Further down the river....

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Hey everyone!

This weekend was brilliant, as I went white water river rafting on the Trisuli River! I'm not completely sure what area,as we rafted about 40km in total, so just put the Himalayas... On Saturday, about 20 of us made our way to the shores of the Trisuli River to begin our adventure. We were all given a paddle and equipment, and given a brief about how to raft, and so got into the little rafting boats and started!

First of all, the rapids were really gentle, so there was plenty of time to admire the beautiful scenery! There were green hills, and you could see little villages- so nice to see these things whilst floating down the river. The rapids then became Grade 3 (grade 6 is the most difficult grade to raft- in fact, most consider it impossible!) which was sooo much fun! We had to paddle really hard, and the waves lift you so high sometimes that you're just paddling air! It was so exilarating, and I got soaking wet. We stopped for lunch on a little beach a few hours later, so we could relax- it wasn't really sunny but still warm, so sitting in the sand was really nice. After, we continued to raft- the rapids got a bit rougher which was great- they can really throw a little boat around- It was like being on a rollercoaster, only better because it's real!

Towards the evening, we set up camp on another beach further down the river- it was lovely because I haven't been out camping in a long time. The sky was clear, so you could see the stars, and we set up a huge bonfire and just sat around it until late. It was lovely, because even when I was sleeping, I could hear the river running- nothing quite like sleeping to the sound of running water, especially since I've been sleeping to the sound of barking dogs for over a month!

The next day, we continued rafting. Our guide also decided to flip the entire raft over whilst we were all still in it- so I got absolutely soaked- the water was really freezing as well! But it was a lot of fun, because while you're in the water you can look up and see all these beautiful hills surrounding you, and it's so peaceful. In the afternoon, we stopped rafting as we needed to get back to Kathmandu- so we ate lunch on a beach (there are a surprisingly large number of beaches lining the Trisuli River), packed up, and then got back in our bus. It was really good, even though my arms were aching so much afterwards! Who would have thought that paddling down a river could be so much hard work?!

True to Nepali style, the bus journey took 5 hours instead of the planned 3, as there was a HUGE traffic jam all the way to Kathmandu! It was, all in all, a great weekend- unlike anything I've ever done before.

Teaching in school is going well right now, although the exams are coming up on Sunday (the weekend here is only one day long i.e. just Saturday), so I will soon be out of a job again! There are also holidays after- so I actually only have 5 full days of teaching left this month! So crazy- but I am trying to organise some other activities, like going on a picnic with some of the students at Snowland, and painting the classrooms, which will be a lot of fun!

Anyway, until next time!

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