You Turn Your Back for a Minute…
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Monthly Archives: October 2013
Best Bath Ever
by Evie
Elephant bath time is a fun and exciting, scary and wet event which is on almost every day; you just need to know the way! You can ask passers by the way if you need.
This event happens in a crocodile-invaded river, however the elephants scare them away! The water is ice cold and dirty so if you get it in your mouth: spit.
For fifty Rs. It is possible to ride on an elephant and get sprayed with water from your elephant’s trunk!
The sound of people screaming has no impact on the lovely effect of this event! This event is extremely fun; in fact three adorable triplets have been sighted at the bath time, jumping and pushing each other over, laughing their heads off!
If you want to ride an elephant, you have to be prepared for the bumpy, itchy ride where you get soaked to the skin. When the event is on, it happens at 11 o’clock and when it is you should go! The best bits are the elephant ride and just playing!
The few dangers with this event are getting washed away and eaten, getting trodden on by an elephant, not noticing the elephants getting out and getting yourself eaten, going too far out and getting eaten and, basically, drowning. Don’t be afraid, it’s not likely at all.
[This was Evie’s ‘Write a Newspaper Article Challenge’. It was typed up, paragraphized and spelling-corrected by Dad but otherwise all Evie’s work. Only 6 wrong spellings, too, which is brilliant.]
A Jungle Bumper
by Jemima
Every day in Chitwan National Park people can go on an elephant safari at 7 or 8am. It is a fun activity lasting about an hour that people need a National Park Permit for. Chitwan is in Sauraha, Nepal. The park permit is 1500 rupees per person. Children are free.
There are lots of people there. Some people are tourists and some people are Nepalese. Behind the fence there are lots of elephants with people on the front and the passengers behind in a sort of box with a cushion on the floor for the people to sit on. Some have riders, some don’t.
The elephants are coming and going – elephants appearing out of the forest and elephants walking away into the distance as far as these visitors can see.
When you get on an elephant is best not to spoil anything except that on the ride you get hit in the face by branches and that sometimes the wildlife is there and sometimes not. It is a very bumpy ride but you get used to it.
As you wait to go up on your platform, from which you must step carefully onto the elephant’s bottom and into the box, you can smell the hot air and the elephants all around you. When you go onto the elephant, however, you can smell sweet air through the desert of leaves. As you wait you also hear the shouting of mahoots as they urge their giant shopkeepers to the desk! There is also the noise of people chatting as they feed bananas to the elephants who are sticking their heads over the fence to say hello to the newcomers!
On the elephant you can hear the chattering of birds and occasionally the mahout telling you the name of wildlife. As the people chatter they are too busy to notice the gentle touch of the elephant and the cool breeze brushing your face, asking you to follow it to the place far from the pouring sun.
As you ride the trees shade you but it is hot. Bumping and jumping you can taste the sweet, sweet air. The elephant’s scent covers up the scent of the human so the wildlife isn’t scared away.
It makes a lot of people feel like they want to it to carry on forever but towards the end, they start getting hungry and want to get off.
It is 1000 rupees each. To get there you need a jeep for 50 rupees. The jeep is extremely fun but also extremely bumpy.
[This was Jemima’s ‘Write a Newspaper Article Challenge’. It was typed up, paragraphized and spelling-corrected by Dad but otherwise all Jemima’s work. Only 6 wrong spellings, too, which is brilliant.]
Three Small Children Climbing Extra-Ordinarily Big Mountains
by Scarlett
Today, the 3rd October, 3 children were claimed to be seen climbing Gokyo Ri at 6:00am in the morning. They were going up that day because their father woke up very early and saw that the sun was shining. Gokyo Ri is in the Everest region and it can get quite cold. A lot of people claimed they were there when this event took place, so it was very busy.
It is free to go up Gokyo Ri. It is also very, very steep.
Adults with the children numbered four, were 3 men and a woman. It was a tiring climb and they didn’t really enjoy it but the view at the top was amazing! The other people climbing Gokyo Ri were astounded at the 8 year old triplets and kept encouraging the girls. People can’t believe that 3 girls made it to the top since they are only 8 years old. They said it was easy going down. One of the girls got altitude sickness and had to be carried by one of the men.
At the top of Gokyo Ri there is an amazing view of a glacier surrounded by mountains. These mountains have a big lake in front of them. The lake is turquoise and the sun glitters off it. There are prayer flags hung around the top which can have icicles hanging from them. Sometimes it has less snow. It can be rocky.
The best parts of climbing Gokyo Ri are the view and coming back down. Coming back down is amazingly easy!
[This was Scarlett’s ‘Write a Newspaper Article Challenge’. It was typed up, paragraphized and spelling-corrected by Dad but otherwise all Scarlett’s work. Only 8 wrong spelling’s, too, (and not turquoise!) which is wonderful.]
Travelling Songs
Daddy is too tall,
Too tall for Nepal,
Or is it that Nepal is too small for Mr Tall?
It’s a Long way To Gokyo Ri,
It’s a long way to go,
It’s a long, long way to Gokyo Ri,
To the sweetest lakes I know,
Goodbye Kathmandu,
Farewell Durbar Square,
It’s a long, long way to Gokyo Ri,
But we’ve climbed up there!
Evie, on Growing Up
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I don’t ever want to grow up. I just want to rampage around forever!
Our Routine in Sauhara, Chitwan
NOTE: All times are approximate.
07.00 Wake up
07.15 Yoga
08.00 Showers, dressing, maybe a quick game of Smallworld, breakfast on the verandah
09.00 “Jungle School” (maths puzzles, spellings, project on Nepal, learning to make a website, creative writing)
11.00 Playtime at the river & elephant bathtime
12.00 “Jungle School” & snacks from the guest house menu
15.00 Playtime on the giant bamboo swing or feeding the resident elephant with bananas
16.00 Diary Time
17.30 Big Meal at KC’s (not to be confused with KFC, a totally different experience)
19.00 Bedtime stories, into nighties and into bed
19.30 Lights off
20.00 Chill out time for mum and dad
And another day is done…
Jemima (blue top), Scarlett (red top) and Evie (purple top) working on spellings outside our guest house, then later playing with the baby elephant who lives at the bottom of the garden.
Scarlett, at Elephant Bathtime, Sauraha, Nepal
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This… is… the… best… thing… ever!”
The Cost of Visiting the Poorest Country in the World
So, we have just spent 4 whole days in Kathmandu to get our India Visas. We have struggled through a complex bureaucratic process, all while negotiating the Nepali equivalent of Christmas.
Specifically: non-standard sized photographs that needed to be taken; photocopies of various documents that had to be made; an online form that had to be filled in by a man who could only use the ‘search and peck’ method of typing (x 5 forms – this was painful, how I wanted to snatch the keyboard from him… arghhh!); and all the associated queues that needed to be waited in to obtain this precious list of compulsory items.
We arrived at the Embassy an hour before opening time, joined the already long queue, received a chitty with our number on (handwritten – the machine was broken), waited our turn, got to the front of the queue (number called out by a security guard – the display was broken), had the forms checked (all correct – yes!) and were asked for payment.
Ah.
When researching the trip in the UK, the price was £30 each. And there was a discount for children. However, things have changed, and the price is now almost £100 each with no discount for children. So we needed almost £500, an amount that with local ATM daily limits being very low would take us 3 days to withdraw, and that we simply didn’t have on us.
So, still trying to smile and answer the kids questions (What’s going on Mummy? Are we still going to India?), we retired to a café to weigh up our options.
Given that we were only planning to spend 3 weeks or so in India, and the main activity was travelling from North to South by train, it turns out it’s cheaper for us to cancel our flight from the South of India to Sri Lanka and buy a new one from Kathmandu to Sri Lanka than it is to pay for the Visas.
So, we think, this is the new plan. The challenge now is cancelling the flights. We have spoken to the call centre, cancelling them is no problem, but we have to pick up the cash refund at a desk in… you guessed it… India! Still working on getting the refund back onto the card we paid on. We may be some time…
Kacophonous Kathmandu
by Jemima
If you want to go trekking, you have got to go to Kathmandu first. Here are ten of the most important things you need to know:
1. You sometimes have to be really unkind to people to make them go away when they are trying to sell you things.
2. It’s extremely noisy and it’s likely that the first sound you will hear will be honk honk!
3. When I arrived I could smell hot air but I got used to it. I hope you do.
4. If you want to stay somewhere, I would recommend the Kathmandu Garden House because it’s got comfortable rooms, balconies and a lovely garden bordered by flowers.
5. There are lots of insects so you have got to just not bother about them. The mosquitoes will probably bite you. You can buy a spray called Deet which will keep them away.
6. There is lots of junk on the streets and you will probably get dirty. Try not to bother.
7. Try not to fall in love with pretty things in shops too much like I did because the shop owners will see that and make them really expensive. You have got to bargain by making it look like the thing you want more is the thing you want less.
8. When you are travelling around Kathmandu it is easier to go in a taxi or walk, not go on a bus. The buses are too crowded and sometimes they drive around with the doors open because there are so many people inside.
9. There are street food stalls but I got a very spicy chilli. It made me cry so we got some juice and chocolate! If you want to go to a restaurant, I would recommend the Northfield Cafe.
10. If it’s the festival of Desain, lots of people feel like they shouldn’t be at work so the food in cafes is not as good. But the pizza at the Northfield Cafe is still good!
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Travels with Triplets 