James & Clare, Coddiwomplers Inc: Family time, Chitwan

Devghat, Bharatpur

We finally arrived in Bharatpur. Our family here, is one of the main reasons we visit Nepal. James has had an association with them for 20+ years. They grow in number each time we come with the newest addition added 18mths ago.

18mth old Utsaga

Shanvi was a tiny baby when we
were last here

Our cheeky monkey Sholin in
Uncles topi

Play time

Blowing bubbles with the neighbourhood kids

We stayed at a hotel not far from the family and hired a scooter from the owner.

Only the driver must have a helmet. It took us a
while to find one to fit James' head.

The scooty (Nepali name for it) turned out to be a godsend with respect to getting around easily. That's if you have the stomach for the chaos on the roads. Which we fortunately have. You also see some very amusing things.

Onions

Goats! And yes, there was
another one on the other
side for balance

We really enjoyed wandering around our neighbourhood. We found all our favourite places to enjoy chia, samosas and more.

James' favourite - Dud malai
A type of clotted cream with saffron

Samosa chat

Momos!!!

Dahl bhat tarkari

Chole bhature

We were surprised how much more developed the city was in the two years since our last visit. The roads were much better and there are even pavements to walk on in some places.

Some of the houses in our neighbourhood ....

Who knew there are motorcycle gangs in Nepal? Not us!!!

In the city itself, our favourite shopping centre had been burnt to the ground by the GenZ protestors last year. They were protesting the government corruption (rightly so), of which they consider the owner of the Bhatbhateni brand to be a main contributor. Hence, they have destroyed 12 out of the 28 stores.

Bhatbhateni under construction

We visited most of our favourite haunts. Devghat is where the local Hindu funerals are held. It is also a peaceful place to visit. The village over the river is a nice place to enjoy a chia and watch the proverbial world go by.

The river was busy

We watched this guy wade out to send his
net down the river.

The bridge over to the village is
always busy with scooties.

Monkey at the bike park.

James took Umanga and Sholin on a fishing trip. No fish were caught and Sholin declared that Uncle didn't know how to fish! Too funny.

On the same day, Clare went to have lunch at the home of some friends we had met the last time we were here.

Yurisha, Nancy and Dinisha

Pratima preparing a pomelo

Pomelo mixed with spices, salt
and curd. Delicious!

Another day we took ourselves on an accidental safari. We wanted to visit friends in Sauraha without having to travel both ways on the main road. So we went cross country, via Beeshazar, in the buffer zone of the Chitwan National Park.

Then we rode straight through the national park to Sauraha. This felt a little risky every time we got off the bike to stretch our legs. In our own countries there is nothing that could possibly leap out of the forest and kill you. Not so here!! But we didn't see any of the preditors, just lots of deer and lovely birds.

Then quite unexpectedly we came across a swing bridge that James had to ride the bike over!

We were soon in Sauraha taking a break over lunch with a friend at his resort.

Spotting crocs on the way back out

We went out to Toriket, where James started teaching English here 20 years ago. Some of the parents of the children he taught still live here. We always call in for a visit.

The Paganis

Another day we went out to Happy Home, an orphanage that James was once involved with. It is no longer working but is still owned by a friend.

On the way back to town we found another pretty place to enjoy the view and a chia. Umbrella Street is on the banks of the Rapiti River which flows through Chitwan National Park.