This trip has its challenges, so aptly named. Today we begin early. The drive will be close to 12 hours. We are on our way to Bardia a Wild life preserve but we have to get out of India first. That was an experience. What we have today for the first time is a long stretch of straight road. Great at first but after 200km one yearns for the mountains. Last night we were high so the temperatures were actually cold. I wore a sweater and a coat.
Woke up this morning to a real chill in the air, oh so refreshing.
Tony got hit last night by the infernal Delhi Belly. Hoping it doesn’t last.
I set off to breakfast and to get the days sheets for travel. Changes are always issued about 30 to 45 minutes prior to departure.
No regularities today as we need to get across the border. Shoes are filthy Clothes are filthy we are all a sorry sight.
Oh yes last night I got interviewed by the Indian News, this is the second time. What I find most fascinating is their first question. How old are you? Then other questions, my answer is it was my birthday a few days ago.
We were underway at 8am , struggling to get through the bustling morning rush hours of Nainital. It is quite a lovely city and the cool air helps
We drove down and down the mountain into the valley. More hairpin turns until we reached the valley floor where the heat hit you like a brick.
Unfortunately we can’t seem to get clear enough internet to publish the previous days so we might have to plug them in all at once.
The valley floor is very flat so we could pick up speed. We drove about 150km to the border of Nepal. The process to cross in the sweltering heat was very painful
First immigration then car immigration. Then into No mans area. A place which has a disputed border. Officials were so official and if we weren’t overheated we might laugh.
One by one they took our details separately and unfortunately their rate of processing was sooo slow. It was ridiculous. They wrote only our first name down and mixed up our passport numbers. One hour later we were on our way into Nepal a quieter and more peaceful country.
No more honking was the first thing you noted. We drove on very straight roads
The drive through the National Preserve on our way to Bardia was fantastic. The field of rice and the spectacular mountains are beautiful We were told later that night there are 87 tigers living there. We saw some very unusual monkeys but no elephants nor tigers. We arrived at the Tiger resort. Although basic accommodation they did a great job of welcoming us. We had a chalet in a wire fenced area. A few interesting critters in the room but otherwise spotless. Noise at times A little ominous. We were driven in and out of the compound by an open truck we had to climb in and out of couldn’t be very lady like. Dinner was served in a central area then locals came and danced and performed for us. The traditional costumes were lovely. Near the end they chose us from the audience to dance with them. We had a lot of fun.
This was very rural, the next morning we saw one with his goats and another woman with her small children. I think the whole village came to see us. It was fun.
