Most people go to Chitwan National Park to trek through the jungle in search of wild Rhino’s, tigers, crocodiles, deer and to ride elephants.

We had thought about doing a trek but with a toddler who never stops talking, we figured we wouldn’t see anything anyway. We spoke to one of the guides at our guesthouse and he confirmed, A)kids under 10 are not allowed, B) it cost waaaay more than we could justify, and C) Being just after the monsoon there is ample food in the park so the animals are mostly staying deeper and sightings were less common.

And so that was it, thankful for the honesty of the guides, we decided it was no trekking for us! Instead, we chose to chill out at our guesthouse, watch the elephants bath each morning, let gypsy pat every elephant/horse/cow that went past, and relax for a bit.

Well hello there!
Thanks for coming to see us!!




Feeling inspired we decided to go for a walk along the river and bam! Crocodiles!!

He was so calm, it was easy to forget that he was extremely dangerous and could quite easily kill us!! We went back the next day and he was in a different area, again not fenced in but just chilling and doing his thing. Lots of locals were walking past calmly so we figure he must be a regular. How amazing that such a wild and potentially dangerous animal is able to just go about its business without invoking fear into everyone!

So, without trekking we managed to see Rhinos, elephants, and crocodiles!! Who needs to trek!?!?!

(Note, the people we met who had done treks said they were really worthwhile.)


But on a serious note, we are super happy Gypsy was able to see a wild rhino although she probably won't remember it. The truth is, they are becoming rarer by the day due to poaching and their habitats being destroyed for farming.  I truly hope the efforts being undertaken by places like the conservation centre in Sauraha can have a positive impact on their numbers and that Gypsy will be able to bring her children and grandchildren back in the future to see them again. 

One of the often overlooked expenses of modern day travel is accessing your money while on the road. Gone are the days of travellers cheques and even currency exchange. Nowadays its 99% ATM. Some cards charge a fortune for accessing your moolah, others charge nothing (repeat after me CITIBANK PLUS!) however, you also need to taken into account fees that the local bank may charge.

In Sri Lanka every bank we tried was free!! FREE!

And in India most banks are also FREE!! Bank of India was our go-to bank.It worked well with our “plus” card and sometimes would let us take out more than 10,000 rupees at a time.

 
Nepal on the other hand is a different story. Every ATM in Nepal charges a 400 rupee surcharge for international transactions. This means that, regardless of what your card costs are with your bank back home, you will be charged an extra 400 rupees. They do this by adding it onto the withdrawal amount. So if you are trying to withdraw 10,000 rupees, in actual fact you are withdrawing 10,400 rupees but the ATM only dispenses 10,000.  It’s sneaky and completely unavoidable.


To add salt to the expensive wound, every bank except Nabil bank (green sign) allows only a maximum of 10,000 rupees to be withdrawn at each time. That’s about $4 for every $100. Ouch.

Our beloved Nabil bank however, allows you to withdraw up to 35,000 rupees at a time for the same 400 rupee fee. Saving you about $10. That might not sound like much, but considering that $10 is more than we spend on food a day for a family of 3, it’s a lot here.