Flying out

So here is the update. Since the last time I posted I have done a couple different things.

I spent a day renting a motorcycle and riding all around the Pohkara Valley. That was heaps of fun as it really allowed me to get out on my own and experience Pohkara away from the touristy areas. I drove out to Bengas Tal, a lake a ways away from the city of Pohkara where they engage in fish farming. So it was interesting to see that. The same day was the biggest Festival in Nepal called Dashain. It's like their Christmas apparently. At least relative to the importance of the event and not the materialism. So for lunch I came back to the hostel where I was staying and received a traditional blessing from the hostel owner. Rice died bright red was pressed between my eyes above the bridge of my nose and grass placed in my ear. This is supposed to give you good luck from once of the Hindu gods.
After that I rode my motorcycle to the International Mountain Museum and browsed around at the collection of information regarding the worlds highest mountains, a lot of very interesting information. Lasty, I spent the latter part of the day riding around on some really nice roads that bordered the beautiful lake and zig zaged its way up a mountain side over looking the lake.

Unfortunately you will have to use your imagination about what this looked like as I have managed to delete every photo I have taken up to this point off of my camera, gone forever. A little while ago I was trying to upload some of these pictures when the computer I was using malfunctioned and had to be restarted, when I disconnected my camera from the computer, all the photos were subsequently deleted. And no I didn't have them backed up...Every photo I've taken since I left home is gone.

The day after I rented the motorcycle I went on a three day kayaking trip on the seti river. It was super fun, lots of big rapids, great friends and great guides. We slept on the sandy river bank for two nights. It was a relaxing time, when we weren't on the river at least. The three days certainly allowed me to work on my paddling skills and I definitely felt tested by the class 3+ rapids.

After the Kayaking trip, I arrived back in Pohkara on the second. I still had some time till I fly out tonight so went to Sadhana Yoga retreat. I only ended up spending one full day there as I found it to be a bit hokey and I had serious cabin fever and needed to get back on the move. So at around 9 pm on the 3rd I booked a two night three day trip to Chitwan National Park which left the next morning at 7 am.

Chitwan National Park is essentially a jungle located in the southern "Terai" region of Nepal, bordering India. It was a Jungle Safari tour package I bought so all my activities were laid out for me. When I arrive that afternoon, I was taken on a Jungle walk where I saw many different birds. We then went to the elephant stables and saw some massive elephants. That was definitely really cool to see them for the first time. After that we headed to the museum where I read about the policy and initiatives of the National Park which I found to be quite interesting. That night ended with hanging out along the rivers edge watching an amazing sunset over the Terai and attending a Tharu(Native People of the Terai region) cultural dance show. The next day I went to the elephant breeding centre where I got to see and touch baby elephants! That was really cool. I want one for keeps. I also got to go check out a traditional Tharu village where the people live very simply in mud and grass huts. Later on I went to see the elephants being washed by their masters in the river. This was really cool. People were riding the elephants into the water and getting soaked. Quite entertaining to watch. Then it was time for an elephant safari where I rode an elephant into the Jungle looking for the elusive Rhinoceros. We tromped around atop a 30 year old adult elephant named Junga for an hour and a half. We saw a fair few deer but were unable to find any Rhinos. Since I was unable to see any Rhino's the Hotel owner let me go on a Jeep Safari with another group later that night. We spent about 3 hours driving around in the Jungle, which was really cool. We saw peacocks, deer, crocodiles and many birds but no Rhinos! Oh well. The next morning I headed out for Kathmandu.

Seven hour bus ride later and I'm back in Kathmandu. I arrived last night in advance for my flight to Hong Kong tonight and subsequently to Bangkok tomorrow night. I fly out of Kathmandu to HK tonight at 2315 and arrive in HK 0750 local time. Then I have till 2135 till I fly to Bangkok. So I think I am going to try to go into Hong Kong for the day to see the city at least. Ill be in Thailand until the 20th of Oct, when I fly back to Hong Kong to catch my connecting flight to Indonesia on the 21st. Haven't had much time to research what to do in Thailand, but I bought a guide book last night and I think Im going to take a cheap domestic flight to the Krabi province where there is excellent rock climbing and amazing beaches. So I will spend a few days there and then head over to South East Thailand where there is supposed to be excellent dive sites. After that I will probably head back to Bangkok and hope to catch a Muay Thai Kickboxing fight that are such a part of thai culture and maybe participate in a Muay Thai Camp for a day or two (where you take classes and learn about Muay Thai). Thats all for now! Hope everyone is doing well at home, please feel free to comment below and let me know what your up to.

Brett