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We took a break from our Habitat build to celebrate Christmas. We headed to Koshi Tappu, a wildlife reserve/bird sanctuary about 3 hours from Bhadrapur. On the way we stopped in the town of Itatari to do some shopping for Christmas essentials...snacks, chocolate and booze. We arrived at the "hotel" early in the evening and were pleasantly surprised to find that they had decorated the place for us, Christmas tree and all. They showed us to our rooms which ended up being some pretty swank tents.
That evening we were treated to some traditional Nepalese singing and dancing by the local villagers and even got to join in. After that we were treated to a wonderful roast chicken dinner...almost felt like Christmas. After diner we sat around a bonfire and got into some White Mischief (vodka) before heading off to bed. I am pretty sure this is the first Christmas we have spent sleeping in a tent and relaxing by a bonfire.
We got up early (6:30) on Christmas morning...not to open presents but to go for a boat ride. We floated down the river looking for wildlife and got to see a number of birds (egrets, kingfishers, storks, and vultures...sorry for not being more specific Lorrene) as well as a couple of pretty big crocs. I was expecting to see more birds as this was supposed to be a great place to see huge flocks of migratory birds, but we did have a lot of fun on our boat. We stopped for a picnic on the riverbank before floating down the river a bit more and then walking along the flood plains back to our jeeps. Driving through the villages was pretty interesting as all the kids ran out to wave at us and say hello...felt like celebrities.
Got back to camp and had a few beers before getting ready for dinner. Christmas dinner was Nepalese food but we did polish off a few bottles of wine. After dinner we did our secret Santa exchange which was an absolute blast. It was interesting to see what everyone was able to come up with in a half hour shopping trip in a Nepalese market...there was everything from jewelry to soccer balls to Bollywood movies. We had a lot of laughs! After that we headed out to the bonfire again and polished off a mickey and 26 of rum and vodka...needless to say, things got a little crazy. We didn't have a white Christmas but we did have a White Mischief Christmas.
To put the evening in perspective, when I woke up I couldn't find my iPhone and Cailin couldn't find her camera...curse the White Mischief! We tracked everything down, had some breakfast and then went to find the elusive Gangetic Dolphins. I was still feeling the adverse effects of Christmas so I didn't end up seeing any. The ride back to camp was interesting as all of the children in the villages ran out to say hello to us...we felt like celebrities! We headed back to Bhadrapur and stopped along the way to do some shopping for local tea and soccer balls and books for our school visit.
Got back to our hotel in Bhadrapur, had some supper and everyone went to bed early. All in all it was a pretty fun Christmas!
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Lorrene Sounds like a great Christmas in Nepal!!! That's okay if you don't know the birds, so long as you are enjoying yourselves. Just take some pictures and we'll try to ID some when you get back!