The afternoon , Irene, Liz and Bernadette went paragliding

A final word...

Before Nene and I leave this beautiful country, there are a few special people I wish to thank. Firstly, to Renee for thinking up this itinerary for the slightly more mature ladies. Renee is the founder of CAI (Children's Aid International), and has been working hard for over six years to raise funds for CWC, she is aided by her mum, Penny who is secretary of CAI. Their dedication to making sure all went smoothly has been greatly appreciated by all. Next and most importantly to Santosh and Rina Karki of CWC and Mummy, Rina's mother and founder of CWC who all made us most welcome. Santosh organised all our travel arrangements which were excellent. Rina and Mummy extended their very generous hospitality and nothing was too much trouble for them.

The most exciting part...we were able to present CWC with a cheque for $16,360.00!  Nene has most generously donated money for a cow, which will be called Nene. As a gesture of our appreciation for Renee's efforts a group of us, Liz, Ann, Irene, Moira, Eleri, Penny and myself Cassie, all chipped in to buy another cow, which will be called Renee! CWC have built a cow shed and were waiting for funds to buy a couple of cows so they can supply their own milk for the children.

We are sad to be leaving this amazing country with it's most helpful, gentle people. We will miss our new family at CWC, but as they say this is not farewell - just au revior......

Our last day in Kathmandu!

We awoke to a much cooler morning today, and unfortunately it was raining so our planned picnic to the gardens with the children was cancelled. Instead we went to CWC and spend the day playing games, doing crafts and enjoyed our last meal together.

The trip has been amazing with so many first for all. Nene enjoyed her first elephant ride and her first massage (we both enjoyed a traditional Nepalese massage in Pokara). Irene, Bernadette, Liz enjoyed paragliding. Pam and Moira went on an ultralight flight. Henry, of course got his first two teeth!  We have all tried lots of different foods and seen so many new and amazing sights. We now have a whole new family of wonderful people in this beautiful country.

Jungle safari at Chitwan

This morning started with a 6am wake up call (a knock on our door), shower and breakfast before setting off on our elephant ride. One and a half hours through the 'jungle', we were lucky to see deer, a family of wild boar, and the highlight a rhino and her baby, up close and personal! That was pretty special. We then went to watch the elephant bathing, we all decided it was more fun watching others getting showered by the elephants, they are such beautiful animals, we could have watched them all day.

Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream, if you see a crocodile don't forget to scream! Well we did see crocodiles, monkeys, birds and water buffalo, but we didn't scream!! It was a very peaceful hour ride in dug out canoes to our next stop. A walk through the grassland to the elephant breeding centre. As we started our walk our guide spotted a rhino grazing, we were told to be very quiet and if it charges - hit the ground! For once we were all quiet! The breeding centre was interesting with several baby elephants entertaining us!

A short walk later to the river bank, and then the dilemma.....2 small canoes and about 60 people waiting to cross. After much discussion it was decided it was shallow enough for us to walk across. So, 11 ladies, 2 guides and Santosh all took off shoes, sox and trousers to begin the walk across!
We'll we did. create some excitement for the locals, there were people taking photos from the bank and the local children killing themselves laughing as we made the other side. I don't think they had seen westerners in underpants before! Renee had given us instructions not to show our knees, we'll we didn't, they were under the water!

Dinner at a local restaurant and home to bed before our journey back to the big smoke - Kathmandu.

The wheels on the bus....

The wheels on the bus go round and round, the ladies on the bus go bump, bump, bump all the way to Chitwan! But we made it and it was a very scenic if not bumpy ride through lots of villages, following the river and surrounded by mountains shrouded in cloud. After lunch we took a oxen cart ride through the the village. The local houses are traditionally made with mud and cow dung. We left our oxen to have rest while we walked through the village, the local children were fascinated with our  iPads, and we had to take lots of photos of them. We then joined our carts again and road to the elephant centre, we walked through admiring all the elephants and then along the river bank and even saw a crocodile's nose and eyes! Wow! Back to Rhino Residency for dinner and a cultural show.

Tomorrow is an early start - elephant rides, jungle walks and visits to the elephant breeding centre.

New's flash! Henry has cut his second tooth! Renee and Henry have not joined us on this adventure, they are having some quiet time with Rina, we will rejoin them on Friday in Kathmandu.

Photos to follow internet, very weak!

This afternoon, Irene, Bernadette and Liz had a great experience going para-gliding. The weather was finally just right and so they kitted up and headed off to a mountain top where three hunky guys from  various nations strapped them on and headed off over the edge of a cliff. Just fabulous, not scary in the slightest. Wonderful views down into the Pokara Valley. Hard to imagine that there are so many different shades of green. No snow capped peaks visible, just beautiful farmlands and forested mountainsides and the lake that the town on Pokara nestles closely by. Landing and takeoff were a breeze, smooth and non-scary. A fabulous experience. No photos yet but Irene had the presence of mind to take photos so watch his space.

World Peace Pagoda

Another great day.  Our day was delayed by heavy rains but it cleared and we are the way International Mountain museum.  It was very interesting information and pictures about how the mountain range was formed, pictures and information about the climbers, the Sherpa's.  We then went up to the World Peace Pagoda.  It was 365 steps up the mountain.  Wow, what a climb.  But great views from the top.  Then we came back down and some wanted to go into the caves but others had an appointment to go parasailing so we had to hurry back.  We took the canoe across the lake and the breeze was beautiful.  It was a very tippy boat though and we were a bit nervous.  By then it was very hot and humid.  Tomorrow we are on our way to Chitwan