Nic writes…

When we first decided to visit Nepal, three tourist attractions came to mind: trekking in the Himalayas, searching for tigers in Chitwan National Park and being 'spiritual'. With this in mind, once we got back from trekking we sought to complete the list.

The first few days after trekking were very relaxed. We got a couple of massages, bought tat from the tourist shops (we will need to buy a big house when we get back to accommodate all of the stuff we have bought on this trip so far…), got my shoes fixed, took a cookery lesson in how to make 'momos' (small Tibetan dumplings that I have been eating on an industrial scale) and made our own advent calendars. We also signed up for a two and a half day introduction to Buddhism and meditation.

Along with about 20 other western tourists, we arrived at the centre on a Friday afternoon. The course was very structured with a timetable detailing our every move from 7am to 8.30pm. The sessions included introductions to Buddhism, meditation, and yoga. Neither of us have any religious beliefs so we were slightly apprehensive beforehand, but luckily the woman running the course immediately informed us that she would not be trying to 'convert' us and we shouldn't believe things just because someone has told us they are true (although 5 minutes later we learned that the Dalai Lama can be taken as a reliable source, since he is enlightened and wouldn't lie). For what it is worth, the course brought us to the conclusion that Buddhism is probably the most 'modern' of all the religions as it seems to be able to adapt to changing cultures more than any other, and doesn't make too many absolute claims. We also concluded that, in a world where religious extremists seem to feature in the news a lot (for predominantly bad reasons), an extreme Buddhist would just be a very very nice person!

The yoga and meditation was interesting too. For me, yoga felt like a gymnastics warm up, so I loved it. It was more of a challenge for Rich, but he enjoyed it (and watching him gave me some entertainment too). Meditation was very interesting and different to anything we have done before. It is difficult to clear your mind and just focus on one thing, but it did feel very relaxing. We are going to persevere with meditation (or mindfulness as it is also known) as it will hopefully help us when we get back to the UK to switch off after work (something Rich could definitely do with as he sometimes talks in his sleep about the modelling software he uses at work).

It was also really nice to spend a weekend with a group of interesting people. There were some characters (Rich was very restrained and only 'debated' with one of them), but all were friendly to talk to and some asked really interesting questions in the sessions we attended (e.g. if you are reborn as a cat, doesn't that mean you are always going to have permanently bad karma as you need to kill mice to eat? Isn't it wrong to treat your own children better than any other random child?).

When we left the course, we headed to Chitwan National Park. It isn't the best time of the year to visit Chitwan as the grass has grown really tall and so it is difficult to see very far, but we had time so we thought we would give it a go. In Chitwan it is very popular to ride an elephant to view the wildlife, but we have read lots of stories about how these elephants are mistreated to ensure they 'behave appropriately' for the tourists and didn't want to contribute to the problem. Instead, we avoided any activity that involved the elephants and went on a day trek. Trekking is considered to be slightly dangerous given the abundance of rhinos/elephants/tigers/leopards etc that could attack us (sorry mum). Thankfully, our two guides each had a bamboo stick to protect us (Rich also picked up a stick halfway around, but got bored of carrying it after a while).

During the day we saw several rhino, different types of deer and many species of bird (seeing peacocks in the wild was quite strange). However, the highlight of the day involved the tiger, my favourite animal. We had seen several fresh tiger prints whilst we were walking and after we heard the deer and several species of bird calling out in alarm, our guides realised that a tiger was very close. Rather than taking shelter (as instinct told me), our guides decided to try and find the tiger. Given the height of the grass, we would only be able to see it if it crossed one of the paths made by humans (apparently tigers prefer using already made paths), so we sat down at a viewpoint on the path and had our packed lunch. I think it was the most adrenaline filled lunch I have ever had, knowing at any moment a wild tiger could appear (and potentially make me his lunch - it is possible that I am being slightly melodramatic as according to the guides, tigers would not attack us when there is a more convenient lunch of deer nearby, plus they had their sticks). Sadly, the tiger did not appear, but it was very exciting and I am even more determined to see a tiger in the wild one day.

After Chitwan we travelled back to the Kathmandu valley to visit the historical cities of Bhaktapur, Patan and Kathmandu. Very pretty places with lovely ornate palaces and temples, and plenty of interesting people-watching, but there is so much pollution which dampens the experience.

Next we are off to Vietnam via an 8 hour overnight stopover in Kuala Lumpur where we have hired two 'pods' to sleep in…it could be interesting!