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Day 193 - 199
We celebrated the end of 2010 with Fern getting bitten by a stray dog while out walking with Daddy. Six months of adventerous travel and not a scratch, and the minute he arrives she is mauled nearly to death. So an urgent trip to hospital ensued where we shelled out a fortune on anti-rabies vaccinations, bandages, antibiotics and painkillers. She was very brave, I was very stressed. The best decision I ever made was to get us all pre-vaccinated against rabies, this saved hundreds of pounds and several more courses of injections for poor Fern. There is a worldwide shortage of immuniglobin (sp?), the only rabies treatment. In fact there is no rabies treatement or cure, only prevention - and thank Ganesh I got it in advance. So I saved her a frothing, painful death and a great deal of inconvenience for us all. She is fine now, a little worried she will be afraid of dogs for the rest of her life which doesn't bode well for poor old Ruby, my parents dog who is looking forward to Fern coming home and taking her for walks. At least Fern can use it as an excuse for getting out of ever walking her again.
The final thing we decided to do in Nepal was to go on safari. Chitwan National Park (Asia's biggest and best!) is the only place to go so we booked a four day trip and decided to take our friend Hari and a random old Dutch bloke called Bob. We had to endure a six hour bus journey to get there, leaving at a stressful 6am. On the first day we went on a 'jungle walk' which Clover quickly decided wasn't for her. She doesn't do walking, and apparently she doesn't do jungle either. She screamed and sobbed and cried so much that any wild animals in the vicinity ran away. Dutch Bob was not impressed. Rufus and I fell out on the first night as there was a beetle trapped somewhere in our room which screeched every 3 seconds throughout the entire night but we couldn't find it, despite searching for four hours with a torch. On day two we were up crossly and early to go on a elephant-back jungle trip which was superb. There is nothing in the world as beautiful as an elephant. We saw wild rhinos and deer but no tigers, sadly. In the afternoon we took a jeep ride deeper into the jungle, the kids sitting on the roof. Day three was a wooden canoe on the crocodile-infested river - and sure enough, lazy huge crocodiles dozed on the river banks. Clover once again lost the plot as we all joked that she would be eaten first. Liam, being Irish and a bit reckless, decided to lob a log at one of the crocodiles and it scuttled off its rock and straight into the water. Dutch Bob was fuming now and the guide was not impressed either. Apparently you mustn't chuck things at the wildlife, who knew. The third night was spent in 'the tower' - a tall wooden building in the middle of the jungle where you could see and hear real jungle life. Hari, being Nepali and a bit immature decided to hurl himself off the tower to impress the children. This resulted immediately in two severly sprained ankles, torn ligaments, and an inability to join in any more activites. He walked with a stick for the rest of the trip or lay in his room crying in pain. Rufus and the guides dutifully trotted off into the village to buy him super-strong painkillers. At this stage, Dutch Bob was quite incredulous at the group of idiots he had found himself on safari with. Day four we hired bicylces which looked like something out of 1930's Germany, and I cycled around the village like Julia Roberts in Eat, Pray, Love. Or like the Wicked Witch in the Wizard of Oz. Either way, it was lovely - gorgeous views, beautiful fields, hot sunshine and most importantly for me, flat roads. We stopped for the elephant bathing and the girls were thrilled to get the chance to climb bareback on an elephant in the water, scrub its tough skin and wash it with a brush and soap. A truly lovely moment. We also went to the elephant breeding centre - only 26 elephants have been born in Nepal over the last 12 years and 9 of them have been stillborn. It's really tricky to get elephants to breed, the locals blame it on their captivity, the weather, their diet and a lack of good elephant porn. Twin male elephants were born in 2008 to everyone's joy and they were still babies with their mother. The elephant handlers, 'Mahuts', live with their own personal elephant and commit to them for life. It was really interesting, a fascinating place and any thoughts about the cruelty of domesticating elephants are gone when you see the wonderful work that is being done and the good life the elephants have in captivity. Every evening we sat around a campfire drinking beer and the girls played with the local puppies and goats. Hari had too much beer and too many painkillers and apparently babbled a load of nonsense, grossly offending Dutch Bob who refused to share a room with him and picked a fight. It was a really happy time for us all. Except maybe Hari and Dutch Bob.
We returned to Kathmandu on another miserable bus ride along the world's worst roads. This time we only passed two serious bus crashes. I love Nepal but I am delighted to never have to do this terrifying trip again. Fern sat and swottily read Animal Farm next to me, pausing every third word - Mummy, what does rebellion mean, what does benevolent mean, what does tyrannical mean? As I have the vocabulary of a ten year old myself, I always struggle to explain. But I have read the book so just explained the entire plot and the ending, thus ruining it for her but saving us both a lot of time. And Clover walked up and down the bus barefoot, chewing gum and wearing only a vest. She hadn't showered for 4 days, looks feral and still has nits. This always happens when Daddy looks after her.
So now it is our last day in Nepal and we have mixed feelings. We are ready to go but we will miss the lovely people that we have met. It has been strange living here - sometimes we feel we just moved our old lives to a city that is chaotic and stressful and very poor (Nepal is the 12th poorest country in the WORLD), living in conditions that we would never put up with at home - no hot running water, no bath, no washing machine, no electricity for hours on end, no friends. At times it has been wonderful but at times it has been more testing than anything else I have ever done. Am glad we did it though; not every kid gets to go to a local Asian primary school on a scooter in the sunshine. And very few adults get the chance to take a gap year and do voluntary work with terribly deprived children in the real world - the real, developing world where you can take nothing for granted. And live right in the middle of one of the most mad and shambolic cities on earth. Many lessons learned. Looking forward to new adventures and sunnier climes!
News from Hong Kong - my poor sister is in hospital with swine flu. Am sending her all my love xx
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