Before breakfast we went to see birds, one of the common attractions of these Chitwan packages. For doing it right, one should have waken before dawn and go to a really good place. As we didn't do it, the bird watch was limited to a walk around the lodge and on the river bank. The japanese didn't come with us, I don't remember why. The boy who had served as waiter and man for all services at the lodge was our guide. He was a very kind and interesting kid, who liked a lot to talk and he was trying hard to be a good guide. He might be about 15. He told us that he had frequented a course on the park to be a guide, people with no such a course aren't alowed to be guides. He shouldn't be lying, as he knew the latin names of many birds, other animals and trees. He was constantly asking the names of things in portuguese and spanish. He seemed to like a lot to learn new things, he asked us also about how is life of people in Portugal and Europe and he talked about his own life and family. Another theme of conversation was our opinion on the guide of the jungle walk the day before. I guess he was trying to prove to us and to himself that he could be a much better guide, as he had much more theoric knowledge and was kinder. I'm sure he'll be an excelent guide by now. He told us that he earnt 800 ruppees (less than US $20) a month during the tourist season at the lodge, with a 8 to 20:00 or 21:00 schedule. We decided that he would deserve a tip of at least 120 ruppees.

We had another session of rhino roars very close to us, this time really close, while we were observing a peacock in a wood near the river. I think we ran some danger, because the boy seemed really worried, perhaps even scared. We stayed very quiet and still until the animal seemed to have gone away. It's quite a sensation, to imagine that behind those bushes in front of us is an monster less than 20 meters from us. After this rhino scene we decided to leave the wood and the peacocks chase. We went to see the elephant farm of the park. Maria Jose was delighted to be able to feed one of them, a young female.

After breakfast we went to catch the bus to Kathmandu. The boy went with us on the jeep, which we shared with guests from other lodge. While waiting for the bus we watched the work of the painters of a Tuborg beer advertisement outdoor. We had noticed before that they don't do them with paper, they paint them by hand on location.

For the first time in the stay, we had seats in the middle of the bus, which was a nice change from the last row.

When we arrived to Kathmandu we went first to the Kathmandu Guesthouse, where we had supposedly made reservations. As I feared, they knew nothing about it, so we ended up in the nearby Sherpa Guesthouse. Nothing luxuous, but nice. The staff was very kind and we had a large room with attached bath for US $6 (or $8, as allways I'm not sure). I'd reccomend it to anyone. They had some little things that we weren't used in Nepal, like a folder with the menu of the service room, restaurant and bar, price lists of the various services and nice letter paper and envelopes, with the guesthouse logo and made of handicraft rice paper. I think we had phone in the room also.

After a bath, I passed by the phone shop in Thamel. I was already known by every employe and was treated like a long time customer, almost a friend. They were happy to see me and told me promptly that they had news of my lost things at the Karki Guesthouse, the place where we had stayed before. They were not sure of what it was, but they though the things were already there. How they knew about it, I don't know, I guess that Kathmandu isn't such a large town :-). I tried to sustain my excitement, as it was really big, and I didn't want to have a great delusion - after all, I had practically lost all my hope to find any of my things.

They also delivered a fax for me from the portuguese consulate in Bangkok also (I had sent them the fax number of the shop, as I trusted them better than the people from Karki). If it wasn't for the good news of the lost things, the fax wouldn't liven me up much, as they basically said that I should try to contact Delhi - great thing - if I had been able to do that I wouldn't be calling them! The text gave the idea that the person who had written it was willing to help me, but he was limited by the bureaucratic procedures - Nepal issues were to treated by the consulate in Delhi, paragraph.

I went to Karki Guesthouse. The good news were confirmed - there had been a phone call from the Thai embassy telling that my things were there. My poor opinion on the Karki staff improved a lot, not only because of the phone call, but also because I noticed no resentment of them for not staying with them this time. In spite of it they didn't charge me anything for the bag keeping.

While I was waiting for anyone to attend on me, I talked for a while with handicapped guy from Switzerland who I had seen several times since the waiting for the plane in Bangkok. He told me he had been in Nepal in the early 70's (he looked a real hippie, so that was no big surprise to me) and he was enjoying a lot his stay. He had a nasty car accident some years ago and hadn't been able to walk since then. Now he was moving around in the guesthouse, with some difficulty but he was very happy with it. I was happy for him too. I'm sorry that I didn't know him before and I hadn't the opurtunity to knew in a little bit, he seemed an interesting person. And corageous, too, going alone to Nepal on a wheel chair.

Before I went back to the Sherpa Guesthouse, to pick Maria Jose for dinner, I paid a visit to our Kashmiri friends in their shop. They were also very glad for the good news.

We had dinner - guess where - Tashi Deleg, of course. It was nice to be back to that cosy environment. We met the dutch couple, with whom we talked and drank beer for quite some time. They were enjoying their last days also. They told us about their last two "truly" nepali experiences - going to the movies and him going to the barber's shop. They told us also about their last trek, in Helambu, an area not far from Kathmandu. They compared with the Jomsom area. It was quite different, although beautiful, as everything seems to be in Nepal. In spite of being less high - they rarely passed 2000 or 2500 meters - it was quite more tiresome, as one is constantly going up and down. The place was much less crowded by tourists and the accomodations were more scarse and more basic. However, they seemed to have liked it a lot.

They were housed in a friend's house who worked at the dutch embassy. They were astonished by the number of employees she had - 3 or 4, including a gardener. Any foreigner is seen as a rich person, so they are expected to employ at least 2 or 3 servants.