I'm going to apologize in advance if this blog doesn't make sense, the key board is awful and the writing on the screen doesn't come up until ages after i have written it. It does how ever have spell check so i can see what is spelt wrong this time. I also haven't been writing in my little book the last few days as so much has been going on, so this is all from memory ( and i can ask Giselle as she is seated the other side of the room this time.)
So we left Pokhara and butterfly lodge despite being tempted to stay there forever, and for the first time we had decided to book one of our visit with a tour group as the price seemed reasonable and we both felt like we wanted someone else taking charge for a few days. We got on our tourist bus and to know ones surprise the bus had literally been double booked. A couple came on "seats B 5/6" yep they were meant to be sitting in the exact same seats as us. They didnt mind and just sat some were else, the people who arrived later were less than pleased and had to be moved to another bus. Off we went around an hour later.The bus journey wasn't particularly comfortable (On the other hand the public buses we had previously taken had been surprisingly nice.) But we did have a nice conversation with a man who i think had been living in India for two months and was in the process of designing a pair of trousers with lots of pockets. Part way through the journey two young local lads came on and started singing and playing a small strange violin thing. Admittedly it was fairly good but i did not want to hear it, simple as really, so i just put my ear phones in an tried my hardest to ignore them, as did everyone else (even when he did come and sit on my arm rest).
We finally arrived and me and giselle went of in a jeep to Hotel Riverside, gis was in pain for the most part of the journey as she banged her head on the jeep bar (wuups) We also tried are hardest to avoid yet another Holi celebration. Hotel looked nice and we did get complimentary drinks. After settling in we got our lunch and a young man came and told us he was going to take us on a village tour, he never did, i think we were possibly eating to slow and he got impatient. Instead the man in charge got another young lad to take us to the Baby elephant sanctuary, "can you cycle?", yes i replied because in my eyes i can. We went to get our bikes and straight away i knock over two of the nicely lined up bikes. "oh sorry !" (turn round and knock another one down), "im really sorry !" i say while trying to stand them up again. They laughed and didnt seem to bothered. I was then reasonably nervous. I was paranoid about getting hit by a car, getting attack in colour from strange people who were to busy enjoying Holi to care about my cycling ability, I was also a little concerned about breaking the bike.While wobbling around on my bike with giselle behind me laughing (sisterly love) I tried to explain that i wasnt particularly good at riding bikes. "you dont ride very often" he said,"no i cycle lots, i just haven't improved" the sad but honest truth. I made it to the sanctuary alive and only got a little colour on me from the festival celebrators.
The boy tried to makes us pay (we had already paid as we had decided to opt for a package trip.) Giselle got stressed but we decided to just pay and just take it up with the big man at our hotel. The sanctuary was nice but out guide (the young man/boy) couldnt really speak very good english so he was just there being awkward. My favourite bit of the day had to be on the ride home, when i over took an elephant on the road with my bicycle it was crazy. We got our money back but felt abit cheated, so we weren't really in best of moods when we went for dinner. We had finished and were nearly ready to hop of for a good nights sleep, when a man came and sat next to us "you going to culture programme?" eurghhhh yes we were meant to be doing it but we thought every one had forgotten about us and we just wanted to be boring and sleep. We acted a little confused to begin with and then said "yes i think so".
Of we went with this man in the dark to some dance thing i was hoping it wasn't going to just be us trying to dance with locals. On the way the man introduced himself, Ishaw was his name and he was going to be our guide for the next day or so. He seemed friendly enough and could speak pretty good english. "I've also wanted to ask an English person what Swindy means".... um i thought, i didnt even know what swindy meant. The next time he mentioned it he said "Windy" (i could only guess he meant the weather). He was looking at a sign so i turned to look, in big letters 'Wendy's Hotel'. Oooooh Wendy. We tried our hardest to explain Wendy was just a name, "Wendy's hotel, Perhaps Wendy also means something different" he said. He didn't seem convinced or satisfied with mine and Giselle answer, oh well. The 'Tharu culture programme' Was really just a dance show, but an amazing one, people in Nepal sure know how to strut their stuff. We all got up at the end and danced on stage (we being me, Giselle, Ishaw and a lovely lady called Nia who we had met previously in Pokhara). I went to bed happy even though our hotel did try and make us pay again and i did knock over a few bikes earlier in the day :)
Im now going to say sorry that i am so behind on my blog ! we have been unable to get to computers the last few days and i now want to go listen to some music and drink nice tea so shall carry on tomorrow. There are lots of exciting things to come in the next few blogs so it will all be worth it ! thank you :) xxxxxx
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