Hello!

well since i spoke to you last we have left india behind and are now in nepal!! however before we left india we had one more stop after the peace at orchha; we went onto varanasi! first impressions of it were to say the least not good! we arrived after a 14 hour train ride with a return to hectic india which was quite a shock after orchha. but the place definitely grows on you! after a manic 30 minute cyclerichshaw ride, during which i was praying that the skinny old man driving our rickshaw didnt keel over and die, we reached the river ganges, emily, me and the skinny rickshaw driver all alive and in one piece. we then went on a boat along the ganges as the sun was setting with a sitar and a tablar player serenading us-quite an experience from the river itself we were able to see many of the religious ceremonies but from a peacful distance. we saw cremations happening on the designated burning ghats (steps that go down to the river so that people can easily enter), then a few ghats down we saw people wasing in the river. there didnt seem to be any idea that maybe they should cremate people down stream of where people wased , no, it was all just intermingled!! we also saw the worship ceremonies on the main ghat, which essentially consisted of many different ways of purifying the air, a job which certainly needed doing!! again in the morning we went on the river at sunrise and saw the religious ceremonies taking place, this time lots more people were washing, brushing there teeth an all!! people were also washing clothes, we found out that often guesthouses send there wasing down to the ganges to have it beaten "clean"... varanasi being the place we decided to do our first bit of wasing yay! lol! but it was quite remarkable to watch how peoples daily lives were centred around this river, this muddy, dirty river. it has been quite interesting finding out about hinduism while travelling around, our guide has begun to groan anytime i ask him a question as i have had quite a few!! to me it seems a very confusing and confused religion, which has for most people become a way of life rather than a coherent belief. we later roamed the streets and the tiny market allyways, and in the end i was quite taken with varanasi, it had a buzz about it and pulse that was quite unusual as life was so captivated by there dedication to there religion and the river.... but i was definitely ready to move onto nepal!!!

it took a days bus ride, a crossing at a very nondescript border crossing point, then another half a days ride until we reached chitwan national park, but when we did it was bliss! we staying in a camp situated just on the edge of the national parks jungle and just on the banks of a river. with hammocks between trees and nice fires lit at night, it was peaceful and idilic. chitwan was our time for bonding with the elephants! we went to see the first pair of twin elephants born in a breeding programme in asia, then in the morning we went out on an elephant safari into the jungle, seeing rhinos and crocs, monkeys and deer and of course the chicken or two!! but the best bit was riding the elephant for almost two hours! after that after a bitof a chillout it was time to wash the elephants!!! we rode on an elephant bare back down to the river where he proceeded to roll us off his back into the river- great fun! after doing that a few times we made a token effort at cleaning him before clambering up him again for the walk home. i now officially love elephants, they r awsome!!

After a while longer chilling out in chitwan we headed on tot he bus again and off to pokhara! on the way we passed beautiful scenes of mountains and villages, the nepalese seem to have a lot more pride in the way they keep themselves and there home, there homesteads are neatly kept and painted- a drastic change from india! and arriving at pokhara the beauty didnt stop. we r staying on the edge of the lake which we went out on boats on today, and we are surrounded by the annapaurna mountain range. thismorning we went to see the sunrise over annapurna one, an absolutely incredible site, tho it was a little hazy, but the sun on the snowy peaks was no less stunning!

we are moving on tomorrow to kathmandu, our last stop here before flying onto hongkong. we have absolutely loved our journey so far, and im very excited about see daniel in kathmandu and then heading onto the next part of our trip!! i will try to upload photos in hongkong so u can all see how we r doing!!!

Lots of love, il be in touch soon x x x x x