Today we said goodbye to India and Namaste Nepal!! We left at 5am for our 5hour jeep ride to the Nepal border. It too almost 10hours in total including the most ridiculous breakfast and service ever! We got our visas for $30 and then boarded the bus (brad thought it was a good idea to jump on whilst the bus was moving and whacked his head - huge bump!!) which would take us to our wonderful hotel - Buddha Maya Gardens, a 10min walk to the birthplace of Buddha. We had some dinner then headed for the temple. It was so peaceful, even with a huge storm brewing in the distance. We saw the stone on which the Buddha was born and the tree nearby. The storm reached us and completely soaked us so we ran back towards the entrance. It was so dark and wet we took cover in a tiny bar which doubled up as the family home! It looked like ascene from Indiana Jones! We sat there for ages telling stories and having a few beers. The best being the punch the tiger in the face story!! (private Intriped Tour?joke!) Once the rain had stopped we headed back to the hotel on a really small road. It was quite an experience jumping on and off the road each time a car passed by! A few of the group sat on the balcony in the hotel in candle light continuing the stories and the laughing! After such a bad start the day was quite something!!

Monday moring we met for an early breakfast on the terrace and it was cool after the storm. Vicky, Zach and I took a walk back?to the village to look at the other monastries and the market!! Our journey by private bus again too about 4hours and we checked into the Royal Park Hotel. It has groups of 5 rooms in a row each with private bath in the tranqil grounds. During?our lunch?a guide caught a python and put?it in the swimming pool! At 4o'clock we hired bikes and cycled 20 mins on cobbles (sore bums!)?to?nepals Elephant Breeding Center. We also walked through?a knee deep section of the river stream to get there. We got so close to the elephants and the babies loved the attention! At one point a baby came out of the pen, steeped on Richards bag then picked up Annas water bag and swung it around with its trunk! A wild elephant also tried to get into the compound and the gurads had to chase it?away. It kept coming back?and trying to get at the females - it was a horny elephant! We took the bikes back to the hotel and had mexican food for dinner??