Rafting on the Kali Gandaki

October 22, 2010

This morning we woke up at 5:30 AM to finish packing up our last things, store our bags with the hotel keeper, and walk to the bus station. It took us a few minutes to finally roll out of bed, so after we had walked a few blocks, we took a taxi to save some time.

At the bus station, we each bought a croissant from the eager young boys selling pastries, and then we sat on the fence, munching on hot bread and feeling that particular I-woke-up-too-early-and-now-I-have-a-bit-of-a-tummy-ache feel.

On the bus, we crammed into the too-small seats and waited for the other seats to fill up. By 6:45, we were on our way.

The bus ride from Pokhara to Besi Sahar takes about 5 hours, and it costs a little less than 200 rupees per person. The bus is smaller than some of the others we've taken, and it's filled with a mix of tourists and locals. Sitting behind us, we met a woman named Frith from New Zealand, and a man named Ankit from London.

To combat motion sickness, I took a homeopathic remedy Stacy had given me, and it seemed to work really well for the first few hours. Talking with Frith and Ankit, I heard about Frith's adventures trekking in Mongolia and living in Christchurch, and Ankit's job teaching children about the outdoors in Thailand. Ankit had also spent about a month in Dharamkot just before we had gotten there, and he had taken a 10 day Meditation course at Tushita. Although he hadn't really known why he was interested in meditation, the course turned out to be amazing, and the group of people he had attended it with had all had really positive, incredible experiences. Apparently, a lot of the meditations brought up a lot of old memories and people had begun to work through them.

Frith's a doctor just about to enter her residency, and Ankit has been traveling and working since he graduated from Manchester with a degree in Environmental Science in 2001. They were both very friendly, and as we the bus moved along, I thought about how lucky we've been to meet so many wonderful people as we've been traveling. When I told Ankit about our farm, he seemed both shocked and excited, and he confessed that he has a similar dream.

The last hour before we reached Besi Sahar, the homeopathic remedy couldn't quite cut it. By the time we arrived, I was feeling very woozy indeed. Frith went off to line up her mountaineering plans, and Ankit, Joshua, and I headed out of town on the dirt road headed for Bhulebule.

As we walked, Ankit told us a little bit about his family, who are originally from India, moved to London, raised him and his brother, and then moved back to India. He told us about living and working in New Zealand for year, finding work in London, traveling in India for a few months, traveling in Australia for a few more, and then finding work Thailand. I asked him more about the meditation course, and then we all got to talking about religion. Ankit doesn't know a lot about Christianity, but he did have a few questions, and we tried to answer them as fairly and knowledgeably as possible. In the end, we agreed that dogma and practice often look completely different, and most religions have really beautiful, compassionate people who have managed to take the good, leave the bad, and build something amazing. And, of course, there are the communities, which all of us envy.

We arrived in Bhulebule before we knew it, and the bus pulled in right as we did. It had taken us the same amount of time to walk it as it had taken some of the other tourists to wait for the bus and then ride it. We felt satisfied with our decisions, and I felt particularly thankful when I saw a few tourists clutching their stomachs.

Crossing a swinging bridge above a beautiful, rushing river, we passed a donkey train and walked through another small village on the opposite side of the stream. Little children ran up to us, asking for 'chocolates? Candy? School pens?' And we shook our heads and said, 'Namaste!'

Walking along the river, we entered another deep, gorgeous valley, and we passed a number of waterfalls along the way. At one point, we were barracaded by a group of young girls that sang and danced for us, and for their efforts, I gave them 10 rupees. One of them held my hand as she said thank you.

After just three hours and forty-five minutes of hiking, we arrived in upper Nadi. Ankit requested a guest house that looked 'Hobbit-en,' and we found Seasonal Lodge and Sore Back Restaurant. The rooms have mud floors, mosquito nets, and bambo walls, and outside, there are trellises, thatch-shade tables, and plenty of lovely orange and pink flowers.

Unloading our packs, Joshua and I headed into the little village to purchase a pair of cheap, light flipflops for me (100 rupees), and while we were there, we also picked up 250 grams of yak cheese.

Back at the guest house, a little boy, Taman, led us through brush and rice paddies to the river were we sat for a bit and cooled off our feet. When we walked back, we ordered Dal Bhaat with Ankit, and then we sat down to read and write.

For dinner, we ate to our hearts content and chatted with an Israeli couple and Ankit. Like Eshai and Hadas, these two are on their honeymoon, but they seemed a bit surprised that traveling is not at all like holiday (actually, the woman looked a bit pissed).

After the sun set, we headed off to our rooms, and now, I'm scrambling to catch up on my writing. We've been so social the past couple of weeks, I've barely had time to write!

October 21, 2010

The next morning, we took it easy. My stomach was still pulling all sorts of stunts, and Joshua had to finish up his application to law enforcement training. In the mean time, Stacy and Kyle went to go have breakfast with Julian and Carla.

Once Joshua had finished his essays, I did a little editing, and then we set off for the Immigration Office to get a 15 day extension on our Nepali visas. It took about 20 minutes to walk there from our hotel, and when we got there, there wasn't even a line. We sat down, filled out a page of paper work, gave the man our passport, a photo, and some money, and they gave us our extension. It took about 10 minutes.

Back in Pokhara, we met up with Kyle and Stacy and checked out a couple of the tattoo parlors. I know what you're thinking, but no, the tattoo investigation wasn't just for me. Joshua's actually been seriously considering a little ink, and we needed to see what Pokhara had to offer.

Like the parlors in Kathmandu, all of the artists used new needles and gloves (the men looked at me as though I was demented when I asked them. They told me that they were insulted that I had even asked.). They looked fine, but their portfolios were pretty traditional. After the second parlor, I told Joshua that I didn't think we should do it; none of the artists seemed to have very much experience with 'artsy' tattoos.

Joshua hopped into the UPS store to mail off his application materials while Stacy, Kyle, and I wandered in and out of outdoor shops. I stocked up on meds for the trek (sunscreen, Cipro, Diamoxin, and Advil) and bought some last minute supplies like headlamps, trekking poles for Joshua, and sunglasses for me (I'm really, really going to try to not loose these ones.).

After a bit of running around, we had everything we needed (we hope), and we went back to the hotel to unload our stuff, have another painful visit with the restroom, and gather our things for a little boat ride.

Before we headed out, we stopped at a Tibetan restaurant and ordered a feast. Seriously. We filled our table with Thukpa, Tingmo, Curried Vegetables, Spring Rolls, Momos, Chowmein, and Lassis, and then we ate until we were absolutely stuffed. There was so much food, and we had probably nine lassis between the four of us, the final bill came out to only 700 rupees (that's ten dollars). The food was great.

In Pokhara, you can rent a paddle boat for 250 rupees an hour. We took one out for two hours, and during that time, we went no where in particular. There was a little island with a temple that we puttered around, but mostly we drifted and paddled aimlessly while we talked and laughed. It's so good to be with friends.

When the sun started to set, we pulled ashore, paid, and headed into town, looking for stamps to send off our postcards. In one shop, I spied the perfect gift for Yvonne and Dave, and Joshua drove a mean bargain. He was incredible, and we came out with the gift in hand.

Stephen met up with us, and after we picked up our photos from Paddle Nepal, we went into Almond's Cafe to meet up with Shelby, Cory, and Gemma. Joshua and I weren't too hungry, so we just ordered appetizers (Chilly Momos and Vegetable Pakora).

At one point during our conversation, Kyle told us that he 'sprouts.' I'd never encountered this term before, and always fascinated by Kyle's healthy food kicks, I asked him for more details. Apparently, you can 'sprout' lots of things. He specializes in lentils and buckwheat, but you can also sprout quinoa and mung beans. Anyway, you soak the grain or bean for a few hours, and then you drain the water. Keep it in a cool place for the next couple of days, thoroughly rinsing them twice a day. After two or three days, they'll germinate, and viola! You'll have sprouted beans or grains. Kyle says that they are one of the most complete foods, and they're extremely high in protein, low in calories, and very, very good for you.

Midway through this explanation, Shelby leaned over and exclaimed, 'you sprout?!' Kyle and Shelby shared a bonding moment, and I realized that there was a whole food revolution I had never heard anything about. I guess once you've sprouted, you either eat the sprouts whole and plain, or you can put them in salads. Kyle dehydrates his sprouted buckwheat and eats it like cereal. Next, they got to talking about their next goal: fermentation. Kyle wants to learn how to make kimchi and all sorts of fermented vegetables. Shelby got particularly animated when they started talking about their juicers, and after Kyle described a particular concoction made of fennel, chard, broccoli stem, and carrot juice, Stacy helpfully added, 'yeah, and sometimes, they even taste good!' Which made us all crack up.

Once we had finished eating, we paid and said goodbye. Stephen went off with Shelby, Cory, and Gemma for a drink, and Kyle and Stacy walked back to the hotel with us where we all said goodbye and agreed that we had had the most wonderful time. Another trip is already in the making.

Back in the room, we packed up and tried to whittle down our Annapurna packs to the very bare minimum. Tomorrow, we leave for Besi Sahar!

October 20, 2010

On our last day of the rafting trip, we woke up early and ate a breakfast of thin pancakes and eggs. By now, I'm absolutely in love with Indian and Nepali pancakes: they're crispy on the outside, thin, and delicious. Yum yum.

After breakfast, we broke camp, and back in the raft, we cruised through the last three rapids. Aloo managed to tip us once more, and this time, I was trapped under the raft for quite a while before I was able to free myself. When I did, I was sputtering and shaken, but the water was so refreshing and the waves were so fun, I quickly got over it and just enjoyed floating down the river with my feet sticking up and my life jacket supporting me. On either side of the river, rice paddy farms striped the hillsides and the sky was spectacularly blue. There were more and more farms, and people ran up to the shore, waving and shouting 'Namaste!'

After the last stretch of rapids, we swam for a bit and performed a few tricks with the raft. Tip generously let us try his kayak, and as I paddled about, I asked Amy about how I could get a kayak back in the States. It looks like so much fun :)

About two hours of paddling later, we turned onto a warmer, bluer side stream, and Aloo told us to all hop out and swim the last couple hundred meters to shore. We raced and floated, and when we arrived on land, we got out a little sadly. After so much fun, it's hard to leave the water.

Once again, we helped unload and carry all the rafts up to the bus. At the top, we changed into dry clothes and repacked our bags. For lunch, we crowded into a shady spot while we ate more beans, bread, and coleslaw. In the mean time, dozens of small children carrying individual bottles of pop came up and offered us drinks for 'a good price.' I watched them all interact, and I was fascinated to discover that I could pick out the leader, his sidekick, and the scapegoats right away. Apparently, I did learn something from teaching.

After lunch, we loaded onto the bus and began the long five hour bus ride home. To pass the time and avoid motion sickness, I mostly snoozed or gazed out the window, watching the green mountains pass by my window. Unfortunately, I was unable to avoid all the symptoms of motion sickness, and by the time we arrived back in Pokhara at 6 o'clock, I was feeling pretty crappy.

Gathering our stuff, we walked back to the Karma Guesthouse with plans to meet back up at Paddle Nepal in an hour. At Karma, we discovered that all the rooms were taken, so once we had retrieved our bags, we followed one of the hotel keeper's friends to another guesthouse up the road, Snow Leopard Hotel.

Dumping our packs, we quickly showered and changed, and I swiftly realized that my intestines were not happy campers. At first, I was pretty sure that I would have to skip dinner, but the intense cramping subsided, and I was finally able to stand upright.

Back at Paddle Nepal, we found the group and walked to the Elegant View Restaurant where we ordered food and chatted. I went for Vegetable Chowmein and Joshua had some more Palak Paneer. While we ate, the lightening and thunder gave way to a torrential downpour, but it was finished by the time we all said goodbye and parted ways.

Walking back to the guest house, Kyle, Stacy, Joshua, and I agreed that we had had the most incredible time, and we felt so lucky to have been able to meet up halfway across the world and spend a few days together. We love you Stacy and Kyle!

October 19, 2010

We woke up to tea and a hearty breakfast of eggs, potatoes, and toast. Once we had eaten, we packed up our bags and helped load up all the rafts. Within a couple of hours, we were back on the boat.

As the seven of us settled on our raft, we saw Rajoo, our guide from yesterday, exchange a few words with Aloo, the trip leader. Rajoo went off to guide the raft Aloo had led yesterday, and Aloo headed towards ours. We all exchanged worried glances, and a couple of us joked that we had been disowned.

Aloo pushed us off into the river right away. He began an immediate program of whipping us into shape. 'Paddle harder! Harder! No! All together! Must paddle harder!' We all frantically dug our paddles into the water as Aloo directed the boat upstream, against the incredibly fast current.

Finally, Aloo relented, and we all took deep gasps of air, already winded. He steered us towards a calm eddy, and we watched as the other boats pushed off shore. He nodded in approval at one boat's beautiful paddlestroke and power, 'very good,' he said, pointing so that everyone could see.

Having seen the model, we were determined to prove ourselves to Aloo. Hitting the first rapid running, we followed his every demand with More Power! Within thirty minutes, my arms were already aching.

Before long, Aloo began to tell us to 'all move right!' At first, we weren't sure what he meant, but then he demonstrated that he wanted us all to crowd and lean over the right hand side of the boat. The first time he gave us the direction, we failed miserably, and after we were on the other side of the rapid, he sternly lectured us.

On the next rapid, we resolved to do better, and when Aloo screamed, 'all right!' We flung ourselves right. At the same time, Aloo dipped our raft into a huge hole, and the raft pitched precariously towards us, threatening to dump us into the water. Still in one piece, we looked back at Aloo once we had passed through the rapid. 'You're trying to tip us!' Gemma said with surprise and sudden understanding. Aloo just smirked.

At the next rapid, we knew what we wanted. As soon as we hit a big swell and Aloo said, 'all right!' we dove to the other side, stretched our bodies out, and the heavy raft slapped over our heads. I came up beneath the raft, sputtering. The boat was still rushing down the river, and the rapids were still pitching us in every direction. I held onto my paddle tight, and with a breath of air, I submerged myself again, clawing for the air beyond the upturned raft. I eventually escaped, and when I did, I saw Aloo nimbling hopping up on the overturned boat, rescuing the other boat members, and gathering floating paddles. I floated a bit, and then another boat snatched me out of the water. I rode with them for a little while until Aloo had righted the boat and gathered some of the other rafters.

Back in the boat, we gasped and sputtered, sharing our experiences and generally reliving the thrill. Joshua had lost both of his flip flops, but otherwise, everyone was fully intact. Before long, we came to more rapids, and there, Cory and Kyle flew out of the boat. A couple kayakers rescued them and brought them back, and a few minutes later, Shelby was in the water too. One of Shelby's shoes was floating just out of reach, and when Stacy went to grab it, she plopped into the water too.

When we pulled onto a beach for lunch, we were all soaking wet and ridiculously happy. Kyle bolted off to use the bathroom, and the rest of us helped gather water for iodine treatment, drinking, and washing.

When Kyle came back, he seemed a little shaken. Apparently, he had scrambled up a tangled slope, and as soon as he had come to an open spot, he had taken care of his business. Finished, he stood up and realized he was in the middle of a rice paddy. All of a sudden, a five foot long, black snake slithered by. He stood paralyzed, and then he high-tailed it back to the beach. When he told the guides what he had seen, they told him it was probably a cobra.

For lunch, we ate baked beans, potato salad, and cole slaw, and afterwards, we cleaned up and then went to play in the river. Not too long later, we hopped back onto the rafts.

During the second half of the day, Aloo pulled all sorts of tricks, aiming for holes and swells, having us paddle the nose of the raft into sweeps of water that swamped the boat, and pretty much just trying to get us as wet as possible. We had a blast.

For the second campsite, we stopped at a wide sandy beach. The green, jungle-like mountains cupped the river and beach on either side, and as we set up camp, we admired the scenery. All day long, the river had cut a deep path through the mountains, and around every turn, we had been treated to spectacular views of plunging valleys, sheer cliff faces, beautiful swinging bridges, and smiling Nepali faces gathered on the shore or atop bridges to gawk and wave. The Kali Gandaki river valley is breathtaking. When we weren't shooting through rapids or recovering from stunts and tricks, we were watching everything around us with our jaws hanging open. This place is gorgeous.

While we hung around before dinner, we sat on the beach, admiring the view and talking. Kyle, Stacy, and I started talking about which element we thought best represented one another (a revival topic from one of my earlier posts), and then we started interviewing people to figure out their elements. Basically (as an answer to my prior question about what each element represents), we said that elements are archetypes, and therefore, we already have instincts and associations that tell us what they represent. For example, I associate phrases like 'down to Earth,' 'practical,' 'hard working,' and 'connected to the land' with the element Earth. For water, 'go with the flow,' 'adaptable,' and 'peaceful' come up, but the characteristics 'tumultuous,' and 'most powerful force of erosion' come to mind. Fire is easy. People associate passion, burning, and ferocity with fire, and to that, I add things like strong opinions and - occasionally - an inability to form safe boundaries. Wind is harder, but in the end, we said that that's one of wind's qualities: hard to pin down, always on the move, swift but sometimes slow, and usually focused in heading in the same direction.

Armed with better definitions, Joshua changed his mind about me. He now thinks I'm fire, and Stacy and Kyle agree. I guess I agree a little bit too. I still think I'm a lot of Earth. We went around the circle: Stacy is water, Kyle is air, we guessed that Shelby is both water and Earth, and Cory is wind. Gemma is definitely fire.

After a while, a few more people joined our group, and we got to talking about astrology and whether or not we believe in things like patterns, ghosts, and the paranormal. I told my now infamous ghost story about our time in Ecuador, and Kyle told us one of his experiences too. We debated about whether or not horoscopes or psychics had any ounce of truth to them, and whether or not we believed in ghosts. Cory, Kyle, and Shelby were skeptical, but Stacy and I held middle ground: were not true believers, but we're not willing to discount everything quite yet.

For dinner, we ate more pasta and veggies around a campfire, and when we had finished the guides came over and sang for us. Shelby and Cory knew one of the songs and told us that the traditional Nepali folk song translated into 'I am a donkey, you are a monkey' and basically talked about how they carry all our stuff and we act like monkeys.

A little subversive lyricism never hurt anyone, and we all enjoyed clapping hands and staring into the flames as we listened to them croon. After a bit, we headed to our sleeping bags and fell asleep under the stars.

October 18, 2010

We woke up early and picked up pastries on our way to Paddle Nepal. When we got there, the guides were loading the equipment and kayaks onto the bus, and we waited around for a few minutes while people gathered and the last of the equipment was lashed down to the roof.

To get to the beginning of our rafting trip, we rode in a classic Nepali bus: every inch of wall and ceiling was covered in color, mirrors, and decorative rivets, and the front of the bus looked like a club house. We stopped a few times for snacks and bathroom stops, and about three hours away from Pokhara, we drove past a small village and pulled into an even smaller dirt parking lot just a few steps away from the Kali Gandaki. Just before the bus stopped, we had our closest call yet. Rounding a precarious and tight bend, the bus swayed dangerously, and we all screamed and instinctively lunged for the opposite side. Luckily, the driver pulled out just in time, and we arrived in one piece.

Outside, we helped the six Paddle Nepal staff unload the bus and organize all the equipment. At one point, Melissa, the photographer from California, lifted a deflated raft over her shoulders and carried it down to the river all by herself, her biceps rippling and the other staff cheering the whole way. From that point on, I refered to her as 'Buff Mama.'

After she had demonstrated that she was not to be triffled with, Buff Mama set up an impromptu food prep and serving sight. She efficiently doused several buckets of river water with iodine, and then laid out a spread of cabbage coleslaw, beans, bread for sandwiches, yak cheese, and bananas. All of us filed through line to fill up plates, and then afterwards, we each cleaned our own dishes in an assembly line of scrape buckets, rinse buckets, soapy water buckets, and more rinse buckets.

Once we had finished eating, the staff loaded up the last of the rafts, and we each selected our life jacket, helmet, and water jacket for the trip. Aloo, the Paddle Nepal leader, gathered us round for a brief lesson on dos and don'ts on the water, but over the rushing of the river, I could barely hear him and his thick accent. Something about if he yells something you do something, and it's very, very, very important that you do that thing and not the other thing when he yells that thing. Also, if you're stuck in a hole of whirling water and you can't get out, you should definitely not...

Feeling a bit lost and anxious by all the garbled imperatives, I followed the staff down to the rafts. Splitting off into three groups of six, seven, and eight, we were assigned both a guide and a raft. Joshua and I were placed with Stacy and Kyle as well as a couple from Canada, Shelby and Cory, and another girl from England, Gemma.

Our guide introduced himself as Rajoo, and told us that we would be responding to five simple commands: forward, left back, right back, stop, and down. Demonstrating each one, he told us the importance of paddling from the belly and teamwork. We all hopped on the edge of the boat, wedged our toes into the straps or rungs in front of us, and Rajoo pushed off.

Within the first two minutes of being on the river, we were already shooting over swells and holes. Waves crashed over the prow of the raft, and on the other side, we were soaked, our hearts were pumping, and we had huge grins on our faces. Rajoo shouted at us some more, and we swept our paddles through the water vigorously, albeit with little style or cohesion.

Before another ten minutes were up, we were bouncing and crashing over more rapids, and they just kept coming: whereas our little one and a half hour trip down the Ganga barely saw waves, we saw more action on the Kali Gandaki within the first 15 minutes. As we approached the next swell, each of us in the boat steeled for the dip, bounce, and crashing wave, and on the other side, we always came out screaming and laughing.

Gemma fell out of the raft in the first set of rapids, but Rajoo ably snatched her out of the water and threw her back on board. When we had found a still bit of water, all of us gasped and looked back. 'Was that Little Brother?'

Rajoo snorted and laughed. That rapid is so insignificant, it doesn't even have a name.

We crossed a series of rapids, and then we came to Little Brother. We screamed and laughed our way through, and once again, we came out on the other side dripping from the waves. The second major rapids was Big Brother, and as we approached, Rajoo explained that we would probably have to get out of the rafts and walk along the shore to evade this sinister stretch.

Pulling over to a series of boulders along the shore, we beached the raft and walked a ways down the river, carrying our paddles. Just below the rapids, we stopped to watch the kayakers and the staff scout the rapids, pensively from above. Here, the formerly wide river narrowed between enormous boulders, and the sheer volume of water created a large standing wave and a couple of swirling holes. Once they had spent a few minutes reading the eddies, swirls, and waves, Buff Mama got in her kayak and pushed off. She navigated the rapid skillfully, twisting her body and paddling madly, and she shot out the other side still upright. A couple of the safety kayakers followed, almost tipped, but came out fine too, and then Amy and Tip, two kayakers from Oregon, began their descent. Amy went first, and she came out safely on the other side, but Tip's kayak mis-shot, and the swell he shot over proved to be too much: he rolled and was swept out from the kayak. His paddle bobbed and then submerged, and his kayak finished the rapid without him.

Although Tip seemed as though he had been under the water for quite some time, he bobbed back up just past the rapids, and one of the safety kayakers rescued him. Next, the staff members sent down the rafts empty of people one by one. At the bottom of the rapid, the caught the rafts and prevented them from going further down-river. A couple of the other kayakers tried to shoot across the current and find Tip's paddle, but no one was successful. Thankfully, Tip was ok.

Eventually, once all the kayakers, staff, and gear had crossed Big Brother, we all hopped back in the raft. Just a hundred meters further down stream, we pulled off to the side, and Rajoo said, 'I'm going to go get him,' and then bounded off. I looked back, not realizing we had lost anyone, and asked, 'who fell?' Kyle was missing.

While we waited, Gemma and Shelby explained that Kyle had gone over with the first swell, and he had been under the water for a while. Stacy looked worried, but we were all still smiling, sensing that everything was going to be ok. We were in good hands.

Five minutes later, we saw Kyle walking along the shoreline, and when he arrived back at the raft, he told us that he was fine, but very startled. He had gone over in a hole, and although he had tried to swim to the surface, he couldn't find it. Although he probably hadn't been under the water for more than 10 seconds, it felt like ages, and he had had to suck in water. Having fully internalized the directive to hold onto his paddle, he had clutched it until - finally - he had bobbed back up, and one of the other guides had snatched him up and pulled him into the raft.

Kyle looked a little pale and shaken, but he assured us that we were ok, and we carried on. We went over a few more rapids, and Rajoo shouted at us the whole way: 'Right back! No, Right back, left forward!' 'Paddle harder, harder!' To be perfectly honest, he looked a little disappointed. Clearly, we were not living up to his expectations. We all looked at each other, confessing that we were susceptible as ever to wanting to please authority figures. We paddled harder.

After a little more than two hours on the raft, we pulled over to our campsite. For the first 45 minutes, we helped unload and set up camp, carrying the rafts over, propping them up with paddles, and then draping them with tarps to make open-air tents. On a board supported by two buckets of water, Aloo directed the kitchen, chopping vegetables and potatoes harvested from an enormous barrel that had been lashed to the luggage raft.

As it grew dark, we finished setting up camp, and Buff Mama announced that tea was ready. Sitting with stainless steel mugs filled with hot cocoa or tea, we all sat and chatted. Cory and Shelby told us a little about their five month journey through Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. After University, they had moved from Ottowa to Vancouver, and for the past two years, they've been working at a paper, saving up money to go on this journey. Right now, they're not sure how long they'll be traveling. Initially, they thought they might go on for about a year, but right now they're debating over going home for Christmas.

We also talked to a couple that had met on the Annapurna Circuit. Thalia is from New York City, and she just finished her degree in Occupational Therapy from NYU. After her undergraduate degree, she had spent a few months traveling in Southeast Asia, and at the time, she hadn't been able to make it to Nepal. She resolved to come back after her next degree, and she followed through. Shai, an Israeli, is currently in University, studying Engineering. He was just in Nepal for over a month, and on the Annapurna, the two met. Neither one seemed too keen on switching countries, but for the time being, they were happy to adventure together.

Another couple, DiCarlos and Carolina, were from Spain. When I overheard Thalia practicing her Spanish with them, I joined in the conversation and found out that DiCarlos had grown up in Cadiz (Andalucia) while Carolina was from Madrid. Right now, the two live in Seville, and they are both working as Environmental Engineers. DiCarlos, in particular, was very patient and spoke slowly for Thalia and I. It was a ton of fun to practice, and I could understand the vast majority of their half of the conversation.

Amy and Tip, the kayaking couple from Portland, Oregon, told us a little bit about how they met. The two are river enthusiasts, and they've found a great community of like-minded individuals. As a group, they've been able to raft down the Grand Canyon on 14 to 20 day journeys, camping along the way, and because they own all of their own equipment, they're able to keep the prices down to about 200 dollars per person (!). Anyway, they met on one of these trips, and this journey to Nepal is their honeymoon. On their wedding day, Amy's dad paddled her down a class one rapid to the altar, and she was wearing her wedding dress. They seemed really well matched, and both of them had vibrant, gregarious personalities.

After a bit, dinner was served, and we all stood in a line to load up on the all-you-can-eat buffet. The pasta and curried vegetables were excellent, and the cooks were even kind enough to make some without cauliflower (just for me).

While we ate, we chatted, and the group got along really well. Stacy and Kyle told us more about their experiences in Japan, and we talked for ages. Eventually, we all went off to bed, and Stacy, Kyle, Joshua, and I called one of the open-air raft tents. We fell asleep looking up at the stars.

October 17, 2010

Deshain moved to Pokhara on Sunday, and as we walked through the streets that morning, most of the shops and restaurants were closed. Stopping at a German Bakery, we squeezed into the last remaining table and gathered extra sets around.

Kyle, tall and skinny, has a voracious appetite, and I think Joshua appreciates having a partner in metabolic crime: both of them experience serious hunger every couple of hours, and wussy restaurant portions simple aren't enough. It's like they have little furnaces inside; they require constant refueling, and they never seem to put on reserves for winter.

After set breakfasts of savory potatoes, eggs, and toast, we paid and Stephen headed back tot he guest house to sort out his room. Stacy, Kyle, Joshua and I popped into the rafting business recommended by Lonely Planet, Paddle Nepal, to check out their rafting packages. The two trips that they had leaving in the next couple of days were a nearby, half-day rafting trip and a three day trip down the Kali Gandaki. Both were more expensive than we had hoped, so after we heard the brief descriptions of each, we decided to look around.

Before we went searching, we hopped on the internet for a few minutes. As we were waiting for the stragglers to get off, a couple of friends Kyle and Stacy had met on the Annapurna Circuit ran into us. One of them had gone on a rafting trip just before the Circuit, and he told us all about it. Swissa, a rafting company that mainly targets Israelis, runs three day rafting trips twice a week for 115 dollars per person. Once you sign up, you attend an informational meeting the night before the trip departs where the guides give you an extended description of the journey. While you listen, you get a free soda. The next morning, you show up and ride for two to three hours on a bus. The guides put together a lunch, and afterwards, you hop on the rafts for a couple of hours. That night, you put in at a beach campsite where you have dinner and hang out with 50 or 60 other rafters and guides. The next day, you have breakfast, raft for two or three hours, eat lunch, and then raft again. Dinner is much the same as the night before, but there's also a campfire on the second night. When Kyle and Stacy's friend had gone on the trip, it had been Sukkot, and all the Israelis had built a Sukkah and sung traditional Israeli songs around the campfire. That night, you sleep under big tarps or inside tents like you did the night before, and then the next morning, you eat breakfast and then raft for a couple more hours. The bus ride home takes about 5 hours. At Swissa, a t-shirt and CD of photos is included at the end of the trip.

Looking at Kyle, Stacy, and Joshua, I tried to contain my excitement. 'So what do you think?' Everyone nodded their heads, saying that it sounded like fun. I said, 'Um yeah. I want to do it. I really, really want to do it.' Following Kyle and Stacy's friend, we walked to Swissa to see if they had a rafting trip leaving the next day. Unfortunately, they were closed for the holiday, but a man relaxing on the balcony told us that Swissa's tours leave on Sundays and Wednesdays - they don't have trips on the Sabbath.

Heading back to Paddle Nepal, we decided to try to negotiate a better price. With four of us, we figured that we had a little more negotiating power, but when we got there, they only gave us 10 dollars off each: the trip was 140 dollars per person. When we asked them why there was such a large price difference between Paddle Nepal and Swissa, they said that their guides were much more experienced, their trips were smaller (at about 20 rafters per trip), and their gear was higher quality. We told them we'd think about it.

Outside, we screwed up our noses at the 25 dollar difference, but in the end, we all agreed: we still wanted to do it, and Paddle Nepal seemed like they had their shit together.

We walked back in after a couple of minutes and put down our deposit. Next, we filled out forms with an emergency contact and our insurance information. The guides told us to return at 5:30 tonight.

Walking out of Paddle Nepal, we were all psyched. Reminding ourselves that the best preparation for traveling is forming low expectations, we told ourselves that we would still be happy even if it rained for three days and there were hardly any rapids. Given our experience on the Ganga (minus the rain) this is very nearly true: just being on a boat with beautiful scenery is a blast.

For the rest of the day, we decided to walk up to the Peace Pagoda. To get there, we followed the shoreline out of town. The water was perfectly still, and our path led us over swinging bridges, along a river, and to a dam. We crossed over to fields of rice paddies, and as we walked, we watched men and women bathing in the stream and groups of families walking. For the festival, each one of them had foreheads marked with red paint and some sort of grain - it sort of looked like pieces of rice had been mixed in with the red paint.

As we walked, the temperature grew warmer and warmer until all of us were sweating. Around the same time, we got lost. To our right, a path led through the woods, and ahead of us, another path led us through more rice paddies. We headed through the rice paddies.

After a few more minutes, we asked a family by the side of the path if we were headed towards the Peace Pagoda. They assured us that we were, but a few more meters down the path, we came to another fork.

Hearing footsteps behind us, we turned around and found a sweet, thin boy with red paint on his forehead. He gave us an enormous smile and told us that he would bring us to the Peace Pagoda Path.

Rajj told us that he wants to be a trekking guide when he grows up. He's 13 years old, and today, his family had a big breakfast and blessed each other for Deshain. As he walked, he barely panted and he answered all of our questions gracefully, in beautiful English. We followed him, and about 10 minutes later, we found the main path. Tipping Rajj, we told him that he would make a wonderful trekking guide one day.

Back on the right path, we hiked the last 30 minutes to the top. The path led through the woods, and the higher we got, the more monkeys we saw swinging through the branches. As we walked, we paired off by gender and talked.

Even though Stacy and I have known each other for more than 6 years now, ours has been a slow process of getting to know one another. We're finally at a point where we feel comfortable talking about anything and everything, and we spent our walk talking non-stop about a lot of the stuff that matters most. It felt wonderful to have a long, easy talk with a familiar, friendly face. Stacy and Kyle make me feel right at home, even when we're really on the opposite side of the world.

At the top of the hill, we climbed Peace Pagoda. At the top, we could see out over the lake and Pokhara below, and over to the hills and mountains on the other side. It started to sprinkle a little bit, and the four of us walked down a little ways to a restaurant for some grub. Joshua ordered us all some Vegetable Chowmein, and we continued chatting, telling Kyle and Stacy about our farm and finding out about their plans for the Peace Corps and Law School.

When the vegetable Chowmein came, we all chowed down, and when it came time to pay, we all forked over an exorbitant 150 rupees per plate - the restaurant keeper explained that it was festival today. Joshua retorted that that should mean that the customer pays less, not more. We agreed to disagree.

We walked back down the hill through the rain. While we walked, we kept talking, and before we knew it, we were back in Pokhara. Stopping at the guest house to change, we headed back to Paddle Nepal to attend the informational meeting. In a room above the main office, we each drank a free soda and met our leader. Aloo told us a little bit about our upcoming trip down the Kali Gandaki, and Melissa, a kayaker from California, asked us to buy her photographic services. For 20 additional dollars, we could buy a CD of the photos she planned to take. After some grumbling, enough people coughed up the extra cash, and Melissa was able to join our trip.

After the meeting, the four of us met back up with Stephen and a couple more friends that Kyle and Stacy had met on the Circuit, Julian and Carla. At the Olive Cafe, we all ordered Mediterranean-inspired plates of humous, pita, greek salad, and pasta, and then ate as we talked. Carla is from Chile, and when I told her that Joshua and I are buying a farm, she lit up. For the past three years, she's been studying Sustainable Management in Japan, and her dream is one day to own a farm as well. We talked about the pros and cons of local economies, genetically modified food, and the privileges of talking food ethics.

When we finished eating, I started to feel a little over-tired, so Joshua and I headed home right away. Tonight, we had the treat of a very soft mattress.