So we left Pokhara thinking we were going to Lukla to do some trekking in the Everest Region. However, Mother Nature had other ideas.

We arrived early in Kathmandu and would be departing for Lukla the following morning. After eating the same stuff for so many days I was looking forward to the food in the city. For lunch I had a "burrito" and for dinner I had a steak. That night I became pretty ill from something I ate. The following morning I did not want to go to the airport but somehow managed to get going. At the airport we found out all flights to Lukla were delayed due to poor visibility. We spent several hours there until we were told that all flights were canceled. I was glad and went back to the hotel were I laid in bed all day. The next morning tried to fly again and found out the weather had not improved. At this point we decided to spring for a helicopter flight (an additional $200) but when we went to buy the tickets we found out Helicopter flights had just been canceled as well.

At this point it was decided that we would go to Lang Tang. I did not want to go to Lang Tang (nothing against it) so Yamaraj and I decided we would not be going to Lang Tang. I had several reasons for not wanting to spend so many days in Lang Tang, including the fact that I would be forfeiting the chance to even look at Sagarmatha (Everest). So in the end six of us decided to spend a few days in Chitwan National Park in the lowlands of Nepal and then return to Kathmandu to try to get out to Lukla. Prior to visiting Nepal I had never heard of Chtwan but after spending some time in Kathmandu it seemed obvious that this is a must-see place. We hired a driver and left for Chitwan. The roads in Nepal are something to write home about: lawless, chaotic, and nerve-wrecking.

We stayed at a resort called Sapana Village Lodge. The resort is beautiful, the staff is wonderful, and the food is magnificent. This was a nice break from our trekking and we relaxed, ate, drank, and had a great time. Maila Ghale, the accountant at the Lodge, has a beautiful singing voice, and he played the guitar and sand for us classical Nepalese songs and Pink Floyd as well. Along with JailGirl, who also sings and plays the guitar we had a wonderful time.

The staff at Sapana arranged all the activities for us, from a trek through the jungle with a naturalist to elephant washing, to a dug-canoe trip on the river, to elephant and 4X4 safaris. The ride back to Kathmandu was as scary as the ride down only this time I did not try to sleep. Dusty roads, slow-moving traffic, accidents, crazy drivers, and even a dead pedestrian in the middle of the road.

All in all this unexpected stop was a beautiful experience (forgetting the dead person for a minute) highlighted by the sighting of wild rhinos, wild boar, eagles, monkeys, crocodiles, elephants, and much more (too bad the pictures of most of these did not turn out very well)..

Next stop: Hopefully a shortened trip to the Everest region.