row boats. We boated from one end of the lake to an island where there
is a Hindu shrine.

Lots of people come to the shrine for birthdays, marriages, other
celebrations. You have to take off any leather clothing, shoes, purses,
belts, etc before going down the stairs to light incense, get your picture
taken, light a candle, and so forth. Quite a hub bub of activity.

On the boardwalk, the Indian with the Cobra.

We went to a raptor rescue place and learned about parahawking. See more
at http://www.parahawking.com/
We also learned about vulture restaurants .... it is actually a
conservation effort to save the vultures in Nepal, Tibet, India. A huge
number (99%?) have died off due to a medicine given to cows that vultures
are unable to digest when they eat the cow after it dies. Read more at
http://birdeducationnepal.blogspot.com/2013/01/jatayu-or-vulture-restaurant.html

The raptors that are rescued are unable to return to wild, but they can be
exercised via parahawking. We did not do. We got to hold one of the
Egyptian Vultures. His name was Bob.

Although it rained, it was hardly worth noticing. Afternoon was spent
shopping. The rain was reason enough to buy another hat to keep the drops
off my glasses. We managed to check out about 8-10 shops which are about
.0001% of the shops that are on the main street! Took taxi back to hotel
for $3.

Tomorrow, off to rafting.

Trekking

Just arrived Pokhara after 3 days trekking in the mountains. It is quiet
there - no traffic; no planes, trains; no crowds; no boomboxes... What
you hear in the morning are birds, and in the distance, a dog bark here
and there; rooster crowing here and there; wind in the trees and that's
about it! Trekking means walking up steps. And walking down steps. Up and
down. We went up to a Gurung village. One of our guides is also a shaman
and a woman asked him to perform ritual on her to rid her of some
nightmares. We also met up with health care social workers at the Health
Post. They are volunteers and visit the 5,000 people living in the
hillsides around there. They were ending a 5 day vaccination campaign and
met up at the Health Post to make their reports. Our view from Mala Lodge
was of the Annupurnas, including what Westerners call Fishtail, on the
left. After exploring this town for a day or two it is off to a rafting
trip down the Seti River. Pokhara is like a vacation spot - lots of
tourist businesses; a lake; hang gliding, etc.

Dubai

Dubai - at night - bright lights like Las Vegas. Lots of people and
traffic. Airport, huge! Easily made it through all of the passport,
customs, etc. Arrived in Dubai about 8:30pm - 70 F. Completely different
than home weather! Stayed Holiday Inn Express - great breakfast buffet.
Customer service - fantastic. Met Leanne and others on trip. Going to
Kathmandu next. Here in Dubai long enough to get a night's sleep, eat and
motor back to airport.