Kayaking down the Seti

Aafter our last day of trekking in Jomson, we promptly flew to Pokhara to start the next phase of travels with my brother.  We went directly from the airport to the hotel to drop our gear off, hastily changing to bathing attire, then we headed to the kayak office to start our clinic. Pokhara is this quaint vacation destination, and the town sprawls lazily around this huge lake. It has a very beach like vibe with bars and restaurants everywhere along the main strip - everyone there seems so much more relaxed than Kathmandu.  

How lovely to be led by Paddle Nepal, run by a Canadian, Kelly, and her Nepali husband. Our group was led by 5 Nepali pro kayakers - some on the National team, and absolutely born in a kayak.  Like mermen.  That sounds dirty, but what I mean is like a mermaid, but a dude. 

In our group we had a veritable United Nations - a couple of Brits, two French, an American, a Russian, and us.  We had spectacular instruction on the first day in Lake Pokhara - like how to put on the kayak wetsuit for starters.  Which, by the way, adds nothing to your image nor does it improve body odor.  We learned how to do the eskimo roll, emergency moves (well used over the next few days), paddling tips, etc.  

Day 2-4, we paddled down the Seti River, along increasing rapids to test our limits.  On the final day, we reached a level 3 rapid, and I'm proud to say that I'm the only Canadian woman to have successfully paddled my way down the toughest of rapids - a succession of technical moves through rocks, then some fast paddling between two large boulders, moving through crashing waves in all directions, then attempting to clear the 5 foot drop in the water.  Followed by even more crashing waves, coming in from all directions, through which you have to quickly paddle - that is if you haven't bailed out by then!  It is a total adrenaline rush - and I can't wait to try it again. 

It was a spectacular trip, camping all the way along sandy shores, meeting locals as we went. We slept under tarps (held up by kayak paddles!) and were fed incredible food.  Right up to and including marshmallows.  I was sad to end the trip, however, my posterior was extremely happy to reach the final destination!

Trekking in Annapura

So, I've now finished my placement in Kathmandu, and my brother has come to join me in Nepal! 

We took off to do some trekking through the Annapurnas - a gorgeous area just north west of Kathmandu, where Annapurna I resides - rising up to a staggering 8091 meters, eighth highest in the world.  It was a beautiful experience, staying at locally run teahouses along the path - some of which had more amenities than others!  Some even had showers, sometimes warm, too.  Our path took us from Pokhara to Muktinath Temple, staying along the way in Hile, Gorepani (including a 5 am Poon Hill summit!  Yowsers!), Tatopani, Ghasa, Jomson, and Kagbeni.  Our hilarious Nepali guides, Prakash and Gobinder, led us along the path, keeping us well informed, highly entertained, and well taken care of.

We emerged at Muktinath Temple on Day 6, where the tree jungle landscape expires and becomes a dry desert like Tibetan plateau.  Very interesting, especially given the uprising in Tibet right now.  The scenery was a visual feast, as we trekked alongside a near dry riverbed, that swells up in monsoon season (fast approaching), as it turns through the Himalayas.  After climbing our way to nearly the top of the pass, we reached the temple, which provided astounding views of the entire mountain range.   Then, we went (of course) for tea, and descended down the path to Kagbeni for the night.  After reaching Jomson, we flew back to Pokhara to begin the next portion of the trip - a 4 day kayak adventure camping trip/clinic down the Seti River, toward Kathmandu!

Village trek

Here I am in a small family village ...a 4 hour drive NW of Kathmandu, then a 5 hour trek deep into the jungle, up one side of the mountain, then down to the river and up the other side. After so many stops along the way to greet relatives in various villages (always including tea), we ended up extending the time required to get to the family village, so finished the day trekking to the village by headlamp. Which was brilliant and terrifying, along what Nepalese call a path, but it really it is indescribable. It was trekking along the edge of a cliff, where, by headlamp, it appears that you just may risk falling off the side of the cliff. I was quite glad to not have run into tigers or bears, as they apparently frequent the locale. Mind you, the tigers feast on goats, usually, so there probably wasn't tremendous danger. We ended up arriving at 8:30 pm, to feast on daal bhat (of course!) and was offered a tiny bed with a straw mattress (!) in one of their mud houses, conveniently located above the stable!

While there, I got to play with baby goats, chickens, buffalo...how lovely!

Springtime is also just around the corner, so everything is beginning to bloom - so refreshing and spectacular, compared to dry and dusty Kathmandu.

Tibet!

The Last Resort, Tibet Border

Lounging after some intensive bike riding!
Here's me at the Tibet border...

Here I am at The Last Resort, an awesome adventure kingdom that borders Tibet.  It is well known for bungy jumping, as it is the only place to do so in Nepal (no, mom, I didn't do it!!!). 

We stayed in well appointed tents, each one perched on a different slice of the mountainside, with crazy stone pathways taking you up into the restaurant or down, down, down, to the lower resort to the spa or plunge pool.  The first day, I went rappelling down 210 meters of waterfalls one day - gorgeous!  The hilarious moment came at the end of the descent, when we had to hike uphill those same 210 meters in our full body wetsuits, burlap sack style diaper on my derriere (in place so you can abseil, or slide down parts of the waterfalls) and soaking wet shoes. Nice. The next day, I biked to the Tibet border one morning, a grueling 2.5 hour ride, directly uphill on wild terrain - ranging from beautiful roads to rocky muddy trails (and everything in between including silt roads).  It was actually a fairly uneventful greeting of the border.  We were allowed to ride across the bridge to the red line that marks the Tibet side. As we couldn't cross the line, we sat there to enjoy the thundering water in the river below, made funny faces to the Tibet guards, then promptly headed back to find more chocolate to fuel our return to the resort.  It was a 40 minute descent right downhill to the resort - incredibly fast, and mostly motivated by hunger.  We fully indulged in gourmet food while there and enjoyed breathing in some fresh, unpolluted mountain air.  

Siddhi Memorial Hospital, Bhaktapur

Here is where I've been volunteering - Siddhi Memorial Hospital, in Bhaktapur, 14 kms east of Kathmandu.  14 kms doesn't sound that far away, however it can take from 45 minutes to 4.5 hours to get there due to the terrain, lack of gas, full busses.....  The last week I was there, I decided to rent a mountain bike and ride there and back to Kathmandu.  Brilliant!  

I've been living here (most weeks) Monday to Friday, in the attached old age home, which has a residence for volunteers.  This incredible place was founded by Shyam, an inspiring leader, who had lost his 41/2 year old son, Siddhi, to a vehicle accident.  He died on the way to Kathmandu, as a result of a lack of local hospital services in Bhaktapur, so decided to start a project to create a place for the community, specifically targeting disadvantaged women and children.

This hospital is run on donations only, and it is quite amazing to see what Shyam has created as a result of a huge personal loss.  Shyam is one of my personal heros.

Here is a photo of the OPD - Outpatient Department, quite basic, yet it provides much needed attention to very sick kids.  Most have cases of dysentery , chest infections (especially in winter) and malnutrition.  While I've been here, I've spent time working in the OPD, in the old age home, and working with Shyam on marketing materials for the hospital to help solicit more donations.  

Here I am in the cafeteria eating the traditional daal bhat, served for both lunch and dinner at the old age home.  Most Nepalis eat this twice a day.  In this photo I'm trying to look excited, desperately trying to ignore my fourth case of GI issues, attempting to eat this very, insanely, ridiculously bland daal bhat.  Thank goodness most daal bhat is delicious and tasty, with lentils, rice, and spicy lamb or mutton, pickle (which is really a spicy chili sauce), and potatoes.   

Chitwan Jungle - Elephants!

Here I am in the Chitwan Jungle, the Terai region of Nepal about a 4 hour bus ride SW of Kathmandu.  We had a weekend of adventure there, beginning with the filming of a commercial at our resort, which included some pretty hilarious acting as well as two elephants, a chain, and a man in yellow pants with a pink scarf!  

Our first night had us trekking through the jungle, looking for some of the local birds such as indigo blue peacocks.  They are pretty evasive, however, we did see a few on the other side of the riverbank.  After walking through the elephant breeding centre (so adorable! 1 day old babies!), we ended up at Sunset Point where we watched the huge orange sun slowly disappear behind palm trees and sand, while enjoying a G&T.  Now, Sunset Point has some pretty interesting things on their menu, including a long list of various lassis - mango, banana, apple, and most interestingly of all - a "special" lassie.  Naturally, this one had us inquiring....and suffice it to say, that they blend a special herb into the yoghurt drink, which they said will ensure you can't walk home!  I love Nepal.  

After Sunset Point, we feasted on daal bhat, of course and after a lovely fire, off to bed, ready for the next day.  We began the next day with an elephant safari through the jungle to spot some rhinos - we saw a mother and a young baby calf, up close and personal, right beside our elephant!  They don't seem scared of the elephants and obviously don't notice us perched atop.  After walking through the river on the elephants backs, they suddenly became very frisky, and started trumpeting to each other and smacking their trunks on the ground!  It was both fantastic and terrifying - the elephant trainer who was also on the back of the elephant, was trying to control the elephant, and as a final showdown, my elephant plunged itself headfirst into a tree, clearly pushing it over!  Crazy - the tree must have been 4 ft wide, and the elephant pushed it right over, exposing the roots and all.  Then our elephants raced back to the breeding centre.  Yup, raced.  And riding on the back of a running elephant is just as comfortable as it sounds.  They have elephant polo championships here - I can't imagine riding on the back of a running elephant for a whole game!

Post elephant race, we went swimming with the elephants.  How exhilarating in a fairly terrifying way.  I was waiting for a hazardous elephant trauma to happen, however the elephant trainer seemed to have full control over the 2500 kg beast!  While in the river, we would take turns climbing on the slippery back of the elephant, then the elephant would shake us off and toss us into the water!  We laughed so hard!  One of the funniest scenes, was us trying to teach our Nepali friends, Rajiv and DC, how to swim.  This isn't the most useful skill in landlocked Nepal, so most don't know how.   It was so hilarious to see them madly doggy paddling away, trying to swim up the current and not drown.  

After a walk back through the village to our resort, we took a jeep to start the last leg of our day - a canoe ride down the river to look for crocodiles.  It was amazing to see them from the vantage point of a boat and we spotted dozens of crocs, young and old and (thank goodness) mostly docile.   When we hopped off the canoe, we went for a trek through the jungle to search again for rhinos.  The guide started the walk by giving us instructions on how to avoid being killed by a wild rhino.  Really!  

The instructions were as follows:

-remove a layer of clothing

-run zig zag

-climb a tree

all at the same time or closely following each other!  I laughed so hard at the first one - try to avoid being eaten by distracting the rhino with your nakedness and running away in a zig zag fashion.  I gather that the idea being that the scent on your clothing would distract, and running back and forth would further confuse as they can't turn their 2000 kg bodies quickly, nor climb a tree.  I was fairly happy to not spot one on this part of the journey.