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Published: April 7th 2011
So after our little jungle adventure in Chitwan, it was time to get back to city life in the lovely Kathmandu. An ideal place to chill on a rooftop and recharge our batteries! There has been a huge choice and variety of delicious food in the Nepali capital, from yummy dhal bhat to wonderful Italian antipasti and gnocchis via great hummus and pita - just what we needed! Add on top of that some pretty amazing cocktails and we were sorted!
To try to balance out our sudden binge eating, we decided it might be a good idea to get a little exercise... in the form of rafting down the exciting Bhote Koshi! An early meeting at Equator's office and we were on our way to the river, close to the Tibetan border, a mere 3 (bumpy) hours from the city. As with any good white water expedition, we started off with a rather large plateful of dhal bhat - as if we needed any more food! After blowing up the raft we were ready to go! An easy start but fun all the same with a lot of being thrown into the cold Himalayan water! Also relatively exciting since
we were going down the river together with some Nepali government VIPs - look out for us on Nepal TV!! A couple of hours later, we arrived at Sukute Beach Resort to be greeted with hot tea, noodle soup and popcorn! We were mistaken to think that we were going to have a relaxing evening - we were soon recruited to be on one of the beach volleyball teams! After an exhausting few hours, dinner was ready! And then the serious business started - Tuborg, Nepali rum, pool and ping pong... Needless to say our playing skills improved greatly! Early breakfast the next morning and a short bus ride up the valley where we were given wetsuits - a sure sign that we were in for some more hard core paddling! This is an under-statement - 3 hours of big rapids, the rescue of another raft which had flipped and the almost sinking of our own which then needed deflating and we were ready for a cup of tea/lunch. Turned out, so was the driver as we screamed down the mountain with music blaring out!
On a more tranquil note, we have also made the most of our time
here to visit some famous sites. We took a stroll through "real" Kathmandu to Swayambunath, the Monkey Temple, where we climbed up its many stairs to get a great view of the valley whilst listening to our new favourite song - oooooom mani padme hum etc etc. We also visited Durbar Square and the huge Hindu temple at Pashupati and finished off with the biggest stupa at Bodnath.
In amongst all this activity, we also found time to relax in the beautiful Garden of Dreams - a true haven of green and peace in this bustling city - and indulge in some shopping, our favourite item being customised t-shirts as an early birthday present for KC!
Just to complete our amazing time in Nepal, we met up with old family friend RB who ever so kindly took us out to the cute Himali kitchen as well as invited us to his house North of Thamel where we were introduced to the whole family and fed absolutely wonderful food!
It is sad to say that our time here is finishing and scary to think that we have gone past the half way point but we are both very
excited about flying to Thailand tomorrow!
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dad
non-member comment
Do you do anything but eat ? and drink ?