Day 6: Traveling to Pokhara

Finally arrived at the orphanage and played with the kids after a long sweaty car ride.

I was pretty excited and woke around 3:30 because I could not sleep anymore. I went and sat outside and watched for more animals until everyone else woke up at 5. We were offered juice and then went on a sunrise walk to the river. This is where Rhinos typically cross in the morning so we were hoping to see some more. Sadly after an hour of sitting by the river we didn't encounter any. However we saw a few deer and more birds. We were then picked up in a jeep and brought back to the hotel for breakfast around 7.

Afterwards I took a quick shower and packed up my bag. We hopped on a local bus around 8 and headed to Pokhara where we would be volunteering at an Orphanage and working on a farm. The bus ride was very long, hot and super bumpy. At one point I bounced in the air and hit my head on the ceiling. The leg room was also very minimal and my knees constantly rubbed on the seat in front of me.

The ride ended up being about 6 hours, but we finally arrived in Pokhara. We had a short walk to the orphanage and played with the kids while we waited for the person in charge to give us instruction. We are volunteering for a project called the Rainbow Children Home they have about 40 children staying here and are sponsoring about 20 children in different villages. They also have another program for women where they teach them how to make bags and purses and then sell them.

Once the leader arrived she welcomed us by putting Tika on our foreheads. We were given some more information and then went to a very late lunch for some more delicious momos. The orphanage also has two farms, one in town and one a half an hour away. They use the food grown there to help feed the children. Half of the group went to stay at the other farm while the rest of us stayed at a guest house at the orphanage. Halfway through the week we will switch.

We went to the guest house and took a quick rest before dinner. We had a traditional meal of Dal Bhal and vegetable curry. We washed our dishes and played some more with the kids. One of them brought out a guitar and a kahon, which is like a drum. They played some music and all the kids sang along. Three girls asked me to dance with them and taught me a few different dances. We spent an hour or so trying to follow along with their dance and then the kids were called for bed time. We headed back to our room and washed up then went to bed.