Sometimes trekking, sometimes rafting...all from Pokhara...!

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After a few days in Kathmandu to rest after our trek, enjoying a massage at the Serenity Spa (bliss!) and pizza and sizzling brownie at the Roadhouse Cafe (the BEST dessert in town...and pretty darn good pizza as well), our recuperation was complete and we were ready to move on. So to Pokhara it was! After a 7 hour bus journey that is...one that takes you along a road missing sections due to landslides and with steep drops on the side that when you are too close to them, the bus driver’s assistant sticks his head out the window and bangs on the outside of the bus to say when to go and when to stop...really the only thing to do is put your music on, close your eyes and hope for the best!

Pokhara is Nepal’s second biggest town and Lakeside, the main tourist area, is situated right next to Phewa Lake and is full of cafes, restaurants, bars and shopping! The air is much cleaner and the view, when the skies are clear, is magnificent...with the town surrounded by high Himalayan peaks. We had a couple of weeks left in Nepal and thought a bit more activity would be good for us (obviously an 11 day trek was not enough!) so had decided to do some rafting and more trekking in the Annapurna region, basing ourselves in Pokhara. What a good idea that was!! We organised a 3 day rafting trip to start a couple of days after our arrival in Pokhara...you know, just so we could rest a little more before actually doing something again! There are a few different rafting companies available but we chose Extreme River Rafting (no reason really) and were hyped for a multi day rafting trip that took us down the holy Kali Ghandaki river camping on the side as we went. Fun times!

We met the crew and other rafters we would be spending the next few days with and we were off! In a lovely bus decorated with Hindu gods and other religious paraphernalia...we felt very safe. The rafting itself was fantastic, well worth doing if you are ever in Pokhara, and we met another great bunch of people. Mostly we were catching the rapids, flying over them (the skill of the paddlers was unprecedented), laughing as we jumped in the water to float down the smaller rapids (Ben and I are GUARANTEED a place in heaven now having swam in both the Ganges and the Kali Ghandaki rivers) and generally having a rip roaring good time. That is...until we flipped *cue suspenseful music here*. Actually, not so ruining of the rip roaring good time, in fact contributed to it – we all survived! But now I know you are wondering what happened and how we coped with being thrown into the raging rapids of the Kali Ghandaki river...well wonder no more! I will tell you....

So...the raft flipped. There we were laughing because the raft in front of us had flipped and 10 seconds later – over we went! I was on the far side so got flung up into the air and into the water! Now...Ben and my experiences differ slightly from this point...mine is more action heroine/super woman type stuff...obvs. So I will recount them separately, me first. So into the water I went. Luckily, earlier in the day we had jumped into the water (willingly this time) to float down some rapids. At first they had told us to keep to the centre to go down them, but then as we approached the rapids they were shouting “go right go right!” Now I don’t know if you have ever tried to swim against rapids but it is near impossible, so down the centre I went, along with another girl from our group, straight into the bigger rapids! I was laughing and enjoying myself and then suddenly getting a lot of water in my mouth. My thought process at the time was something along the lines of “hahahaha, fun, choke choke, shit, choke choke, PANIC!” I looked around for a kayaker to save me and one was there with another person already hanging off the front of him...and he shouted some words to me that helped me a lot and would seem obvious, but apparently not – “CLOSE YOUR MOUTH”. Um, duh. Closed my mouth, stopped choking. But back to the flipping incident. I went into the water...and kept my mouth closed! I learn quick. All I could think about was the fact that when we got back onto the raft we would need our paddles, which were all floating in the rapids alongside us. So I started grabbing every paddle I could see (even at one point trying to wrestle one off someone else!), all while flying through the rapids trying to keep my head above water, feet facing down, mouth closed etc etc. Then our guide started shouting at us, “don’t panic, don’t panic, get to the raft!” The raft was going past me, upside down still, with our guide on top of it, he shouted at me to get to the raft, but by this time I had collected 3 paddles so couldn’t really use my arms to get to the raft, so I looked at him bewildered and shouted “but...paddles!” trying to hold them up to show what a good job I was doing. He shouted at me again “GET TO THE RAFT!!!” this time with a little more force, so, I flung the paddles to one side and attempted to reach the raft before it passed me completely. Our guide grabbed me as I got near and pulled me on. Now it was just me and him on the upside down raft going down the rapids...I looked around for Ben and saw him in an eddy along with a few other people so he was safe. Then, as the rapids took us, we went straight past! Now the priority was to flip the raft back up the right way. It was just me and the guide...it was up to us. So, he attached a rope and we stood up and after the count of 3 we heaved! Whoops, lost my balance, half fell into the water and Sanu (our guide) had to pull me back on. Take two. 1, 2, 3 – HEAVE! Up the raft came and once again I was flung into the water...alongside Sanu this time, who quickly pulled himself up onto the raft and, once again, pulled me on too. So now we were heading towards another larger set of rapids...with no paddles. I looked at Sanu with a slight “uh, what do we do now” expression and he pointed behind me to a kayaker paddling as fast as he could towards us with 3 paddles. I grabbed them, threw one to Sanu, jumped into the front of the raft and together (obviously with instructions shouted by him) we navigated our way through the rapids and came to rest on the side of the river to wait for the others to be rescued and join us. Phew. GI Jane or what??!?!?

Now Ben...Ben was also flung into the water. But somehow he was taken by the current into an eddy on the other side of the raft...along with most other people from our raft (don’t know why it didn’t take me!). Then...he got rescued. That is it. Nowhere near as exciting as my story 😊. Ok, it wasn’t quite that boring...he obviously did as well get washed through the rapids before being pushed into the eddy, and when they were rescued by the other raft (the only one that had not flipped) there were about 15 people all on the one raft trying to navigate through the rapids to safety! Still...my story is better.

Nothing else is really as exciting as the flipping incident so will stop recounting here...but all in all the rafting was brilliant and was topped off by a night out on the town with our guides and fellow rafters!

Before taking off on another trek we had a bit of a look around Pokhara and the surrounds, hiring a motorbike and taking in Sarangkot, Devi’s Falls, The International Mountain Museum, and generally just enjoying hooning around the roads alongside cows, dogs, people...and of course other vehicles! Incidentally, at the museum it seems that I was just as interesting as the exhibits with multiple young teenage boys asking to have a photo taken with me! They were quite enterprising actually, when they realised that I was going to keep saying no, they started asking to have their photo taken with Ben “with ma’am too”. Little buggers...answer was still no...I was not an exhibit! We had this a lot in India, and I even had some photos taken with some local guys while rafting, but sometimes I am just not in the mood to humour them...and my hair is not always done. We also spent our time enjoying what the restaurants and cafes had to offer...particularly Moondance Cafe which served up delicious meals, great coffee...and the yummiest lemon meringue pie I have ever had! I have to say...we have been enjoying sampling all the different foods in Nepal and have been very pleasantly surprised! Not only with the local Nepalese food (which is delish) but also the various restaurants serving up international cuisine – and very well I might add! Neither of us has suffered from any severe sickness here, and a lot of the tourist restaurants (in Pokhara and Kathmandu) even wash their vegetables in iodine and make ice from mineral water!

But it was trekking time! And this time we were doing it ourselves. We decided on the Poon Hill trek which would take us 4 days and was through the Annapurna Conservation Area. We loved this walk...it not only offered us incredible views of the high Himalayan peaks (including Annapurna 1 8091m, Annapurna South 7219m and Dhaulagiri 8167m) but the walk also took us through beautiful rainforest and the prettiest villages. The accomplishment we felt at doing it ourselves was pretty good too! It was nice to work on our time and to make all our own decisions. I have to say though...by the end of the walk my body was screaming at me anytime we approached a hill...it just didn’t want to go up anymore!! And there was a fair bit of up...the first 2 ½ days were pretty consistently up, including over 3000 stairs on the first day, and we walked from 1070m to highest point of 3020m (twice actually, up and down and up and down again!). Fair to say that by the time we got back to Pokhara we were both ready for a massage! Just for completeness I will note where we walked and a few moments that stick out...me being shoved by a donkey into some nettle on the first day which stung the majority of my hand (I was staying mountainside like I was supposed to...but apparently so was he); administering first aid to a little boy who was carrying a load of sticks when he fell and face planted down some stairs (poor little tyke!); being asked multiple times again by children for chocolate (no chance); in general the amazing views we were presented with every day, especially Dhaulagiri which is my new second favourite Himalayan peak; and finally, me falling on the last day, which apparently I like to do when trekking in foreign countries, about an hour and a half from the finish and rolling my stupid ankle! Not happy! And on my birthday as well!!! So I hobbled to the finish and after a long cab ride back to Pokhara, took my boot off to see the damage. Lots of swelling and bruising...so I (well, Ben) bandaged that bad boy and off we went to get lunch and COFFEE! I am a tough trekker chick after all...and I have my priorities.

So the next big thing...it was my birthday and we had some celebrating to do!!! After lunch and a bit of a relax and a shower (so good to be clean!), Ben told me I had to get ready as we had to leave soon. But it turns out we weren’t going far...just to the balcony of our hotel. Ben, rather sneakily, had organised a bottle of (real!) champagne and a birthday cake for me!!! As we were sitting drinking our bubbles, the hotel staff brought the cake out and they all sang happy birthday to me. It was amazing (and made pretty funny by the trick candles that I couldn’t blow out!) – what a man!! And then...when I thought the night couldn’t get any better...Ben proposed. Sigh. What a man. So off we went to dinner at the Moondance...engaged, happy and pretty darn sore still.

As I write this we are sitting in the Pumpernickel Bakery back in Kathmandu (great yak cheese sandwiches) and will be heading to the airport in a few hours to fly home. Our last days in Nepal have been spent eating, shopping and enjoying some fantastic massages and I must say we will be sad to leave this incredible country. But alas, work and study await (as well as wedding planning!) so it is time to get back to reality...until next time...

Sarah and Ben xxx

Note:

The greeting used in Nepal is ‘Namaste’ which is often said with a slight bow and your hands in prayer position. I love this greeting and thought it would be nice to share what the actual meaning of it is...as it signifies so much more than just hello! There are various interpretations but my favourites are the following... “I recognise your presence or existence in society and the universe” / “I honour that place in you where the whole universe resides, and when I am in that place in me and you are in that place in you, there is only one of us” / “the Spirit within me salutes the Spirit in you”

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Photos

Pokhara
am pm cafe... great cheese and wine!

Pokhara
lemon meringue pie.. yum!

Pokhara
our review of the rafting trip..

Pokhara
the view from Sarangkot

Pokhara
watching the paragliders over Pokhara

Pokhara
getting around on our bike..

Pokara
at the Mountaineering Museum

Pokhara
...some people just don't listen

Pokhara
our favourite hangout in Pokhara