The Day of the Elephants!!!

First of all, let me just say that bacterial diarrhea= NO FUN. Because not only are you going to the bathroom every 30 minutes, but you are also puking your guts out at the same time. Logistics can be tricky. I was so incredibly thankful that we paid the extra money to have a hotel room in Kathmandu with a bathroom attached. Because bacterial diarrhea in a shared bathroom?? Even worse. I was sick all week, basically the minute after I posted last. But I'm recovering now in fine style in Chitwan National Park.

Let it hereby be known that the day of March 26, 2009 was officially declared The Day of the Elephants and shall be celebrated every 26th of March from here on out until the ends of our lives with much rejoicing and possibly the baking of cookies that look like elephants and of course, cake. So, on with the show....

The Day of the Elephants began with a beautiful bike ride through a small village to the Elephant Breeding Center in Chitwan. Here, I fed the baby elephants some cookies and when I was all out, I got charged and received a baby elephant head right in the breadbasket (or stomach, for all of you who didn't get an awesome word of the day calendar in 2006 from Carmen Butcher). After being almost bowled over by the hungry babies, we rode back to the town and it was bath time... with elephants of course.

I had a fabulous time being shimmied, thrown, and rolled off the bare back of my elephant. I think he was having a pretty good time, too. And I went for my bath before Kenny could get down to the riverside to take pictures so this is after all the fun. Kenny took a bath as well!

Now, I know that this was The Day of Elephants, but you can't deny THE PUPPY! This fur ball rolled and ran around by the river at the restaurant where we often went for drinks at sunset. He was a biter, but how could I possibly resist??
Okay, back to the Elephants...

Our next elephant adventure was a jungle safari through the national park. We saw huge rhinos and baby rhinos, many different kinds of deer, and monkeys. Our elephant driver told us that elephants are faster than rhinos, but it was still a little nerve-wracking to get so close. No tigers, though. It was a lovely two hour ride and once when Kenny dropped his hat, our elephant turned around, picked it up with his trunk and passed it over to our driver. It was awesome.

And thus concludes The Day of Elephants, one of the greatest days of my life, following my wedding day (which was actually pretty stressful come to think of it) and my many surprise birthdays thrown by the Mumsie, who is the Mother of Birthday Surprises. Anyway, mark your calendars. Only a year until the celebration!

[I am currently in India, enjoying the air conditioning and high-speed cheap internet of Kolkata. Took forever to find a place I could upload pictures! More later...]

Can We Say Slacker?

Do not believe this picture. I was not this happy all the time. Rare moment on our trek. With our guide CB somewhere in the Annapurnas.

Dear Friends,

I am sorry that I haven't been writing about all my great honeymoon adventures here regularly. But when you're in a country with limited electricity (only 8 hours a day and in 4 hour increments, sometimes while you're asleep) and where you have to pay to use the internet by the hour, it makes doing more than emailing the mumsie and checking the Book of the Face a bit tedious.

But I am thinking about you often, and during my 12 day Annapurna trek (in which I reached Annapurna Base Camp, world rejoice!!), I longed for the days I was stuck in my lovely Seoul apartment with no mountains to climb and only being concerned with what to blog about! I promise that once I reach the homestead in the States that I will dutifully update you as to my many misadventures WITH PICTURES because my husband is freaking awesome with the camera!

For now, a small list to tide you over:

1. Got my hair locked in Bangkok. Incredibly smart idea because it made the showerless mountain trekking much more bearable.

2. On the first day of our trek, I lost all our money and my passport.

3. Our guide, Cholandra, is the best guy EVER and I feel like I have a Nepali brother.

4. After a few days of being jerked around by the bus driver and an entire 8 hours at the Tourist Police office, we got all my money back. And someone had turned in my passport to the Embassy.

5. In Pokhara, there were cockroaches in our hotel room. Big ones. Plural. IN OUR BED.

6. I am currently stuck in Kathmandu waiting on my Indian visa.

7. Today at Pashupati (sp?) we watched a cremation.

8. Yesterday, I was almost attacked by an old cranky monkey. And I saw a puppy! Tiny!

9. I am kept awake nightly by the live music in Thamel. Earplugs do not help.

10. My husband is amazing.

More later, lovelies!

There were lots of puppies and kitties on the way to Base Camp. It made my life a little brighter. Also, you can see my new hairdo here!