Sunday 29th December, 2024

Our flight was on time.  The journey was 5800 kilometres and would take 6 hours 50 minutes.

Nepal is 2 hours and 45 minutes ahead of the time in Turkey (TRT).  This strange time difference is due some say, “simply because the government chose this”, others say “to differentiate from neighbouring India time.”

We landed at 10.40am.  Visa and immigration was quick and easy due to the travel company completing the application forms.  All we had to do was pay the fee and get the form and our passport stamped.

But obviously, with 26 people to do this and to collect luggage, it all takes time.

It was just before 1pm when we left the airport; we would drive directly to Chitwan which is one of the largest jungle regions in the country.

 

Our Nepalese guide is called Sudan. He informed us that the journey, although only 160 kilometres, was expected to take around 7 hours due to the atrocious conditions of the road.

The roads were indeed chaotic, there was a huge amount of traffic, cars, huge colourful trucks and buses.  Together with continual road works and huge potholes, plus overtaking on the wrong side of the road, it was not an easy journey for our driver.

However, it was an interesting journey, seeing the people at work, small villages, passing through a couple of larger towns and many rustic areas.  Swinging footbridges appeared to be the pedestrian route across the rivers.

 

 

 

 

Sudan kept us entertained along the way, chatting a little about the culture and the Hindu religion. Over 80% of the population are Hindus.  The population is 30 million, of which there are 126 ethnic groups. 123 languages are spoken in Nepal.

For a long while, our journey followed the River Trishuli. Sudan explained all rivers are considered to be goddesses in Hinduism.

It is believed that the god Shiva struck his trident on a rock creating three springs which became the river. Trishula is a Sanskrit word which literally means trident (a divine symbol in the Hindu religion).

We stopped only a couple of times for 20 minutes, for a coffee and a comfort break.  However, it was 8pm and dark when we arrived at the Landmark Forest Hotel which would be our home for the next couple of nights.

The restaurant manager noticed that I had left the majority of my meal and he asked if there was a problem.  I explained that it was too hot and spicy for my taste but that it wasn’t a problem as we were in Nepal and expected Nepali food.  (I was surprised to find the boiled rice very spicy though!)

He kindly said he would ask the chef to cook some less spicy or non spicy dishes.

 

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