You have to laugh.....and the Nepalese people do constantly. I guess its a way of making the serious not so serious. There were some things that happened to us that made us laugh. Here are a few......
When visiting Melbourne I would go for a walk for two to three hours and then ring up and get some to pick me up. Had no idea where I was and would just tell them the cross street. So when I went to Nepal everyone said "don't go walking 'cause there is nobody to come and pick you up". The first morning I awoke early and told Amanda I was going down stairs to have a look. She said "OK but don't go anywhere....you will get lost". I watched everyone going past the motel door, but then I thought if I just follow this street in a straight line for a little way and then turn around and come back.....so I can't possibly get lost. So I walked down to the river where the road turned. Then I turned around and walked back. Well soon I was ..... well let's say I didn't recognise anything. But I turned around and backtracked again and soon realised that streets were coming in at a sharp angle and the road I had been following was not very straight. I had been distracted by some cows moving down the street and had followed the wrong road. Eventually found my way back.
Our motel in Kathmandu was pretty basic, but OK. There was hot water.......one day.....or so someone said. And the sheets had been changed.......at some stage. But depends what you are used to. It was the motel the organisation put us up in because it was cheap. Two Israeli girls (won't mention their names) who had just completed their military service, found the motel not to their liking. However they didn't want to offend anyone so each night, for three nights, they crept out and went to a fancy motel where they paid big money. And in the morning they would get up early and sneak back in before anyone was awake. No wonder we thought of them as the princesses.
On safari there was a heavy mist as we drifted along the river. As we reached the shore and prepared for our walk through the jungle we were given a briefing about being absolutely quiet and what to do if a bear or a rhino heard us and charged. So it was tense moving through the jungle in single file stopping every now and then to listen. There had been rhino attacks recently so things were tense and we were doing our best to make as little noise as possible. Everything was very still and their was an eiree silence. I couldn't help a chuckle though when everytime we moved I could hear this noise. The woman from Russia had worn courdoroy jeans. Everytime she took a step there was that rubbing sound courderoy makes.
The tourist buses stop two or three times whenever you travel for a couple of hours. Usually at a place where you can buy lunch, even if you just had it two hours previously. On the way to Chitwan with Amanda, Tess and Maya we stopped at one roadside resturant. The bush near the dinning tables had eggs stuck onto the top of it. Probably customers had stuck their egg shells on the bush and someone thought it was funny so left them there. Amanda and I were looking at it when Tess walked up. We told her it was an egg tree.......... they mustn't get out much in Israel!
On our elephant safari we were busy taking pictures of the people on the other elephants all around us. And they were taking pictures of us. But we had none of us. So when the elephant that was near us all the time came even closer we swapped cameras with them so that we could have pictures of ourselves on our camera. However as soon as we swapped the other elephant took off into the scrub at a great speed. Liz's good camera that we borrowed was way out of site and here all we had to show was a little box brownie. But when we found rhinos all of the elephants came to see and we could swap back. Although I had said to the fellow take lots of pictures there were only two or three on it. They feature elephant back-sides and a deer hiding in the foliage.
When staying at the monastery we decided to go into the city to do some shopping. Kunga Lama sent one of the monks with us as a guide. However in town Luca, the German girl became sick. The group split up and Luca, Helen and the monk went back to the monastery early. Amanda and I stayed in town to visit the orphanage. We returned late at night to the monastery with Tess and Maya. So late that the gate of the monastery was locked. Lama Kunga himself came down to open the gate. He looked at the group, then looked again. "Where's my monk?" he said. He continued to quizz us on where his missing monk was. And when we explained .....well he just didn't seeem to understand english. The Israeli girls were getting worried that we weren't going to get in and would be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night. However the Lama couldn't keep up his act and a big grin appeared on his face. His monk had returned hours ago. This was just his little joke.
