Hi all
I am presently in Chitwan National Park in Nepal. It is a really beautiful and amazing place, not least of all because yesterday I managed to bicycle 16 kms through the countryside to visit the elephant breeding ground. Considering I hadn't been on a bicycle for an embarrassingly long time I was pretty impressed. I was a bit wobbly at first and amused all the locals and the tour group with my yelps I became quite proficient. Must say though that the bumpy road has left my butt really rather sore. But then everyone else on the group feels the same way. Most of the group are in their mid 20's with about 3 in their mid 30's so I reckon I am doing pretty well.
the elephants breeding place was interesting and the baby elephants very sweet. I got some good photos and a short video of 2 baby elephants playing together.
The countryside and villages are picturesque and much cleaner than Kathmandu. It was a 6 hour bus ride to get here. The countryside for the first 2 hours was a bit like Sapa in Vietnam with terraced farms and deep valleys. We also got some view of Annapurna as we drove along.
As the highway is only 2 lanes there was some nervousness by us passengers every now and then as the bus overtook other vehicles on the winding mountain roads, dodging large trucks etc but the mini bus seemed to have pretty reliable brakes.
Last night we went to a food and music festival just next door to our resort. It was a bit like the sort of thing you get at home except that the food was all nepalese, and delicious, and the music and dancing was nepalese, including a nepalese pop star that really got the large local audience bopping.
The resort we are staying in is set in gardens with little cottages for guest rooms. It even has hot water most of the time unlike in Kathmandu which only seemed to have cold water. A brisk start to the day when the temp is about 6 degrees. So far all the food has been delicious and the coffee strong, adn the chai good.
Today we head into the jungle, first by canoe where we look out for crocodiles, then by foot for 6 hours where we look out for tigers, leopards and rhino. The rhino are the most likely we will see and they are considered dangerous. about 1 person per month is killed by them from what I can tell from the stories. We will also see porcupine, monkeys, langurs, sloth bears , lots of birds etc. Hopefully anyway, it would be disappointing not to see anything. We stay overnight in the jungle and return tomorrow. Then we have an elephant safari in the style of the raj - they even have pictures from early 1900's of tiger hunts from elephants on the walls in the restaurant. I gather there is a much better chance of seeing rhino from the elephants.
we are having a new years eve bbq and party here which should be fun.

To Ellie
How was the flight? Did you get there without delays? Is the hotel nice? Have you been to your favourite sourdough place? are they having sales in the right shops? I will get back on the internet after my elephant riding tomorrow afternoon (31 Jan). I hope it all goes well for you . Make sure Ian drives safely when you go to Yosemite. Remember he will be a bit nervous and uncertain when he starts driving due to being on the wrong side of the road. Make sure he ends up on the right side when you go around corners.
I love you dearly and think of you often.
I hope you see lots of critters at Yosemite
love mum