Tansen: Transit & Scenery

Last week, we went on our first excursion to Tansen in Palpa district.

To get there, we drove west, passing through the Tarai plains, then re-entering the middle hills*. We passed through Chitwan National Park, famous for rehabilitating rhinos, as well as housing other large animals, like Tigers. We didn't stop in the park, but our noses were glued to the windows looking for a tiger near the road. We saw a couple elephants, but they weren't wild. Close enough.

*Middle hills- The Nepalese term for Appalachian sized landforms, but are only hills because their sizes pale in comparison to the Himals. Everytime we exclaimed "Wooooow look at that mountain!!" our language teachers corrected us "oh those are just hills." Imagine calling the Appalachians hills!!
That means the midwest only has zits. Buck Hill --> Buck Zit? Kettlebowl --> Kettleplains? 

Passing through the Tarai plains. Very flat.

BAM! from plains to the hills.

Not mountains.

Anyways, the hills were still beautiful and impressive. These hills are covered in jungle too, which is crazy. So green and lush. At one point in the drive, we had a clear view of the Himals which was SO COOL. They're huge and white and so far away, but so visible.

Gettin' jungle-y in the not-mountains.

After about a 10 hour bus ride we arrived at Hotel The White Lake (correct word order). Our hair was windblown from the open windows and caked with dust. Later I discovered my nose innards were an unnatural black color.

The hotel is not called the White Lake because it's situated near a pale reservoir. Every morning, the fog settles into the valley below the hotel, and it looks like a huge white lake:

The "White Lake." Click on the picture to see the panorama up close.

One of our professors was telling us that developed in the hills above this white lake because there used to be malaria down in the plains. There were farmers in the lower Tarai area, but most people stayed out because they weren't resistant to it. The malaria is partially what kept Indian invaders out. However, the Americans came in with a cure for malaria and people were less afraid of the area. What this actually meant was that foreigners from India and northern Nepal migrated to the plains and enslaved the native farmers already living in the plains. Development at its finest: never thinking the consequences through.

View from hotel at dusk.

North view from the hotel (opposite side of the white lake view).

Public parks are non-existant in Kathmandu, so stumbling across this field in Tansen was a novelty for everyone. We played frisbee and soccer there, sometimes local kids joined in.

Park in Tansen