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Nepal greeted us with the arrival of the monsoon. After a hot and sticky night during which it rained, it again started to rain after we had started driving, and didn't let up until late afternoon.. We couldn't believe how drastic the change was just crossing the border - one moment we had been in flat floodplains and dry fields with a few trees, and now just a few km up the road we were driving through a subtropical forest! We drove up and over a mountain range - it was a lot cooler up there and the forest and temperature reminded us of the Gold Coast hinterlands. The towns we drove through were a lot different to Indian towns - much cleaner and the houses were really well kept. The locals are also really friendly, all smiles and waves. We stopped in a large town for lunch and rather than having samosas, Shane and I ate a whole pineapple that a seller had kindly chopped up for us. I also had a couple of mangoes and the whole meal was so yummy and reminded us of home. After a long drive down a narrow road with very low wires over the road (for which Shane O and Steve had to sit on the roof and lift them over the spare tires) we eventually reached Jungle Lodge Hotel, in the buffer zone around Chitwan National Park. The rooms here are really nice wooden cottages, with beds complete with mosquito nets (since this is a malaria zone).

The group only spent one full day here so we tried to cram as much into the day as we could. Unfortunately Shane has the flu really bad and he stayed in bed all day, so I did all these activities on my own, then we decided to stay an extra day so that Shane could do some after all.

I got up at 5:30 to have breakfast before the first of today's activities. First up was a short walk down to the river where we travelled downriver in a dug-out canoe (which was a bit tippy). Soon after we got going in the canoe it started raining and didn't stop until we were off the river again (love the monsoon) but it was warm so we didn't mind much. It took about an hour to get down the river, and along the way we saw lots of birds, a crocodile that looked like a cayman with a long snout, and a one-horned rhino! We were lucky to see it there by the side of the river, and at first the guide didn't want to go by it because the water is shallow and it might have run out and attacked us, but we went by on the other side of the river and it didn't look too upset. Massive animal though and they look very prehistoric.

We left the river and walked through some grasslands to get to the Elephant Breeding Centre. They had about 20 or so elephants there. The adults were chained up for the morning so that they don't go wandering around destroying stuff, but apparently they get let out in the rainforest in the afternoons. The babies roam around the area freely, and we played with a couple of them who looked like they were having a good time. There was a pair of 7-month old twins there, and also an uber-cute 1 month old. Once we were done at the breeding centre we were taken back to the resort in the back of a jeep.

Next up was bath time! Down by the river again there were 3 or 4 elephants having a bath. They let us sit on their backs then squirted water at us! The river is nice and clean here and the water refreshing. Then we helped with washing them, which was great fun - they are such huge animals and being next to them while they are lying around in the water is awesome.

When we got back from bath time we were hustled off into the village, as we had been invited to join the rice planting festival. The monsoon marks the start of the rice planting time and the villagers here celebrate with a few speeches. They then all got into the rice paddy by the official tent and started throwing mud at each other! A few of our group had joined in and were soon covered in mud like the locals. They then had a go at planting the field with rice. We were also fed rice flakes with sugar and yoghurt, which was really nice. It was the middle of the day and pretty hot as the sun had come out, so we didn't stay for too long.

At 3pm it was time for the elephant ride. We had 4 people to an elephant, wedged into a platform on top which was kind of uncomfortable, but you get a great view from up there. They walked us through the buffer area near the park for about 2.5 hours. Most of that time we just wandered through the jungle but right near the end of the time we saw 4 or 5 rhino among the trees. Elephants are much more fun to ride than camels, even if they do keep spraying spit on their sides (and our feet) to cool down.

The next morning the truck left early and Shane was feeling much better so we both did the elephant bath thing at the river with Chris, Sarah, Lucy and Sandra who had also stayed behind. At 3 we went for an elephant walk, which Shane describes as "extremely painful and uncomfortable, yet at the same time extremely enjoyable". We saw a couple of rhinos up close today, and a few deer, but not a lot else. I guess the tigers know what's good for them and stay under cover while it's raining. A bit more rain in the morning today but the afternoon was dry again.

The nice guys at the Jungle Lodge were so helpful - they booked us a bus to Pokhara for the next day and gave us a lift up to the bus station on the last morning. I hope we get the chance to go back there someday.