Well, we survived India with only the odd bout of Delhi-Belly and eventually crossed the border into the Himilayan kingdom of Nepal. Our first night was spent camping in the jungle (we thought that Nepal was all mountains) on our way to Royal Chitwan. 
An extremely hot and humid night, especially when you're cooking over an open fire for 30 people! The next day took us through fabulous jungle roads to our resort in the national park, this was the sort of place you would come to shoot Tigers in the olden days, in fact many did! there were photo's and accounts of old colonial types bagging 40 tigers in a single hunt - no wonder there's only a handful left. 
We had several things to do over the next few days, we wandered around the local villages, ate buffalo steaks and then got down to the business of seeing some wildlife (through a lens, not a rifle scope, much to Nick's disappiontment!) On hearing the local elephants were going for a morning swim and wash in the river, we decided to tag along. This was one of the most enchanting times we have had so far, the elephants would let you climb on their backs before playfully throwing you off into the river and then spraying you with water. We scrubbed them with stones and generally had a great time. You know how a cat responds to being stroked by purring and rubbing into you? Imagine a huge elephant doing the same! When the current tried to pull Nick away, the elephant grabbed him with it's trunk and pulled him back, since then he has fallen in love with them (but still claims they are untrustworthy, just like the dolphins!!)
That afternoon, Christine went canoeing down the river to look for crocs and hippos,
an amazing afternoon where all you could hear was the water and the sounds of the jungles - she also made new friends, a legion of leeches! Being caught in a monsoon downpour while trekking back through the jungle did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm (pun intended!) 
From Chitwan we headed to Pokhara,
this is a great little town where we spent a week riding motorbikes, white water rafting, fishing for carp and eating yet more steaks! A relaxing week before heading for the end of the hippy trail, Kathmandu. 
Kathmandu was quite a shock, our first taste of east asian cities, noisy, polluted, frantic and full of people trying to sell you hashish and tiger balm. We looked for the pink curtain restaurant on freak street but were unable to find it and settled for lunch on a rooftop surveying the sprawl. It was in Kathmandu that some of our group left to do their own thing in SE Asia and skip China (one of which has yet to return!) This is where we steeled ourselves for several weeks in China.
An extremely hot and humid night, especially when you're cooking over an open fire for 30 people! The next day took us through fabulous jungle roads to our resort in the national park, this was the sort of place you would come to shoot Tigers in the olden days, in fact many did! there were photo's and accounts of old colonial types bagging 40 tigers in a single hunt - no wonder there's only a handful left. We had several things to do over the next few days, we wandered around the local villages, ate buffalo steaks and then got down to the business of seeing some wildlife (through a lens, not a rifle scope, much to Nick's disappiontment!) On hearing the local elephants were going for a morning swim and wash in the river, we decided to tag along. This was one of the most enchanting times we have had so far, the elephants would let you climb on their backs before playfully throwing you off into the river and then spraying you with water. We scrubbed them with stones and generally had a great time. You know how a cat responds to being stroked by purring and rubbing into you? Imagine a huge elephant doing the same! When the current tried to pull Nick away, the elephant grabbed him with it's trunk and pulled him back, since then he has fallen in love with them (but still claims they are untrustworthy, just like the dolphins!!)
That afternoon, Christine went canoeing down the river to look for crocs and hippos,
an amazing afternoon where all you could hear was the water and the sounds of the jungles - she also made new friends, a legion of leeches! Being caught in a monsoon downpour while trekking back through the jungle did nothing to dampen her enthusiasm (pun intended!) From Chitwan we headed to Pokhara,
this is a great little town where we spent a week riding motorbikes, white water rafting, fishing for carp and eating yet more steaks! A relaxing week before heading for the end of the hippy trail, Kathmandu. 
Kathmandu was quite a shock, our first taste of east asian cities, noisy, polluted, frantic and full of people trying to sell you hashish and tiger balm. We looked for the pink curtain restaurant on freak street but were unable to find it and settled for lunch on a rooftop surveying the sprawl. It was in Kathmandu that some of our group left to do their own thing in SE Asia and skip China (one of which has yet to return!) This is where we steeled ourselves for several weeks in China.
On the way to the border we stopped for the day at "The Last Resort" where Christine decided to throw herself off a 160m high suspension bridge (with bungee attached, naturally!) There has been some debate as to whether this is the highest in the world or the 2nd highest - that will rage on but suffice to say, it was bloody high.
We'll update some photo's soon, when we get a decent internet connection; there are some great photo's of us fishing, rafting and the elephants.
We'll update some photo's soon, when we get a decent internet connection; there are some great photo's of us fishing, rafting and the elephants.
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