Well! We've had a fairly exciting few days! We rounded off our few days in Kathmandu with a revisit to Pashupatinath and Bodhnath Stupa and quite a bit of sleeping! Then on Saturday we set off on our first bus trip to Chitwan National Park (and incidently the first time we've had to carry our bags . . . they're quite heavy!). The journey was beautiful - everything so lush and green as it's just at the end of the rainy season. We were a bit concerned as the trip was our first attempt at bartering and we were a little worried that we would turn up to a complete hole . . . needless to say we struck gold! A nice little garden bungalow overlooking the paddy fields and the elephants! We went for a stroll down to the river and watched the sun go down - all rather idyllic and Graham spotted our first croc!

The next day we headed off early on a canoe trip down the river, we spotted a few more crocs and then a walk through the jungle to the elephant breeding center where they had the cutest little babies! You can see by the photo's that Gemma's rather infatuated and Graham has yet to agree that it won't cause havoc in our (and our neighbour's!) garden when we get her home!

Then . . . the best bit, we went swimming with them and it was ACE! We were assured that the pesky crocs would be frightened off by the elephants so we dived in! You can see that Graham's ability to climb on was a little less elegant than Gemma's!! The elephant was very patient with us though and didn't seem to mind rather inept foreigner's hauling at her ears and clambering all over her head!That afternoon we rounded off an action-packed day with an adrenaline fuelled jungle safari on elephant back (a rather less adorable, and rather more temperamental one!). We had a little episode careering unchecked through trees, bushes and anything that happened to get in our way before her driver finally managed to gain control again - trumpeting, crashing elephants are a little scary when you're on top! However . . . we did manage to spot deer, wild boar and rhino's! They don't look half as scary as they should when you're on top of a 5000 kilo elephant! And then the exciting bit! On the way back we came across a little cluster of people trying to get back to their village on foot with a rhino blocking their way. They were afraid because the rhino 'kills the peoples'. No problem, rhino's are scared of elephants so our driver decided that we would come to their rescue, act as a barrier and chase the rhino's away for them. So, another episode of crashing the jungle with trumpeting, crashing elephants, snorting rhino's and 4 very scared people perched on top who just protected their heads and hoped they would still be on top when we came to a halt! After all, why go round trees when you can go through them . . . literally!!

That night, there was not a beer to be had, or a souvenir to be bought in the entire village - everything was shut! After all, it was Sunday and time for INDIAN IDOL! Yes, you are right a reincarnation of Pop Idol! A Nepali was in the final and he was going to win! And he did! The whole nation is gripped and walking around singing!

Last night we had a night in a tower in the jungle . . . after a rather disconcerting walk through the very area where not 24 hours earlier we'd been chasing killer rhino! The most exciting moment came when a snorting rhino came out of the trees and walked right under our tower . . . he was enormous and a bit more scary when not on an elephant!

So after all the excitement we're now back to the relative calm of Kathmandu! Thank you everyone for your messages! We really enjoy reading them! XX