After our rough ride to Guwahati we were faced with a city with completely booked out hotels and hostels. We probably walked around to 15 places and they were either full, too expensive or they didn't want dirty and sweaty tourists to stay there. (Can't blame them really, we were not a pretty sight coming off the nightbus). We finally settled with a place (US$30) way above our normal budget, but had no choice. The next day we were out of there anyway and made it to Kaziranga National park. Once again we encountered accomodation issues and ended up in a 12 bed dormitory. No one else showed up so we had the room to ourselves, although not sure if that made the situation better. The mattresses were beyond decent and all I could think of was BEDBUGS!!!! We ditched the mattresses and slept on our camping air-mattresses that I've been cursing that I brought along. I'm glad it finally made it worth while to bring it. In the end it was not the bedbugs that got me but the mosquitoes! They really had a grand feast on my legs and back....even if I had pants and a shirt on and slept under a towel. Nasty little buggers!
The park range area was an interesting place! It was very hard to get any information and we were constantly a bit confused. We did eventually manage to book an elephant ride at dawn to see the rhinoceros. The elephant ride itself was pretty amazing, but the excitement was doubled with all the rhinos that we saw and very close up! They were not that ugly really, and I think I want a rhino as a pet for Christmas now....or an elephant will do as well :). Dan and I was so stoked from the morning adventures that we also went on an afternoon jeep safari! Completely different scenery, but equally good.... although we could've done without the group of birdwatchers blocking the way every 20 meters boring us with their unwarranted excitement ('bird guide! pigeon at 2 o'clock! bird guide! it has gold banding!')
Back in Guwahati we were faced with yet another issue. We wanted to go back to the west side of the country by train, but everything was booked out for weeks. No matter which train we tried it was the same. Seems like Guwahati is almost like a bottle-neck and there's only one way in and out by train. If we had been a bit better organized we could've booked ahead, but what fun is that! Eventually after a tiresome day back and forth to the train station we decided to fly back to the west side where our next stop would be Amritsar.
The park range area was an interesting place! It was very hard to get any information and we were constantly a bit confused. We did eventually manage to book an elephant ride at dawn to see the rhinoceros. The elephant ride itself was pretty amazing, but the excitement was doubled with all the rhinos that we saw and very close up! They were not that ugly really, and I think I want a rhino as a pet for Christmas now....or an elephant will do as well :). Dan and I was so stoked from the morning adventures that we also went on an afternoon jeep safari! Completely different scenery, but equally good.... although we could've done without the group of birdwatchers blocking the way every 20 meters boring us with their unwarranted excitement ('bird guide! pigeon at 2 o'clock! bird guide! it has gold banding!')
Back in Guwahati we were faced with yet another issue. We wanted to go back to the west side of the country by train, but everything was booked out for weeks. No matter which train we tried it was the same. Seems like Guwahati is almost like a bottle-neck and there's only one way in and out by train. If we had been a bit better organized we could've booked ahead, but what fun is that! Eventually after a tiresome day back and forth to the train station we decided to fly back to the west side where our next stop would be Amritsar.
No comments:
Post a Comment