Vinny & Dog's Epic Trek Part 4: Pokhara and the bike that wouldn't go

---

Next chapter in the on-going saga of Vinny & Dog's Epic Trek

I was going paragliding.......so here goes........The guy told me the rules and how to get off the groud.....he said it was easy, just run off the side of the cliff we were on. Sounds ok to me, what you think? No issues taking off or during the amazing 1 hour flight. As we were flying there were too many people around also paragliding. They were everywhere. You trun right and there was someone, you trun left and the same. I though we were going to have to dog fight our way through the sky? One part we went higher and higher into the clouds.....I felt the mist of the clouds on my legs and face.....I was in total awe......The flight was awesome.....then to the intresting part. Wehn we were getting ready to land, it come on so quick......we were dodging right and then left and doing the spiral, at this point I started getting a bit queasy, but I was ok once we landed......Ahhhhhh.....the landing part.....Despite crashlanding short of the landing zone it was great!!! The only thing which sucked is the Himalayas (Ya know the snow capped ones?) were all hidden behind some clouds.....that part blows.......but I still got about 80 pics I took and the guy who I went tandem with took photos and movies as well.....I haven't seen them yet as they are on a disc. The guy told me I crashed well though, so I have THAT going for me as well!! (Don't worry everyone.....I was unhurt.....and just laid there in a heap as we pulled the chute down so the other guys could land as well.)

Following that, I rented a motorbike and drove up into the hills looking for the Peace Pagoda on this hilltop. Well halfway up I realized I wasn't getting closer to it and actually moving further away from it. Well I stopped and took some photos of the waterfalls and such, and proceeded to make my way back down the hill to have some dinner or a drink somewhere. Well I stopped to take a final photo and couldn't get the damn bike to start again.....within minutes, I drew a crowd of teens trying to help me get it going again. They checked the gas and a few other things.......no dice....So I coasted down the hill in neutral and made it to the bottom.....upon getting down there and pushing the bike into this inhabited area, some local dude saw me and helped me get it to a bike shop. They tried to get it going there and again no dice...... the mechanic continued to work on it while we, the local guy and I, climbed to the Peace Pagoda (which was the whole purpose of going there in the first place). We made it there just after the sunset. We walked around it for a bit and I took some photos then headed back down.....which by this time was IN THE DARK....that was an interesting experience. Let me just say walking up this trecherous rock strewn, uneven stepped hill in daylight was in itself a conquest of life over death (albiet barely), then to return in pitch black darkness.....some steps seem to be stepping into the dark abyss and hoping for the best, or at the least a tree to break my fall......The hike up was almost as bad as the Great Wall except this was all uphill. I fell once on the way back down, but some rocks seem to break my fall, so that was good, and I was somehow grateful. I kept thinking 'Damn why do I always find myself in predicaments like these? Some random foreign country and out in the middle of nowhere with some local and having no clue as to where we are?' When we got back to 'town' he wanted to take me to his house, so we went there for a minute. He showed me his pictures from his trip to Singapore, and tried to sell me his uncle's book (gotta love everyone trying to make a buck!). The bike shop didn't have the right parts or couldn't get it running so we started pushing the bike back from this shop (stilll pretty far away from the hotel and rental place) and we get closer to the hotel (but not by much). Luckily I spied another bike shop and I was tired of pushing this damn thing, so I had them work on it. Within about 20 minutes of pouring gas and oil into tubes and blowing it through and fiddling with this and that, they had the beast of a bike roaring to life and ready to attack the road, followed by their strict warning not to turn it off. I was happy and took their phot and promised not to turn it off. So off we went to take my little mepalese helper guy, back to his house and dropped him off (about 3 minutes riding a bike or 45 pushing!) and headed for home praying for the best. I figured as I just made this harrowing climb to the top to see a temple, a place of a higher being....someone was looking out for me. So no problems as I blazed back into town like a King returning to his Castle, only without everyone waiting the streets and the hype, and back to the shop...I proceed to tell the guy his bike is a piece of shit and it broke down and tell him I had to pay to get it working again.....His look suddenly turned to one of a deer in headlights as if he forgot every word of English or Engrish. Then he proceeded to say "Yeah, that problem all the time" and said he forgot to give me his number in case of problems.....Yeah....Thanks buddy!! So despite the adventure of the day, I survived relatively unscathed.......and ended up having Chinese food for dinner! Go figure?

The next day I made it back to Kathmandu, as I opted to take the 25 minute flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu in lieu of the 8+ hour bus ride next to some sweaty Nepalese, or Indian. So tomorrow I convinced one of the girls at the hotel to go siteseeing around Kathmandu with me. She said ok and it will be nice to go around and not get hassled by everyone you meet (or at least I hope that is the case)! Some reason, the hawkers don't bother you as much if you are with a local....regardless it will be a good time.......

Cheers......

---