Bath Time with a Difference

How was your shower this morning? In general, my showers in Nepal have consisted of me clinging to a bathroom wall and doing a strange shower dance - trying to avoid the ice cold water dribbling from the shower head. But this morning was slightly different.

As I mentioned in my last post, we are now in, or very near to, Chitwan National Park in a town called Sauraha. I read for a lot of the five hour journey down here, making sure I looked up periodically to appreciate another stunning mountain or fast flowing river.

On our arrival in Sauraha, we were met by a small van and bundled off to our accommodation for the next three nights: Eden Jungle Resort. 'Eden' perhaps conjures the wrong image of our lodging. Whilst the hammocks and beautiful flowers were great I'm not sure that Adam and Eve had to put up with hammers and band saws in their paradise garden! 

The noise aside though, we were pleased to be here and spent a lazy afternoon reading and catching up on sports news on internet.

The evening saw us wander through the village and end up by the river front to watch the sunset. It was a little underwhelming. I guess when you have been spoiled by years of viewing the sun create amazing light shows over Lundy, then sunsets have to be pretty special to compare.

The next morning, we explored our surroundings a little more - our early morning walks are usually in search of a coffee to wake Steve up. The big man from Somerset doesn't really function too well without a shot of caffeine and so it is in both our interests to find him a place to drink. This morning we settled on a little cafe next to the river.

As we sat trying to convince a stray dog we had nothing to eat, we noticed an elephant lumbering down to the riverside. We watched as the incredible animal continued into the shallow water and, under the instruction of its mahout (driver), lay down for a bath!

 

Now you wouldn't think it was possible to be snuck up on by an elephant, would you? But as I turned around to head back to my table I did well to stifle a girly scream as I was faced to face with a giant! Thankfully a gentle giant, who seem to enjoy my surprise.

Before I left I asked my class to write down some challenges for me to try and complete during my time away. Amongst things like 'Eat a poisonous snake' and 'Climb Mount Everest' was a challenge from a young lady who wanted me to ride an elephant. So this is for her...

Encouraged by the mahouts, first Steve and then I climbed on the back of this beautiful elephant, 'Maduhkilly', and sat there as she repeatedly sprayed us with water. 

As surreal experiences go, clinging to Maduhkilly as she and her prehistoric looking friends splashed around in the warm water is definitely up there with the best of them. Another bit of Nepal I won't forget in a hurry.

I don't think that showers will be quite as much fun for the rest of the trip!