Free Falling

Nepal; Lumbini, Chitwan, Pokhara, Kathmandu, The Last Resort, Hetauda

India; Siliguri, Maldah, Kolkata

Day 40- Lumbini, Nepal

How can it be possible to have two vast worlds within 10 steps of eachother? One minute we were fighting our way through the hussle and bussle of India and the next we were surrounded by the beauty and peace of Nepal.

We left our Indian bus behind and made the border crossing by foot to be greeted on arrival by the Nepalese reps. The change of buses in each country has been very consistent. And as for the reps they each have their own unique qualities.

Our first night stop was in Lumbini, where we visited the birthplace of Buddha and watched young monks singing and partaking in their daily rituals. Our hotel was nice and I had non spicy food for the first time in a long time.. Yay!

I had a warm fuzzy feeling about this country, and looked forward to seeing more: )

Day 41-42 Chitwan, Nepal

We travelled through the scenic landscape with rice fields on one side and corn on the other. We arrived to Chitwan National Park where we were greeted by Britney the elephant. We were shown to our rooms and given a generous spread of local food. I love this place already!!!

We were given a tour of Thrau village where we got to meet some locals and see their way of life. It was refreshing to see that however simple their way of life seemed they were happy and hard working people.

In the evening we got to watch the traditional Thrau stick dance. It could have all gone wrong with one little slip of the stick but they were all very well coordinated..

The next day we had a canoe trip along the rivers of marsh mugger infested waters. Marsh muggers are one of the deadliest crocs in the world and we were in 8 man wooden canoes, hmmm I felt safe….Luckily we were not breakfast to these mass murderers and continued on a jungle trek where we saw a fair few wild birds. We then came to the elephant breeding centre where we fed the baby elephants cheese crackers, apparently it’s like a treat for them.

After a busy morning we came back to the hotel for another hearty meal and a nana nap. We then had elephant bathing and safari in the afternoon followed by cocktails and sunset. A delightful end to an eventful day.

Day 43-44 Pokhara, Nepal

Set in the midths of snow capped mountains and a scenic lake was a beautiful town called Pokhara where we had 2 free days to spend. A few of us went kayaking on what were river kayaks so it was bit of a challenge. Any excuse to blame the equipment and not myself. Although I did find it quite funny that my bum got wedged in the kayak so if I had capsized I could have possibly drowned. ; p

We had paragliding booked as an excursion but unfortunately due to weather conditions it got cancelled and well it was then a good reason to go shopping instead, not all lost there then ;) We ended our afternoon going upto a mountain peak to watch the sunset .

Day 45-49 Kathmandu, Nepal

As celebration of the half way mark of the trip we decided to go white water rafting onroute to Kathmandu. We had two rafts of 7 and 8, and we were given brief safety training before entering the deadly waters. It was very physically challenging especially on the arms, there were times I thought my arms were going to fall off but from the fear of dying I kept on paddling… It was unnerving that you weren’t attached to the boat in any way. You just had to sit at a certain angle with your feet tucked under the rubber padding of the raft and hope you don’t fall in… wishful thinking as we ended up capsizing at the first rapid and I truly thought I was going to die for a split second. I managed to keep hold of my paddle and grab hold of the raft, I then got pulled onto safety. After that for a good 20mins I was totally freaked out and didn’t enjoy it at all. There were sections of the river that were calm enough for us to have a swim in, eventhough they were pretty strong currents. It was then that I thought that if I was going to die I should at least be having fun. So back I went on the raft and rode those waves through the second and third and fourth..rapids. I was totally exhausted by the end of it but so pleased I stuck with it and actually managed to enjoy it. Another achievement to add to the list : )

We spent a total of 5 nights in Kathmandu the capital city of Nepal. It is full of character and tourists. As an optional excursion I opted to spend one night at The Last Resort which is a beautiful activity resort near the Tibetan border. I booked myself onto the world’s 3rd highest bungee jump at 160m out doing my New Zealand jump at 134metres and I also thought I’d try out the canyon swing of 240metres arch.

There were a good few of us from the group doing the activities. We were gathered on the high wire bridge waiting in anticipation for our turn to step out onto the plunge platform. You can’t help but question your sanity when doing such extreme activities but it’s the adrenalin rush that outweighs it.

I firstly got to do the canyon swing, I got kitted up and led to the edge of the platform. Some of the girls from the bus who were also on the bridge waiting for their turn were totally losing it and so in the name of the game I tried to keep it calm. For the swing all you need to do is just step off the ledge, fall 160metres before being swung in a 240metre arch. Once I stepped off all I can remember is thinking my stomach was in my mouth. I kept on falling and falling and falling. It was totally amazingly. I was swinging in a gorge like tarzan with an angry river running below my feet. Wooohooo.

You were then lowered down to land and had a 40 min trek back up the mountain!! By the time I got back up it was time to do the bungee, so off I went second time round. Unfortunately I didn’t have such a great experience this time round as the ankle strap was not attached properly and led me to twist my ankle. I had some assistance but it was a pain trying to get back up the mountain.. This bad experience hasn’t put me off from future jumps I am determined to do the highest in the world at some point, so watch this space.

The rest of my time in Kathmandu was spent shopping and socializing. We had a good few nights out going to bars with live music. There was an optional excursion to do an Everest flight but I chose to sleep in and take other peoples pictures instead ;P

Day 50- Hetauda, Nepal

We had a long drive along windy roads to get to Hetauda. This was our last stop in Nepal and was made purely as a stopover destination before heading back to India for 3 days.

Unfortunately Myanmar has been taken off our itinerary (due to convenience issues) so we had an added flight from Calcutta to Bangkok. I really didn’t see the point of going back into India to fly where as we could have easily flown from Kathmandu and stayed in Nepal an extra 3 nights. I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Nepal and would definitely return again in the future. I went without any expectations and was pleasantly surprised. The locals aptly describe Nepal as Never Ending Peace and Love.

Day 51- SIliguri, India

Our three days in India were just drive days, we were given a sleeper bus so all we did was to take advantage and catch up on sleep. Although the roads and drivers were crazy so a few of us went flying down the bus acouple times.. (Luckily not me, I was holding on for dear life..)

Day 52- Maldah, India

It was one of the girls birthdays so we arranged a meal and cake in the hotel restaurant. Out came the ipods and tunes, it was party time…

Day 53- Calcutta, India
We caught our 3 hour flight and was amused by inflight entertainment.. hmmm Zac Efron.. There was some turbulence and one of the girls ended up having a panic attack and needed oxygen to calm down. But we all made it safe and sound to the city of Bangkok..

Thailand adventures to follow…. xx

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