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Country #127: Day one in Beautiful Bhutan

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If I ever get out of here, I'm going to Kathmandu

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We've got to talk about Chitwan.

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Hoo boy, where to start. Chitwan, a town in the southern part of Nepal, is a truly wild place. It is literally wild in that it is home to a national park boasting tigers, rhinos, sloth bears, elephants and four species of deer. But it also has this kind of wild west, anything goes vibe that ultimately raises more questions than answers. I, along with every other visitor, was there with the hopes of seeing a Bengal Tiger. In order to do that, I contacted my hotel ahead of time to set up a safari. The very helpful owner responded immediately with a list of options. Chief among them was an 8 hour walking tour within the park. This seemed like a very vulnerable position to put yourself in when encountering a tiger but surely they know what they are doing. Still, that much walking in hot, humid weather sounded less than ideal, even absent a tiger attack. I opted to think it over.  After yet another bone-jarring bus ride, this time from Pokhara to Chitwan, I checked into the hotel and settle

Pokhara: Stunning views all day, every day

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When it comes to tourism, Pokhara is arguably the most popular city in Nepal. This is thanks to the fact that it is a main starting (and ending) point for Nepal's top activity: trekking. I witnessed this first hand. It was impossible to walk into a hostel, bar or restaurant without encountering hippies in teva sandals comparing base camps, guides and trying to one-up each other re: hardships encountered on their treks.  I, myself, am not a trekker. While I do love nature and being outdoors, I am not sure-footed enough to enjoy the whole going up and down steep slippery paths thing. I was in Pokhara because it promised to be a chill lakeside city with lots of non-trekking things to do. Based on these expectations, I was initially a bit frustrated. For starters, fresh off another brutal bus ride, I couldn't find the damn lake. Pokhara is much larger than my two prior Nepalese cities and while the lake is certainly visible from some parts of the city, it is not as omnipresent as I