June 2, 2009We are ready to get up after about 5 hours of sleep since Uday had a romantic idea to watch the sunrise over the hills of Jim Corbett National Park from Wild Trail.We take pictures of people doing their usual things such as bathing and fishing on the Kosi River.
We take pictures of the sunrise
of two new friends
and then we meet some people who want their picture taken with me, as I do with them, since we look so different from each other. The boy is "very shy"!!
We admire the peace and serenity that this place hasd to offer.
Even though I had reservations about this place at first, it has already grown on me and I decide it isn't bad after all.
On this day after eating a fabulous omelet breakfast, and the Wild Trail people being a bit more organized, we are finally off to do some adventure activities. We carpool with another Indian family who is going on the activity as well, but when they get there they all chicken-out and leave us. So Uday and I are the only ones doing the adventure activities.
A group of Indian guys stare and watch me and my butt in the air. Even one time I hit my butt on the ground because I forgot to put my feet down. After I entertained them for the day they finally disperse as we leave.
We got most of it on video and the video footage should be more funny. Click on the arrow below and check it out!We meet a homeless man, oops I mean "holy man" while we are doing our activities and after he begs for money we get a picture of him and give him some change. I did not want to stare but I did find him interesting to look at.
We finished the activities and I am still feeling a little embarrassed and self conscious. I manage to hold my head up high as we walk away. I was glad that I participated in the adventure activities and proud of myself for not being too shy around the large group of Indian guys watching me. As we walked towards the road we realize that our driver is still not available to pick us up as he got a flat tire and had to drive far back into town to get it fixed. Uday and I walk for miles to get back to Wild Trail and it is an interesting walk...
Thirsty and hot we are fortunate when the leader of the adventure activities picks us up, and all three of us ride back to Wild Trail on his motorcycle. This was my first time on a motorcycle with two other people and it was fun!Back at Wild Trail...
after having lunch in our room instead of outside, to stay cool, and taking another "Indian Bath" we are on our way for the jeep safari in Jim Corbet National Park.
This is an awesome experience seeing exotic wild life in their natural environment.
And finally we see what we were waiting for in the distance... yes a Royal Bengal Tiger!!
It is most exciting when the tiger roars and gets up from laying down, walking a short distance away, and laying down again. This was my first time seeing a tiger in its natural environment and it was great to see. I hope for more opportunities in my future to witness such beauty again.Click on the picture below to see all of our picture from this day:
June 1, 2009 We drive 7 hours to Jim Corbett National Park and I expect it will be a wasted day of just traveling... but to my surprise we see exotic people, costumes and villages the whole way. I can't snap enough pictures.
Missed so many National Geographic type pictures... got some too!
I learned: how important cow "dung" (poopie) is for fuel to cook food and make huts
that sadly, kids work and may not ever go to school, and some pick trash just to survive
women work construction in their saris
a new definition of a crowded bus or automobile
people of all ages can sit for hours comfortably squatting (and they also go to the bathroom this way)
people rest while working and have a different style bed than USA
and the many modes of transportation.
Saw a Groom headed towards his wife-to-be on horseback during his wedding ceremony.
We stopped for lunch at a place called a "Dhaba" (Uday says it is the name for a roadside restaurant). It looked hygienic enough but I was surprised when the waiter used his bare hands on our food to serve it to us. Here we ate Parathaan (a special type of bread with potatoes and seeds inside for a mildy spicy flavor) and Daal (lentil sauce). It was very good and I ate two Parathaan. Thank God for that food as our next meal would not be until 10pm that night.
Originally we requested to stay at a place called "Wild Trail" at Jim Corbett park, but the guy we booked the tour with, signed us up at "Wildcrest Resort". We made him change it back to what we requested as we were interested in Wild Trail because it looked more authentic for the Jungle. Later I regretted this decision as Wildcrest looked much nicer, more clean, and luxurious.Below is a picture of the area we ended up staying at.
When we got to our room at Wild Trail we discovered that the place was more of a camp than a resort and our room was full of flys in the afternoon and a huge house spider ran into our room from the outside. This was the best room there they had to offer and their sheets also did not look that clean. We felt stressed that on the day of our arrival we were suppose to do adventure activities and possibly an elephant ride that night but this place was disorganized and did not have anything planned for us. They told us it was because they did not have a booking with us originally but everything would work out. They just did not tell us when and how everything would work out. I began to learn that the people in India did not communicate as I am used to in America. I like to call it, "lack of communication". In the mean time I requested that our driver Raju drive us around the outskirts of the park and we got some pictures of the surrounding area.
Finally in the evening we paid for our own elephant safari ride instead of waiting for the one that was suppose to be included in our package.
The timing of the ride could not have been anymore perfect. As we rode on top of our Elephant through the jungle in search of the Bengal tiger and other wild life, the sun was setting and it began to thunder in the background and as the thunder got louder the rain began. Most people would not welcome the rain but I was hoping for it as I knew this usually brought more wildlife out especially close to sunset. The rain was also cool and refreshing which felt good to me and also made me feel better for the elephant who had been carrying people through the jungle all day in the heat. We thought for sure we would see a tiger and we were straining our eyes to scope out the jungle. We saw many monkeys and deer but no tiger. The rain stopped and it was nightfall by the time we returned on our elephant. It was a really cool experience.
Back at Wild Trail we waited two hours for dinner. It looked very unclean and I was afraid to eat there. I had decided that I might just have to fast for a few days rather than eat there. Uday ordered for me anyway and when the food came I was so hungry that I decided that the rice looked safe enough to eat, and then the lentil sauce and the bread. I still did not eat the chicken curry even though Uday kept saying how good it was. To my surprise the food tasted good and we were not bothered by any mosquito's even though we were eating outside in jungle area. It was very, very dark and also very peaceful.
Back in our room I took what I call an "Indian Style" shower with a big bucket full of water and a "mug" to pour water on myself as there was no shower. We were lucky that there was a water heater so we could use warm water. By this time I felt tired of being resistant to changing my American ways. It grew clear to me that if I wanted to eat or shower this was my only option so I gave in.
Here is a picture of Uday illustrating the "Indian Style Shower"
By nightfall the flies that were in our room were gone and I slept with no blanket on the bed still afraid that it might not be clean enough. I lay in bed and begin to feel calmer after the interesting bathing process. I begin to feel a deeper understanding with Uday and why he does some of the things he does in regards to touching other people's food and some of his other hygene habits and ways of thinking.As I close my eyes to try and go to sleep I am seeing flashbacks like a post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with visions of brilliant colors, Saris, women all in black covering their faces, old women faces, old men faces with Turbans, kids on motorcycles, and jungles, as I finally fall into a deep sleep next to Uday who is already sound asleep.
I use the body heat of my husband and lay close to him to try and stay warm from the cool blowing air from the air cooler in the room.Click on the picture below to see all of our pictures of June 1, 2009 our first full day in India:
