More Chitwan pictures

The other Chitwan post was already so long and Pauliina and Sarah and I swapped pictures, so here are some more for your viewing enjoyment. 

You can clearly see how crazy excited I am to be touching an elephant. Definitely another bucket list item checked off! Also, the elephant kept poking me with his trunk and bringing it right up to my face.

Just for scale

Found this guy on our bike ride. He clearly has this summer heat thing figured out.

We always stop for dogs.

 Elephants are everywhere in Chitwan

Rice fields

This picture so perfectly captures all of our personalities! I love it!

We clearly were having a miserable time.

Selfie with an elephant

Selfie with an elephant butt

Found myself a stylin' new hat!

I wasn't kidding. Elephants are everywhere, even walking down Main street.

We are ready for our elephant safari!

(Side note: Yes, I did ride an elephant for a jungle safari. Although it was fun, I never want to do it again. The animal lover inside of me couldn't reconcile the use of these intelligent animals for something so mundane as being paraded around the jungle with up to 5 grown men on its back. I regret buying into the industry, even though it was an awesome experience.)

Also, did I mention that riding an elephant is not comfortable, at all.

Deep in the jungle

Our mahoot and tour guide

Crocodile!

Canoeing

Houses and shops along the road back to Kathmandu

Huge river swollen with monsoon rains

Chitwan

Chitwan National Park

The protected wildlife park was just across the river

Community dogs of Chitwan

The next two pictures were snapshots I took of a menu. Sarah, Pauliina and I had a good laugh while figuring out what to order. How many spelling errors can you find?

After breakfast we went on a bike ride around the town and found an elephant in a man's backyard. We decided to go for it and just ask if we could meet his elephant. It was easily the highlight of the trip.

Look Mom! I'm touching an elephant!

That afternoon we went on a safari and found one of the famous one-horned rhino, and better yet, her little baby rhino!

The safari was followed by a canoe trip down the river where we saw lots of crocodiles.

The canoe trip ended at a bank where a herd of cows were grazing. They are such a small breed of cow, but dang they are cute. Look at these calves!

The ears!

After giving the cows far too much attention, we went on a jungle walk.

Our guide called these gorgeous purple flowers river hyacinth. They look and smell like hyacinth, so I believe him.

Male tiger track! AH!

There is a type of plant, that winds up the trees and constricts them until they eventually die. Here you can see that plant arching across and climbing two trees at the same time. It looked like something out of Jumangi.

Showing off an impressive termite mound. Be impressed.

View from the bus trip back to Kathmandu