Harry, first class all the way baby

 Tiger Blog

Hello! Welcome to the Blog! Today I will be telling you about how many tigers we saw (5) and where we saw them.  I will measure the next paragraphs in days.

Spotted deer - also known as lunch

Day One: 

Got up in Delhi at approximately 0430 hours. Spent the rest of the day travelling by plane and by car. We arrived in Bandhavgarh and as soon as we arrived we departed on a jeep safari but only saw spotted deer, samba deer, wild boar and a snake.

 Day Two: (Friday 13^thL) got up at 0500 hours. We saw 3 Tigers that day. (FINALLY!!!!) The tiger we saw we followed for 0040 hours. At one time it almost crossed the road but other jeeps following it blockaded at the spot where it was going to cross. (Fortunately, it did eventually cross the road.) One of the tigers we saw was the alpha male of the park. We saw it for 0001 hour(s).  The next one was asleep and we saw it for twenty minutes because the other jeeps were piling so we couldn’t get past. Rating: ∞ I thought Friday 13^th was supposed to be unlucky!

Can you spot the tiger...?

Day Three: Got up at???? Hours and we saw 2 tigers that day.  One was about 2 meters away and the other was 20 meters. The one that was 2m away was asleep although I’m surprised it didn’t wake up because the elephant we were on was getting thwacked by an ugly man babbling “doo doo DOO DDDDDOOOOOOO!!!” and “bad bad bad bad bad BAD HAATI**!!!” not to mention “MACHILLEIT!!!!”

First class A/C. Lovely. 

After that we left to go back to Delhi in a first class train carriage. I think Indians get confused between first and worst class because it is one of the most uncomfortable things in history. The train station was covered in --------. They don’t have tanks where they hold the ---- so the rails are also covered in --------. The cabin we were stuffed in was a 3X3m room with four bunks. At one point an Indian lady barged into our room and asked if she could sleep with us. (Thank heavens mum said no! - note from ma - not no! so much as, ooh maybe, but do you want to check along the train for somewhere else first...?!)  Rating: 5\10

Day Four: Arrived back in Delhi at 7am and went to the Imperial Hotel for breakfast. 

Well, it seems I have w… (Normal ending)….Goodbye! Click!

                                                                                                                                                                                

*Try to laugh at this blog (if you play the music that goes on when Darth Vader is around on Star Wars, it might make you laugh more.) 

**Haati is elephant in Hindi. Although I don’t know what the DOO!s and the MACHILLEIT!!! was about.

Edward sees a tiger (finally!)

SAFARI AGAIN!

Hi everyone! We went on Safari again and saw a ….. T T T TIGER! Here is the whole adventure! (Most of it anyway!)

Day 1                                    

We got up at 4:30, got dressed and then went downstairs to check out.We were on our way! Unfortunately it took 20 minutes to check out and by the time we got to the airport our flight had already closed its check-in L. We spent the rest of the day being taught by Charlotte (our tutor). Not going well. Days rating:L

Day 2

not a tiger...

Yet again we get up at 4:30, got dressed and checked out (quickly this time!). We left to the airport and caught our flight to Bandhavgarh. We arrived at a military airport and went on a 4 hour drive (Not niceL) to the safari park. At 3pm we went on safari and saw lots of spotted deer, a couple of wild boar, some rare birds, tiger poo but no TIGER! Days rating:L

not a tiger....

not a tiger....

not a tiger...

Day 3

4:30 (I’m getting frustrated from these early morning daysL) we went on an early morning (gimme a break!) safari and saw 2 TIGERS! (Now that’s more like it!J) The first one was a female and we followed it for 40 minutes! The second one was the alpha male tiger* and only passed us but these were our first TIGERS in the wild! Praise the Lord YEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS! J

3pm we went on safari and saw another TIGER! It was miles away but another Tiger! 3 in one day HOOOORRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!! Days rating:J

That's a tiger!

Day 4

4:30 (AAAGGGAAAIIINNN!!!!) we went on another Safari and saw two more Tigers. One was miles away but another was 2 meters away and we were on an elephant!!! What happened was it was nearly the end of our trip so we decided to go on an elephant and that was a brilliant idea because we saw the Tiger right up close.

Thank you, God! J

Sleepy tiger, really quite close

That afternoon it was time to leave but the worst was still to come. We were going back on an over-night train! Noooooooooooooooooooo!!!!! When we arrived, the train station stank! The reason for this was simple. You know that rule in England that in a train you can’t go to the loo until the train is moving? Well, India doesn’t have that rule so the track was covered in …. (Need I say more?) SEWAGE!! (note from mum – they do have that rule but nobody follows it!) Anyway, our room was tiny and only had room for sleeping and not much else. Anyway, once we were on we read for a bit and then had a rest. Days rating:JOrL?

Day 5

5:45 (Come on I need to sleep. Why me? Noooooooooo!) We got dressed and made our beds. When we finally arrived (14 hours after getting on) we got off the train and our journey ended! J

Well that’s all folks. So long guys and girls who are reading this beeeeeeeeeeep click POW!

*Male Tigers are more muscular than male tigers but females are more elegant. Weirdly I preferred the female one!

Alpha Male Tiger

PS. If you have never seen a tiger they are an amazing mixture of graceful, beautiful and terrifying!

Harry and Susan visit the Gurkha Welfare Scheme

Nepal

Hello! And welcome to the blog! Today I will be saying why I have stencillised all of my writing.

Well, the reason I stencillised my 1^st and 2^nd sentences is because I went to a GWSAWC (Ghurkha Welfare Scheme, Area Welfare Centre). The army uses the Stencil font a lot. The Gurkhas are a special military unit in the British and Indian Armies. The Gurkha regiments are made up of British (or Indian) and Nepalese soldiers.

The Gurkhas carry fearsome knives called kukris. Every time they get out their swords they have to draw blood, so if there is no enemy then they have to cut their own finger!  

A kukri - ouch

While Mum and I were at the GWSAWC in Syangja in Nepal I learnt all of the military ranks.*(In all militaries they have the same ranks apart from militias which have no official ranks.) It turns out that the Gurkha Welfare Scheme (see above) is actually to decrease poverty. They do that by providing pensions for people who fought in the second world war for Britain and by making schools for pensioner’s grandchildren. They also make water pumps for EVERYBODY! (Ask your current teacher what a “pensioner” is.)

"Please tell me they are not all here just for us," says Harry
"Afraid so," says Mum

A water pipe installed in someone's home
(well in someone's garden actually) 

Before we learnt about the water pumps and schools we met up with Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Fenn and he gave us a briefing on the GWS and Nepal. In the end, we learnt that the military isn’t all about blowing people to smithereens, it’s actually more about keeping peace and providing pensions (unless you’re a Taliban fighter…)                                                                      

*Ranks in military: (worst to best) (first 4 ranks are non-commissioned. Basically their orders are blow the enemy to smithereens.) Rifleman, Private, Corporal, Sergeant, (now entering commissioned ranks. Basically they`re told to do special orders.) Warrant officer, 2^nd Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier, Brigadier General, Major General, Lieutenant General, General and finally, Field Marshall.  There are lots of “minor ranks” in between the non-commissioned ranks (E.G private 3^rd class, 2^nd class, 1^st class. there is also master sergeant, staff sergeant, pre-sergeant). We do not have a Field Marshall now as none are appointed in peace time.

Well it seems I have written all I can write. It looks like I’ll just have to say… Goodbye! Click.

No Harry didn't cut himself with a kukri - it's a very red bindi 

Our visit to the Gurkha Welfare Scheme, outside Pokhara, Nepal

Nepal collage

Edward in Nepal

Himalayas, Nepal

Edward experiments with new hat
to find the very best look

Hi it's Edward and today loading bzzt pop! download complete... I will release a special Nepalese Blog. We left 8 days ago (25^th April) and I'm going to tell you everything that was vaguely interesting! Loading please wait .... Beep beep beep.....

Well, first of all we caught a plane to Kathmandu (pronounced catmandoo) went to our hotel and then lounged around playing a game called "tigers walk" beeeeeeeep zzzzzzz loading... and I lost every single time. Tiger’s Walk is a traditional Nepalese game where the tigers try to eat the goats and the goats try to trap the tigers.

Garuda on a very tall pillar, Patan, Kathmandu

The next day we went sight-seeing and saw a poor girl who the people thought was a living goddess *. We then bought a tiger’s walk board game with the pieces – but not instructions. After that we had lunch and entered a bzzzzzzt caution boring place ahead... Museum and looked ( that was a joke I don't hate museums J) there were nice artefacts including a glass case containing the many stages of making a metal face (hand made!) called repoussé and many other interesting artefacts that I can't remember ( something about chacras in your body?) . 

Children scaring away evil monsters from Buddhist monastery

Kitty gives baby elephant a bath

The next day we flew from Kathmandu to Tiger Tops safari jungle lodge on an airline ( prepare to laugh) Buddha air (I don't remember Buddha having the power of flight?!) ! We went on a looooooooooooooooooong drive to get there. That afternoon we went on an elephant safari (We rode on the elephants and gave them a bath*!).

We saw Rhinos, wild boar, spotted deer, crocodiles, wild elephants and tons more but guess what? No tigers! (tips, never expect to see a tiger because 99% of the time you won’t). Anyway, next day we went on safari in a jeep and then in a boat. We saw nearly exactly the same things except a few more kingfishers. We spent the rest of the day reading and stuff (I finished "Skellig" in half a day!) The next day we changed lodge to the Tharu lodge and one of our modes of transport was a bull ox cart! (it's slower than walking!)


We played in the swimming pool (marco-polo), we played table tennis and while I was working I saw a paradise flycatcher bird! That night there was a HUGE storm at first we thought we were being bombed. That would certainly explain why it sounded like the sky was blowing up! The next morning we played chess and just hung around doing nearly exactly the same as the day before, but at supper a venomous spider started crawling up Harry's arm (that was different!) and we shoved it off and when we went back to our room there was a MASSIVE spider on the bathroom sink. I went and got someone to take it away but when I came back it had disappeared.

The next day we drove for 5 hours to our current lodge way up in the mountains (no we can't see Everest but did see Annapurna) And so far today we have had a nice fishing trip, we caught lots of small fish using bread and used some as live bait to catch an eel but didn’t catch one. So that's all folks so I will just say bu bye! (sounding like Mario J)

* the living goddess is chosen on stuff like the date she is born but she also has to pass tests such as being locked in a room with a bunch of dead animals and not being allowed to cry?! (the girl picked is always aged 5-11) The girl who is chosen is then apparently possessed by a goddess (the current one is possessed by Kali the goddess of death) and is not allowed to do the following things: leave her palace, smile, laugh, look sad or show any emotion what so ever and tons more! I mean, poor girl!

Edward in Sri Lanka with George, April

Sri Lanka in the sun

Hi bzzzzzzz (sorry that was passing mosquito and a bug is crawling up the screen) I am sitting in a jungle camp in a place called yala in Sri Lanka. The lights are powered by oil (they are lamps) and my face itches. This is what has happened since we left Delhi...

Boys at tea plantation 

One morning we got up, had breakfast with granny (for the last time) and then left with Dad to the Airport (We had to wait an hour for the plane to arrive). (note from ma - that's quite normal for some people!) It was a 3 hour flight to Sri Lanka and we met up with Dads friend Nick and when we landed we had a horribly uncomfortable drive to Nicks HotelL and went straight to bed as soon as we got there (it was around 9’Oclock by then). The next day we had a nice breakfast and then went on a lllloooooooooooonnnnnngggggg walk around the tea plantations (these were similar to the ones in Darjeeling).

Edward enjoys another nice breakfast with Nick

We then went to the swimming pool and after that we hung around had a nice dinner and went to bed. The next day we got up early and drove to a helicopter and had a llllooooooooooooonnnnnnnngggggggg flight (some Indian kids watched with awe as we took off) to Yala National parks (We saw 2 waterfalls and tons of tea and when we arrived met up with our Delightful cousin Rosie and her mum). We then came to this jungle camp (I have been here for 2 days and so far seen spotted deer, an albino wild boar, baby wild boar, water buffalo, A black necked stalk –there are only 6 in Sri Lanka!- , Elephants –adults and babies and an elephant called Windy who passes wind ALOT-, and a lot of rare birds).

Wildlife in Sri Lanka

Well here I am typing away at 10’Oclock at night and nothing much else OK, Goodbye people fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzt BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

PS. Rebooting loading fzzzzt hi just to tell u we r sharing the camp with some land monitor lizards that are around 3 to 4 foot long Bye fzzzzzzzzzzt wqbcubdcuwbewchefiviebv BOOOOOOOM!