Heart of the Jungle

Chitwan National Park. Chitwan means "Heart of the Jungle", from the two Nepali words "chit"- heart and "wan"-jungle. 

I just got back yesterday from a wonderful trip to the Chitwan National Park. I left early Friday morning (7am) on a bus, and arrived to Chitwan about 6 hours later. After having some lunch, and a couple hours of rest, the weekend events began. A member of the hotel staff, would be my guide for the weekend, Hari. He was an incredible guide, and did an excellent job at making sure my experience at Chitwan was nothing less than amazing.

Friday afternoon/evening we went on a jungle/nature walk. Starting in the small village of Sauhara and then through a bit of the jungle and prairie land, near the river. There was quite overcast, as it had been raining (Monsoon season) so we weren't able to see the sunset, but we did sit for a while at a riverside bar- and just take in the beautiful surroundings. The rest of my Friday was pretty relaxing, I just had dinner and settled into the hotel, and then went to sleep. The wake-up call came early Saturday morning at 5:30am, then breakfast, then a canoe ride down the river. 

After our morning canoe ride, we had another walk through the jungle. This time we went much deeper into the jungle, and even saw a fresh Bengal Tiger print. 

We hiked our way through the jungle to the Elephant Breeding Center. This is where the elephants in captivity are bred, for tourist and other work. I saw several baby elephants, one who looked like he had just recently been born, and some older elephants as well. 

Mother and baby elephant

After that we headed back to the hotel for some lunch and a little rest, before the main event that would come in the afternoon. The ELEPHANT SAFARI. For the elephant safari, I rode an elephant through the jungle for about 2 hours. It was such an incredible experience to be atop my favorite animal. It was also cool to get a different arial perspective of what the jungle looked like! 

During the elephant safari we crossed the river, twice, via elephant. It was a little bit frightening but awesome to trek through the water on an elephant's back, without even getting a little wet. One of the highlights of the safari, was getting to see the Rhino. We hadn't been able to see the Rhino at this point in our trip because of the on and off rain- meaning the Rhino's didn't have to seek water as much. But during our jungle safari, we saw one! And not only that, but it was a mother with her new baby- which the elephant keeper said he thought was about 19 days old!  

Mother and baby Rhino

All in all the Elephant Safari was probably my favorite part of my trip to Chitwan, just because I was able to ride the elephant, and see so much of the jungle and the beautiful nature of Chitwan. 

That evening I headed back into Sauraha and to the Tharu Culture House to see the stick dance. Tharu are the indegenious people of Nepal- who were (and still are today) thought to be immune to Malaria. At the Tharu Culture House they perform the native dances of Nepal, including the stick dance- which is the dance that teaches boys how to fight. It was so cool to watch the native people's dance- especially as a dancer, which made it even more enjoyable for me!

My weekend in Chitwan was nothing short of fantastic, and I'm so glad I took a break from the noise and pollution of the city to spend some time in nature. 

This week at the hospital I am with the same resident unit as I was shadowing last week. I finally figured out more about how the hospital works- the wards, patient care, financial side of things. So each resident unit has a day/night that they are on duty. The resident unit that I am with are on duty on Sundays, meaning all the patients that are admitted throughout the day and night on Sunday (or a particular day) are patients of that resident unit. There are many wards in the hospital- some specific wards: NICU, PICU, Oncology- that only have one type of patient, but also some more general wards. The Special Cabin ward is for patients who have more money, it's a quieter and more private wards. The Paying Ward is for those patients who would be thought to be more middle/basic class, they pay to have a bed, but it's a more crowded area. Finally the Medical Ward, is for patients who are much poorer. The beds in the Medical Ward are free, but patients/families do have to pay for some medications. It's great to be with the residents, because I see so many types of patients, so I've been able to get a better grasp on medicine and all the types there are- even within pediatrics. I've also been able to see a couple procedures- Bone Marrow Extraction and Lumbar Puncture- up close and personal, which has also been an amazing, and eye-opening experience. Today I got to see another Bone Marrow procedure (making that number 3), and was able to get a photo. 

This needle is inserted into the back (typically) and then bone marrow is suctioned out to be used as a sample for testing. Bone Marrow tests are usually done to determine if a patient has cancer, leukemia. 

Tomorrow will be a similar day with the residents, then Wednesday we will spend in the Medical OPD, seeing loads of patients who are returning for a follow-up after seeing doctors a previous Sunday. Then Thursday and Friday will also be similar days as today. I haven't decided what my weekend plans will be, but I'm sure I will think of something fantastic. 

I've officially completed 3 weeks in Nepal (as of Friday), and each day I'm feeling more fulfilled with my decision to come here. I'm learning so much (about medicine,life,myself) , and growing as a person every day. The next 4 and a half weeks hold so many new lessons, experiences and opportunities for me and I couldn't be more excited.