Elephant washing at Chitwan


Elephant washing me at Chitwan!



More washing...!




The cement crew on a house at the back of us in Kathmandu - they formed a chain that moved pans of cement up onto the roof all day in the baking sun.



Elephants at Chitwan waiting for us to get on!

As you can see, we've survived the plane ride to Chitwan and back (it turned out it was with Tara Air, so no yetis!). It was really hot and humid but quiet compared to Kathmandu. The first evening we went for a nature walk and encountered a large rhinoceros (our guide called them rhinosaurus, which was hysterical) having a wash in the river - we stood on the bank and watched it for a while (warily - apparently several people have been killed in the last few years by angry rhino!). The elephant safari the next morning was great - you climb up a huge set of steps to a ramp and then get onto the elephant from the back, with four people to each howdah. Our elephant was a female, aged 25, called Jampack-koli (or something like that). We were out in the jungle for about an hour and a half and saw two crocodiles, two rhino (up very very close), different types of deer, monkeys, and lots of birds. After a quick break, we went down to the river to bath the elephants, which was just brilliant. It's very easy to forget when you're on top of an elephant being sprayed withwater from its trunk that there are half a dozen of them who've all been to the toilet in the river (euw). I don't have any photos of Alison being 'bathed' because the guide was trying to take pictures of us and also of another couple who were on the trek with us, but I'm hoping there might be some on the couple's camera - they've kindly offered to email us any pictures that we don't have.

The hotel in Chitwan wasn't quite what we'd expected - I think we got the worst room in the place and when Alison opened the window the content of an ants' nest landed on her arm, eggs and all - yuck! We got moved to another room which was spotless, though, and there were no more beasties. The staff were lovely, and the grounds very beautiful with fruit trees and humming birds. Unfortunately, we were struck with a dose of 'delhi belly' for a day while there and missed a canoe trip, but you can't come to Nepal without having at least one 'horror story' and if that was ours, we're very lucky! The best part of the trip for me was the fact that the hotel was located quite close to the Government elephant centre, so in the evening all the elephants came down the main street of the village to go home for the night - really amazing watching an elephant wander down the street with its keeper, alongside people, bicycles and horse carts (very few cars, which was nice).

We're now ensconsed back in the volunteer house in our old room (the dungeon, as it's been nicknamed), and feelig more at home. Heading up to give the kids a hand with homework in a couple of hours and then they have exams scheduled for 2 weeks from tomorrow. We're going to help out getting them ready and walking them back and fore from school because they're on a split rota, half in the morning and half in the afternoon, so it's a bit chaotic without some assistance. I've also been helping Emma with some administrative stuff (there's no escape from work, eh?) and we're looking forward to the school holidays. Despite occasionally considering changing the flights (ups and downs are normal here), it looks as if we'll be here for the whole duration, which is really good.

Will sign off now - electric only on for another hour so shouldn't hog the computer!

Ann & Alison
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