Chitwan National Park, Nepal

We ended up spending 4 very relaxing days in Pokhara, and even got to hang out at a pool for awhile. It was a great way to recharge, got to do a lot of skyping which really helped with the wee bit of homesickness that was creeping up.

Then we headed to Chitwan National Park via bus on Saturday. Chitwan is in the jungle so it was a lot different from mountainous Pokhara. We spent two nights there and ended up booking all our activities through our lodge. We did a jungle walk (did NOT get charged by a rhino, but also didnt see any), a canoe trip (2 crocodiles), and an elephant safari. I was really looking forward to the ellie safari, but it wasnt as exciting as I anticipated. The "seat" on the elephant is supposed to hold 4 people, but we got stuck with an overweight Czech couple and their child. They took up about 70% of the platform, leaving us squished up against the sides...it was less than pleasant. Also, we didn't see much wildlife, just a few deer and some monkeys. BUT I got to pet our elephant at the end and that made me happy.

Monday we took another bus to Kathmandu. It's also quite different from the other places we've been to in Nepal. Its very busy and noisy, but in a fun way. We spent this morning trying to sort out our re-entry permit for India, but now we get to walk around and explore. So, better get to it!

Canoeing with the crocs.

Jungle safari.

Elephant safari

Sunset on the river

Sunset on the river

Kathmandu updates to come...

POKHARA, Nepal

Hi all! We got into the Nepal on Monday via train and bus from India. We stayed the night in the border town, which the Lonely Planet calls a "dusty hell hole" and I'll agree. But we took a 9 hour bus ride to Pokhara the next day and have been enjoying ourselves since.
The bus was a local (non-tourist) bus so it made a lot of stops and got really crowded at times, but it wasn't too bad. At one point a goat got on. I thought maybe it was a pet because the goat owner was petting it's head lovingly, but then they got off at a butcher shop soooo, goodbye goat.
Pokhara is a great town. We're staying in Lakeside and it's touristy, but not obnoxious. It's just the amount of relaxation I was looking for. It's a great place for trekkers. You can start the Annapurna circuit, and many others from here. We considered doing a short 3 day trek but aren't very prepared and opted to just take it easy. I would love to come back to Nepal sometime and try a real trek, maybe the 12-14 day Annapurna or even the trek to Everest base camp.
Yesterday we went to nearby Sarangkot to watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. It was magical, the photos don't come close to doing it justice. Then I hung out in a lounge chair outside our lodge all day and read a book, and I have a similar plan for today...like I said, we're relaxing. Tomorrow we head to Chitwan National Park for a couple days, and then on to Kathmandu. I wish we had more time here, but am definitely glad we made the trip!

Trying to fit with our backpacks in a bicycle rickshaw.

R.I.P Mr.Goat

Phewa Lake in Pokhara

Oli charming cobras

The sunrise. like I said, the photos don't get it.

P.S. little brother got engaged! Congrats Brian and Kelsey!!!

INDIA

We've been in India 5 days now. We arrived in Delhi on the 11th at 5am. We didn't get to see too much, had to sleep a little and then spent most of the day trying to find our way to the train station to buy tickets for the next day. From what little we saw, Delhi is a very busy place!

We went to Agra on the 12th to see the Taj Mahal. On the recommendation of our hotel, too hired a tour guide and it was a very good decision. Our guide was great, and filled us in on all the history and the architectural details. They say that even with all the hype, few are disappointed and it's true.

From Agra we took the train (16 hours...don't have enough battery life to tell that whole story) to Varanasi and we've been here since Friday. The city is on the Ganges river, considered the holiest river in India. Everything happens in this river, people bathe in it (themselves and as we saw today, their cows), do their laundry, drink from it, and send off the dead. We are staying close to the "burning ghat". According to our boat driver, people from all over India bring their dead relatives to be burned and their ashes placed into the Ganges. We were able to take both a sunset and sunrise boat trip down the river and saw a lot of interesting things.
All the photos below are taken from the river, except the Taj Mahal photo.

India has been a very interesting and eye opening experience. Tomorrow we are off to Nepal for probably 10 days and then back into India for a few days before flying to Bangkok.

The Big 5

We had a fabulous weekend at Kruger National Park! Oli saw all of the "big 5" (pictured below). Unfortunately for me, I missed the leopard sighting, he was too fast for me. I did see one in captivity though. We visited a rehabilitation center in Blyde River Canyon that takes in injured animals and then, when able, releases them back into the wild. We learned a LOT of sad facts about poaching there, it's a huge problem in South Africa. The leopard in the photo is from the rehab center.

In Kruger we were able to go on a morning game drive and a sunset game drive, and also spent a lot of time driving around in our rental. Oli learned he's in love with giraffes, we saw a lot of those. I think the coolest experience was on the sunset drive. We saw a bunch of vultures circling in the sky which signals a kill in the area. When we got closer we watched lionesses start coming out of the bush and they all had little cubs with them. Our guide said there's 16 cubs in this one pride. Some were so small they were still nursing. We got right up next to them in the truck, it was surreal. On the drive out today we also saw a group of cubs from a different pride napping just off the road. Lion cubs are so cute you almost want to take one home, until you watch one of those animal planet shows where some moron does just that and later gets mauled by a full grown lion. Anyway, we saw too many animals to mention, lots of babies too. Obviously the lions but also a little giraffe, hyenas, elephants, and lots of antelopes.

Tomorrow we fly to India. We're going to New Delhi via Mumbai. South Africa turned out to be such an awesome experience and far exceeded any expectations, we will miss it!

Leopard in rehab

Water buffalo

Sleepy cub

Elephant parade

PS more photos on Facebook.
PPS Lina if you're reading this, I need your email!!
PPSS we're getting on skype when able so add us: kellystone83

Lesotho, etc.

Oops, it's been awhile. Since last update:
We stayed 2 nights in Wilderness just lounging around. It was a cool hostel with nice people, so why not? Then we headed to Addo, and the next day into Addo Elephant National Park. It's a great place, they started with only 11 elephants and now have over 400, and we may have seen them all. Just kidding, but we did see a lot. As well as a lot of kudu, warthogs, birds, a few zebra, some ostriches, AND a dung beetle!! We were very excited for that one. Also, just as we were leaving the park with no hope of a lion sighting, there were 3 just laying by the side of the road. They actually looked so cute, it was tempting to try and get out for a quick snuggle...but we didn't. There is a photo of a cute ellie down below, as well as a shark that didn't make the cut in the last post.

Our new friend

Coming towards the car, but still cute

After we left the park we drove towards East London. The goal was to stay at a guest house on a nature reserve that we heard great things about, but they were full. So instead we drove on to Chinsta and stayed at Buccaneers Backpackers, which we heard was the "best Backpackers in South Africa". Maybe it would have been, if it wasn't freezing with torrential rains. We did get a cozy cabin with a deck overlooking the ocean, but again, the rain. Oh well, can't have great weather all the time. Below is a photo of me learning to drum in the Buccaneers bar.

After we left Chinsta and went on to Bergville and after an 11 hour drive landed at Amphitheater Backpackers in the Drakensburg Mountains. We took a tour with them to Lesotho, so we got another country! Lesotho is a very poor country and we went into to a rural village for the tour. We visited the primary school that was built wth the money from the tours, so that was cool. dint then took a hike very high into the mountain. We got excellent views and almost passed out...not running any marathons out here. We also saw old painting on the rocks from the stone age, drank homemade beer (I faked a sip, it looked like pink vomit), had traditional food, and visited a traditional healer. It was a good trip, and very interesting to see another side of Africa. Photos below, one of the mountain and one of their traditional round homes.

Now we're in Blyde River Canyon for the night before heading into Kruger tomorrow. I'm not sure if there's Internet in there so if we're off the grid awhile it's either that, or we got eaten. So, cheers!!