There are also lots of cats and dogs! In the rivers I also saw fisherman catching fish in a big net.
When I travelled into the hillside area -- about a 45-minute drive from Itahari -- I also saw monkeys. One type of animal you have to watch out for in the hillside especially are leeches! While exploring, one of my friends actually almost had a leech attach to her ankle. Luckily, she noticed it quickly and removed it before it attached. Leech bites usually aren't too harmful, but it is always good to do regular checks while hiking!
I was really lucky to have team members from my work take me around Bhedetar village in the hillside. I loved being in the hills, especially enjoying chia (tea) and other snacks while watching the fog lift after the rain. On the hillside it can be dangerous; because there are frequent landslides due to the big rainstorms recently in Nepal. We made sure to stay safe during our journey!
I got to see a lot of Nepali farms this week, which was cool! In the terai (flat plains) I saw fields and fields of rice. They also grow rice in the hillside, but it looks different since they cut ridges into the hillside through a practice called "terrace farming." Eastern Nepal is covered in farm land!
