Nepal is amazing!! We travelled for 6 hours on Monday from Lumbini to Chitwan National Park, stopping on the way at the birthplace of Buddah (apparently). He's meant to be an incarnate of Lord Vishnu, the main Hindu god, and then he created his own religion lol! The resort of the national park was so nice, felt like you were on safari but it was greener. Nepal is so green and the villages we drove through seem more orderly and they take more care in the appearance of their homes, it's cleaner, quieter and just generally nicer than the places we saw in India.

When we got to the resort we went to see the elephant breeding centre, where there were twin baby elephants, the first in Asia! We drove back on top of a jeep which was fun, pretty bumpy! Tuesday was an amzing day, possibly the best so far! We got up early and went on our hour and a half ride through the national park and saw rhinos, deer, monkeys and chickens which was weird lol! Never seen rhinos before, they are so dinosaur like! Then late morning a few elephants came to where we were staying and we went elephant bathing! We named our elephant Henry, lol. He knelt down and then we got on him without a seat on top, so three of us were clinging on for dear life by a rope around his neck! It was a 2 minute walk to the little river and then he tipped us in the water, we got back on and he did it a few more times, sprayed us with water and lifted us up by his trunk!! Then he layed on his side in the water which was only a couple of feet high and he has his trunk all curled up and his eyes closed, he was loving it!! We got stones from the river bed and scrubbed him with them to get all the dust off and then he turned over. We were clambering all over him and jumped off, was just so amazing. Saw the gentile side of elephants, they seem really sweet and so well trained!

We had the afternoon free so was really nice, after being so busy all of the time to just read and play cards etc in the cushioned area at the resort overlooking the national park. On Wednesday we had another long drive from Chitwan to Pokhara.. 5 hours. For Nepal our group has a private bus/coach which is really comfy so it's actually not that bad. Pokhara is so nice, really bustling with lots of little shops along this one road opposite lake Phewa, but really peaceful aswell. We didn't get there til mid afternoon so we just walked around the lake a bit and then all went for dinner.

We got up at 5am this morning and went to see the sunrise over the himalayas! Was so beautiful with the snowy mountains in the background and then the smaller mountains in the front. Jo and I had the whole day free as others in the group went on a helicopter ride over the mountains which landed in the snow, it was $400 each though! And then some people went paragliding this afternoon, so we went boating on the lake this morning and just chilled out again this afternoon. We're off to Kathmandu tomorrow morning, so another long journey! Looking forward to seeing it, everyone says how amazing it is!! So yeah, Nepal = amazing!!