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On Tuesday 6th we set off for two days of white water rafting on the Marshyangdi River. Our rafting group was just us two and a very nice German couple called Ralf and Catherine - and as it was the end of the rafting season about 8 guides who all wanted to come along for fun, so we were very well looked after. We drove from Pokhara for about 3/4 hours to a place called BhulBhule or 'Mama's Big Butt' as our guides liked to call it! Apart from Sofia, none of the rest of us had ever done any rafting before and we had been informed that the Marshyangdi was between a grade 4 and 5 - which sounded quite intense for our little arms. Luckily Ralf was a useful 6ft 7. The first day was pretty full on, with constant rapid after rapid and we had a lot of fun trying and often failing to stay in the raft. I think we were all drenched through within the first 10 minutes.
After 3 hours of rafting we stopped in a little village called Paundi where we set up camp for the night on the local school playing field. We played frisbee with a few of the local children, and got mightly showed up by one little girl who had some very impresive firsbee catching skills. That evening we tried some of the local millet wine caled Racksie -pronounced roxy (which isn't actually the nicest tasting thing!) and spent time being taught more mind games and riddles by our guide Gobby. The second day of rafting was much calmer than the first, with only a few big rapids. It was a very hot clear day so we had a proper chance to enjoy the surrounding scenery, more beautiful mountainous countryside. And spend time cooling off swimming in the river. We finished rafting at midday and ate a huge lunch (rafting makes you veeeery hungry) before making our way back to Pokhara.
Once back in Pokhara we were reunited with Meetal, Simon and some other friends who had now finished trekking. We were now a group of 8 and had a fun evening renting a pedal boat on Lake Phewa. It was a pretty old rickety boat that tended to start sinking when one side got too heavy. But we managed to just about not sink and had a lovely time watching the sunset, we made it back to land just before it got completely dark!
Along with Meetal and Simon we left Pokhara on the Saturday and caught a bus to Lumbini. Lumbini is on the southern border, just 25km from India and is historically believed to be the birthplace of the Buddha. The bus journey took about 8 hours and took us through some really breathtaking scenery. We wound up the mountains passing through lots of colourful pretty villages, with houses painted in a range of blues, green, pinks and yellows, on top of the already richly coloured natural orange brick. Things turned a little less comfortable as we got nearer to Lumbini, the temperature got considerably hotter and the roads got even more bumpy! Lumbini has a very different landscape to the rest of Nepal, it is all flat and much more dry and arid. In the evening we explored the Mayadevi Temple and Gardens where the Buddha was born. It felt very peaceful and atmospheric. The next day Meetal and Simon hired some bicycles and Sof and I (who both struggle to ride bikes without falling off) had an almost leisurley time sitting on the back of their bikes. We went to look around more of the many temples in Lumbini. But in the 40+ degree heat we really struggled to physically do that much and collapsed under a tree for a few hours. It was just too hot to move! We caught the local night bus back to Kathmandu - a long 11 hour journey, but far more bearable without the daytime sun. Lumbini also gave us possibly the tastiest Lassi we have ever had!
Once back in Kathmandu we headed for the Kathmandu valley and an ancient preserved medieval town called Bhaktapur. The whole town is a UNESCO world heritage site and esentially a living museum of Newari culture and history - it has almost 100 thousand people living there. It quickly became one of our favorite places. It was abit like stepping back in time a couple of hundred years! We spent two days wondering the little alleyways, ancient squares, indulging in some delicious street food and eating the local Juju Dhau (Curd/Yogurt) which it is very famous for. We managed to also catch a glimpse of some bollywood movie making happening in the main Square (sadly we weren't offered to partake!).
We are now back in Kathmandu for our last few days. It was the Buddha's birthday on Wednesday so we joined the local festivities at Swayambunath, also know as the Monkey Temple which has a great view over the city - it was packed with people celebrating, lots of music and people lighting candles everywhere. We have really loved Nepal, both the huge range of beautiful and contrasting scenery and the incredible friendliness of the local people, we are sad to leave! Today is our last day before moving on to Sri Lanka.
Kat xxx
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