Dear readers, you know I love to cook, and I really enjoy spicy Asian food. I do not eat beef since the cow is considered holy. Actually, vegetarian food is good, so I have mostly had veggie with seafood.
Yesterday we went for a tour to southern Sri Lanka. We had a very nice lunch by the Indian Ocean. It was rather windy, and the waves were rough.
I have also learnt that Sri Lankan spicy food for breakfast wakes you up: rice, chilli pepper, and banana!
This holiday has been so active. Lots of things to do every day. Today I am just having a lazy day since my friends are working at the hospital. I am staying very close to the beach, listening to the waves. Ships are on the horizon, and I know India is there, but I cannot see the land from here in Colombo.
Anu brought me to a concert on Sunday, and we saw the wonderful musical based on Victor Hugo. It was really a Broadway show. Three hours felt like three minutes. Sri Lanka is tightly connected with the United Kingdom, and the play was somehow sponsored by Oxford Business.
My stay in Sarangot and Chitwan has been so good. I had mixed feelings about returning to Kathmandu. My last stay in Kathmandu is dedicated to Buddhism.
The Himalayan Kathmandu skyline is here again. It was a little rainy last time I was here, so I only saw the hills. People are talking about global warming. The weather changes so rapidly.
Professor Thapa has been looking after me from a distance here in Nepal. It was so nice to hear that I was looking after him at the Department of Pharmacology in Gothenburg at the University. I had completely forgotten that, but I know that being in a new country may be a big change from what you are used to.
Never mind. There was a flight delay, and I arrived in Kathmandu in the evening. The life, pulse, and engergy is dazzeling. When I left the hotel in Chitwan, they said goodbye to me with a little ceremony. They put a red dot on my forehead and a scarf around my neck.
I arrived at the Swayambhunath Stupa, and it was a huge Pagoda. As usual, people were very friendly. It felt good to walk, and I did two clockwise turns around the Pagoda. It is perfect temperature, and I had dinner watching the Swayambhunath Stupa.
The Swayambhunath Stupa is just outside my window. It was lovely to wake up and see this impressive Pagoda. I have a busy day since I am leaving for India and New Delhi. From my window.
At the moment, I am sitting on a veranda; the cicadas and some birds are singing. I know the mugger crocodile is there because I saw it this morning. Splashing before diving into the water. It is not a mother crocodile as I first thought, but a mugger. Someone who is eating another crocodile’s prey.
The moon is very sharp and shaped like a bowed machete. I spotted the Big Dipper (the plough) – not horizontal as it usually is, but vertical. There are some mosquitoes, not biting me since I have mosquito repellent. The malaria has hit hard many centuries ago, but people have survived. Our guide thought it was due to drinking rice wine, but I doubt it.
I have had a fun day. A boat filled with tourists: me and people from Germany. I totally had to trust them since we were in the same boat. The gunwale was almost taking in water. We were all very still since we saw the crocodiles enjoying the sun.
The afternoon was a safari looking for tigers and other animals. I came here to see the rhinos, and I was very happy about that.
There were at least seven of them. I saw the paw of a tiger, and I told the guide I was very happy about that. That is what I do when I go for walks with Molly. We always see something like the paw prints of a deer or an elk. Then I know that they are close and shy.
I think the tiger saw us, but we didn´t see the tiger today.
Stay safe 🐾
Today I travelled five hours to the Chitwan National Park, where the rhinos, elephants, tigers, leopards, and birds are. We passed the flood, and it was dark due to the mud. People are missing, and there are people waiting for phone calls that never come again.
I am a lifelong member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and I am very happy to learn that people work to preserve the wildlife in Nepal. Snakes are captured in the villages and carried back to the jungle again. The little rhinos are protected from the tigers till they grow up. And so on.
There are so many activities during the daytime, so I am totally exhausted in the evenings. No time for reading because I need to write my memories from the day. Instead, I have learnt a lot from the local people.
Tonight I am sleeping very close to a river where we spotted crocodiles earlier. I do hear birds and the cicadas, wishing that I had this sound every evening. It is so peaceful. Getting up early to meet the sunrise again.
