Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello,
Post Everest trek we spent about a week in Kathmandu not doing really very much at all. Both of us were just totally whacked and our battered little bodies jumped at the chance to do nothing for a couple of days.
Relaxation over, we have just returned from 2 days of extreme white water rafting. Great fun. This trip took us north of Kathmandu into some beautiful valleys near the Tibetan boarder. Well I say beautiful but the truth is we were too busy hanging on to our raft to really notice.
The trip was a great example of how Britain - and our compensation culture - has just got it wrong. To do an equivalent stretch of rapids that we did would, we imagine, have taken numerous disclaimers, excessive practise and probably years of commitment to the sport of White Water Rafting.
In Nepal it went like this "When I say paddle forwards go forwards, if you fall out save yourself. OK team lets go". So we blasted off down grade 4 and 5 rapids (no I have no idea what that means either) getting flipped about, crashing into rocks getting very very wet and ultimately falling out - and as per instruction saving ourselves. Which was a good tip, as the Instructor had fallen out, leaving us with little option. It was great fun and we would happily recommend to everyone.
Back in Kathmandu we've explored (more) Buddhist Temples, been wowed by Hindu cremation rituals, been frustrated by daily power cuts and been thoroughly unimpressed with a UNESCO World Heritage Site (it was covered in litter and not particularly impressive, in fact it actually devalued our opinion of the UNESCO rating and think they should stop giving these things out like Blue Peter badges).
We also managed to ride out a two day long protest, where in opposition to some killings by the Maoist Youth League (second only to the Premier League in popularity) people blockaded the streets, forced shops to close, set tyres on fires, and generally protested. Thankfully the bandra (as they call it) occurred on our first two days back from our Everest Trek so really we were happy for any excuse to sit in our hotel watching TV for the first time in months. The protest is now over and everyone is back to their happy-smiling-normal-selves.
We have now left Kathmandu and are in the city of Pokhara near the Himalayas thinking about another (but much shorter) trek.
- comments