Day Twentytwo
Submitted: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 | Views: 7 | 0 comments
November 23/2009 Log entry
"River to Chitwan"
Up early and on the river after breakfast. The rapids are bigger and more plentiful today and we had a blast. A snake was swimming in the water and it went towards us and under the raft, the guide tried to get us away from it as he said it would enter the raft through the gaps in the bottom. It did not get in! We had to help with the kayakers as they failed in the rapids, we all agreed we would like to do the kayaking if we did this again. When we arrived at the take out point we changed into dry clothes that were waiting for us, delivered from Pokhara. The guides made us another big lunch as we waited for the bus to take us the rest of the way. The bus turned out to be a local bus that was filled, dirty and slow but what fun I had. I sat at the back with the window open to the dusty air, so I wore my bandana as required. The bus stops for everything and anyone it seems, at one point it stopped for a 10 minute break in a village. Right away men with portable tables came to the bus to sell some strange looking snack. I watched for sometime as people would pick items from his table that was divided into square sections, each section containing some type of dry see, bean, rice or lentil type thing. Plus there were fresh items such as chili peppers, onions a bag of rice, bottles of liquid and some containers of spices. I watched intently and described the action to the guys as a very attractive Nepali girl was choosing her snack items. She caught my eye and we smiled at each other....the girls here are so beautiful. She nodded and indicated that I should have some of the "street snack". The next thing I knew she had made up a pack and had it poured into a cone of paper and offered it up to me in the bus window. I got out money to pay her but she would not accept it. It was a gift for me to try. Most of the guys would not try it as they were afraid of the "street". I however dug into the spicy treat and wow was it awesome, fresh, crunchy, spicy hot. I really need to find out what it is called.
We arrived at the hotel after driving through a huge market full of everything you could imagine. Our hotel was a pleasant surprise. We checked in at the Hotel Riverside and just spent the evening relaxing and playing cards over beers and then later rum and cokes while we planned our activities.
