Day 3: Traveling to Bharatpur, yes that's poop on the floor

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Leading up to today I was warned about flying domestic, told about how flights are always delayed, and to anticipate hours of delays. I was optimistic however, and perhaps naïve. Needless to say I thought maybe my positive attitude had paid off because when we got to the airport and checked in, the flight was “on time”. Even all the way up to what would be boarding things looked like they would be going off without a hitch, all other flights on the board listed a delay, some hours long, but my flight seemed good to go. Until 11:40 (10 mins before scheduled departure) when they typed the dreaded words… “Delay”
Thankfully the delay listed was only about 25 minutes (but that would soon prove way too good to be true!)

Flying domestic is quite the experience in Nepal. When you go through security (I should have put that word in air quotes) you put your bag on the belt, I’m pretty sure they don’t give a shit what you have in it, I had small liquids and a razor, nail clippers, tweezers, I don’t even know what else. They didn’t care. So you gather your bag and there is a separate line for men and women. You enter into a tiny closet space with a security guard and she pats you down, we’re talking a good solid second base, maybe pushing third. After that you’re into the “terminal”. I use the term “terminal” very loosely. See the video below.

While waiting there was no shortage of entertainment. At one point my friend tapped me and looked to the left saying “is that poop?!”. In fact it was, shit, on the floor. Mind you there are no animals in there to have made this mess…only humans. There were some small children running around who had probably been waiting hours, but really? Shit on the floor? And right at another woman’s unsuspecting feet? Please don’t let her step in it, furthermore please don’t let her then be on my tiny flight!

Saying the plane was tiny was an understatement. Prop plane. No more than 10 rows probably. Thankfully it was only a 20 minute flight because I almost barfed. That thing felt like a roller coaster in the sky. Flying over the mountains with sudden drops, it was definitely an experience! If you plan to fly to the more remote areas in Nepal, bring Dramamine, ginger, or some kind of motion sickness device. I failed here. I also probably should have taken a couple of shots or smoked some weed before getting on this plane. Or a Xanax. Something.

Arriving in Bharatpur was also much different than most of my flying experiences. You get off of the door ladder to the airplane and walk across the tarmac to a little cement shelter that states clearly on it “baggage claim”. It’s filled with people also waiting for people and bags. There’s some sort of system for collecting bags but I’m not sure what it is. I didn’t check a bag, thankfully, so I didn’t have to deal with it. The driver was there to pick us up to take us to Taj (an hour drive on what I was told is bumpy dirt roads)

The drive started off ok, on a semi paved road, not too bumpy, motion sickness to a minimum which was good because I was still recovering from the flight. That quickly changed though and the paved road disappeared and turned into a dirt/stone road that was insanely bumpy. I was being thrown around the car and quickly getting car sick. I tried to close my eyes to sleep but that was hopeless because of how bumpy it was!

Finally after an hour or so we pulled into the Taj. It’s majestic. It’s right in the nature reserve so hopefully there will be lots of wild animal sightings. Sadly there were elephant sightings on the drive in, but they were chained, so elephants that they use for safari tours, something I’m adamantly against. I know that the Taj offers this service but it’s not something I’m willing to do. Jeep safari yes, boat ride, yes, but supporting the use of elephants like that, no, they are wild animals and deserve to be free.

When we pulled up to the Taj entrance we were greeted by a traditional Nepali song, people waving, and fresh cold towels (which definitely were welcomed). We were given some drinks (and they had me try Raksi, which they described as wine, but wine it is not, it’s like fire water, and I’m pretty sure it would take my nail polish off!).

Almost immediately after getting into the hotel a storm rolled in, it was crazy! The power went off like 6 times, it looked like a tornado and sandstorm outside all in one. Parts of peoples roofs were blowing off. We had schedule the boat safari for today but quickly canceled when things turned so ominous. No way in hell do I want to be in a little tippy wooden canoe in that kind of weather!

After riding out the storm for a while it was time for dinner, a traditional meal, followed by a traditional Tharu village dance/performance. It was really beautiful and involved a lot of sticks and coordination

Off to bed early, have an early morning for a jeep safari, fingers crossed that there’s lots of animal sightings!

Per usual here is the Quik video of the day!