15 July 2010 3:44pm Pokhara
Soon after that we got back on the bus to Pokhara. As my skirt was completely soaked, I took it off and hung it off the back of the seat in front of me, sitting there in my bathing suit bottoms. After we stopped for a bathroom break, I took the shirt off to get the rest of that dry. Luckily, I had a shawl with me so I wasn't sitting in just my bathing suit on the bus. We still had a ways to go, but it didn't actually feel that long.
We finally arrived in Pokhara after dark and promptly got settled in our hotel. A little while after we arrived we all met downstairs to go out, as they had arranged for a place for us to watch the World Cup final. On the way to Pokhara on the bus some of us took out some bets with Ashe, who was rooting for Spain. If he won, he would win Rs 50 from 3 people, plus a sandwich from Katie. Nice betting.
Unfortunately, it was a long time until the game. The staff ordered appetizers for us, as we were going to be there a while (we got there around 8 and the game didn't start until 12:15am). Some people ordered drinks, a few ordered coffee, and Ashe got Red Bull- that was probably the best decision. Around 10 or so we ordered food as the kitchen was about to close.
The game was intense, although I'm sure by now everyone's heard about it or seen it. However, it was ridiculously hard to stay awake through the whole thing. With overtime, we ended up staying out until about 3am- this was on top of meeting at 6:30am and rafting/walking for a good chunk of the day. Needless to say, I was pooped before the game even started. I managed to stay up for most of it (I dozed off a couple of times), just to see the Netherlands lose, and for me to be out 50 rupees. Oh well, you win some you lose some.
After the match was when things started to get really interesting. We were in between two tables of some fairly boisterous guys who were yelling and banging things all through the match. As soon as Spain scored their goal, the whole place exploded. A couple of guys whipped their shirts off, and one of them dumped beer over himself, then started shaking the bottle around. Of course this splashed onto our table. The guys on that side also kept trying to burn a cigarette on their friend. How fun. On the other side, there was a lot of yelling, and quite a few sounds of glass breaking. After that, I was pretty keen to leave.
Thankfully, the following morning breakfast was open a little later than usual to accommodate the people who had been up all night watching the game. We had a free day for the whole day, so most of us who didn't have meetings went out shopping for supplies for the village and for Chitwan. The shopping went pretty well, I think everyone got just about everything they needed. The only thing I didn't find was a pair of Tevas (I found my size the following morning). After a brief rest period back at the hotel, some of us met Ashok for lunch at the Boomerang Cafe, which had a huge lawn overlooking the lake.
After lunch, as I was still feeling terrible (I was sick for about 2 weeks by that point), Ashok dropped me off at the health clinic on the way to his sister's house. The doctor was nice, although I was concerned with his less-than-thorough exam. I was also concerned by the fact that everyone kept walking in and out of the 'exam room', which was basically the reception hall with a curtain pulled across the entrance. He gave me some antibiotics, cough medicine and cold medicine, and told me to come back in a few days for a check-up.
I walked back to the hotel from the clinic, which actually wasn't that far. I was surprised, the cab ride made it seem like it would be much longer. On the way back I passed by one kid who yelled 'hello' as I passed by (like many children do when they see any of us). Being tired and frustrated, I didn't respond. Well, that wasn't good enough for him. He kept shouting 'hello' in an increasingly angry voice until I finally responded back. Sheesh.
On my way back to the hotel I stopped to get a few things, and then went to relax for a bit. I met up with others later and headed off to dinner at Once Upon a Time, which was a pretty decent restaurant. Most of the staff was there too. We stayed there for quite some time, and we ended up closing the place (as usual).
The following morning we got up fairly early to head to the village, Maitikhan. Luckily we got to drive most of the way, as the major landslide had been cleared out. We had 2 large jeeps. I rode in the back of mine with Martin, Dee and Aya. It was very cozy back there. And by cozy I mean pretty tight- maybe enough room to swing a cat (who the hell thinks of these phrases anyway?).
Showing posts with label Pokhara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pokhara. Show all posts
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Rafting!
15 July 2010 8:24am Maitikhan
To continue...
We finally arrived at the rafting place, which was a storefront in the middle of a village. It was such a relief to get out of that truck. There was a water tap close, so we all rushed towards it to wash the mud off of our hands and feet. Once that was done we were given some cold drinks and then were outfitted with life vests, helmets, and paddles. Some kind man also donated another flip flop to Aya, so she actually had a complete pair of shoes to wear. After we got down to the river there was a briefing about how to paddle, instructions, the river, etc. We were then split into two boats- the safety boat (for people uncomfortable with rafting) and the other boat (or as I called it, the adventure boat). Dee went straight to the safety boat with Eugenia, and some more people joined her there.
I went in the other boat (where else would I be?) and got to be one of the captains (Martin was the other)! I figured I was probably one of the stronger paddlers so I went to the front. It was awesome! We were right in line for all of the huge head-on waves. One of them, if I didn't have my foot stuck in the strap I would have gone flying backward.
Further down the river we stopped at this restaurant for lunch (it looked a little fancy for how we were dressed and appeared), where we got to see Martin's article in the Kathmandu Post. That was pretty cool. I'm still waiting for feedback on my article; I'm frustrated at how long it's taking.
Since there were reports of more landslides, we decided to just raft for another half hour and then get picked up, so that we could avoid the road with landslides. We had a couple more splashing battles between the two boats; Ashok was the real troublemaker. Retaliation came at the hands of our boat guide, as he doesn't need to get a good grade. Our boat guide was awesome- he busted out the bucket.
Very soon, we arrived at our end point, which was this hard-to-find path along the side of the river. We climbed up that to where the bridge was (we landed on the opposite side of the river from the road) and crossed that into the village we ended at. There were a bunch of children there, yelling and greeting us. I'm very sad I didn't get a video of this- Ashe started singing the first part of the World Cup anthem, and then all the kids started singing the whole thing from there. It was too funny.
We spent some time there, piling all of our rafting stuff up, finding dry clothes for people (I opted not to), changing and using the bathroom. Now, I've seen some crazy bathrooms during this summer, but I'm pretty sure this was the worst. When I finally got the door unlocked (the thing had a freaking shitty-ass padlock on it), there were only a few things in the room. A bucket of water, a jar, and a drain. Nothing even remotely resembling a toilet. Not even a hole. I first tried going down the drain, but that didn't work- it was too close to the wall and pee kept splashing on my feet. I came to the only logical solution left at that point- I was supposed to pee in the jar. I thought pooping in the hole on the train was hard; this was something else entirely. I had no idea what to do after, so I just left the jar as it was and washed myself with the bucket of water. So gross.
To continue...
We finally arrived at the rafting place, which was a storefront in the middle of a village. It was such a relief to get out of that truck. There was a water tap close, so we all rushed towards it to wash the mud off of our hands and feet. Once that was done we were given some cold drinks and then were outfitted with life vests, helmets, and paddles. Some kind man also donated another flip flop to Aya, so she actually had a complete pair of shoes to wear. After we got down to the river there was a briefing about how to paddle, instructions, the river, etc. We were then split into two boats- the safety boat (for people uncomfortable with rafting) and the other boat (or as I called it, the adventure boat). Dee went straight to the safety boat with Eugenia, and some more people joined her there.
I went in the other boat (where else would I be?) and got to be one of the captains (Martin was the other)! I figured I was probably one of the stronger paddlers so I went to the front. It was awesome! We were right in line for all of the huge head-on waves. One of them, if I didn't have my foot stuck in the strap I would have gone flying backward.
Further down the river we stopped at this restaurant for lunch (it looked a little fancy for how we were dressed and appeared), where we got to see Martin's article in the Kathmandu Post. That was pretty cool. I'm still waiting for feedback on my article; I'm frustrated at how long it's taking.
Since there were reports of more landslides, we decided to just raft for another half hour and then get picked up, so that we could avoid the road with landslides. We had a couple more splashing battles between the two boats; Ashok was the real troublemaker. Retaliation came at the hands of our boat guide, as he doesn't need to get a good grade. Our boat guide was awesome- he busted out the bucket.
Very soon, we arrived at our end point, which was this hard-to-find path along the side of the river. We climbed up that to where the bridge was (we landed on the opposite side of the river from the road) and crossed that into the village we ended at. There were a bunch of children there, yelling and greeting us. I'm very sad I didn't get a video of this- Ashe started singing the first part of the World Cup anthem, and then all the kids started singing the whole thing from there. It was too funny.
We spent some time there, piling all of our rafting stuff up, finding dry clothes for people (I opted not to), changing and using the bathroom. Now, I've seen some crazy bathrooms during this summer, but I'm pretty sure this was the worst. When I finally got the door unlocked (the thing had a freaking shitty-ass padlock on it), there were only a few things in the room. A bucket of water, a jar, and a drain. Nothing even remotely resembling a toilet. Not even a hole. I first tried going down the drain, but that didn't work- it was too close to the wall and pee kept splashing on my feet. I came to the only logical solution left at that point- I was supposed to pee in the jar. I thought pooping in the hole on the train was hard; this was something else entirely. I had no idea what to do after, so I just left the jar as it was and washed myself with the bucket of water. So gross.
Bandhs and landslides, oh my!
14 July 2010 8:00am Maitikhan
So, a continuation from last time…
We had to meet the bus to Pokhara in front of Himalayan Java at 6:30am sharp, so I got up at the ungodly early hour of 4:15am to shower and finish packing. However, as that was too early I hit the snooze until about 5am, and then finally got up to finish packing, shave and get dressed. I was too tired to shower, felt fairly clean, and figured since I was going rafting anyway it wouldn’t matter.
Kaka and Kaki got up to see me off at 6am and then I left in the car with Ram (our driver whose name I finally learned). I got there in good time and dropped some of my stuff off at Blue Horizon. I left some stuff at the host family’s; I’ll pick it up when I get back from this trip. It was raining when we got there, so luckily the bus had a tarp to cover up all of our stuff on the top.
I think the bus ride out to the rafting spot was an adventure in itself. We drove for awhile, and then hit this gigantic line of cars/busses/trucks/etc. As we were sitting there for some time, we got out to see what was going on. As it turns out, we got to see how a bandh gets formed. The story of what happened as we compiled it later: the night before, a power pole crashed down onto a house and a power line snapped. The villagers called NEA (Nepal Electrical Authority) to have them shut the power off. After that, someone died. So, that morning some of the locals decided to call a bandh to demand their right to power and compensation for the victim’s family. Apparently they also wanted NEA to come out there immediately to restore power and that they would block the road until NEA did so. They put a table in the middle of the road and also threw across the broken power line and some large pieces of wood. Basically, this stuff continues because those with the biggest sticks make the rules, and here the locals had the biggest sticks.
A couple of extra-interesting things happened while we were in the midst of this bandh. First, Dee ran into our driver from the Tibet border, who drove us to Kathmandu. Second, somebody tried driving through the bandh, and then everyone started running towards the car, shouting and picking up sticks. Apparently, they were shouting something along the lines of “Let’s go get him!” because he was breaking (or trying to break) the bandh. Luckily, that didn’t go anywhere much and after about another 10 minutes or so they were convinced to end the bandh.
We got back on the bus and continued to move, so glad that it was all over and we were back moving on the bus. Then after about a half hour or so, we hit another long line of vehicles- this time way longer. Here, as we found out, there was a landslide and possibly a bus stuck in it, and there were only a few people working to clear it. We sat there for quite some time, waiting to move. In the meantime, we came across this crazy bridge that allowed people to cross the river. It was basically a chair on a pulley system. There were two large steel cables running along the top, which the carriage (thin, with two seats facing each other) was attached to. Then there was a rope for a pulley. People would sit in the carriage and pull the rope, basically pulling themselves across. Ashe went down to investigate first and took himself out there. So, of course most of us ended up trying it. It was actually pretty cool.
The landslide situation seemed like it wasn’t going to change so Ashok had us grab water and our cameras so that we could walk to the rafting place (only 3km!). As we got to the landlide they seemed to be letting through some vehicles, as half of the road was cleared by then. We climbed over the landslide, which was just a gigantic pile of mud and grass. Past the landslide there was a rock wall along the side of the road that we climbed on to avoid a lot of the mud on the road. Eventually we had to get off the wall and crossed to the other side, where it was so hard to avoid the mud. I think just about everyone fell in the mud (my flip flops were filled with rocks and mud), but poor Aya lost both her flip flops. She found one, but it wasn’t hers. Luckily, there was a truck meeting us just past that point, so she didn’t have far to go one-shoed.
The truck was another one of those things that was an adventure in itself. First, the truck was tiny. Second, there were about 15 of us. Third, the back was covered in a tarp. So, most of us managed to squeeze in the back of the truck, and the rest rode on the tailgate. Oh, and that 15? Just our party, not including guides, helpers, or anyone else (and there were more than a few of them). I ended up way in the back, not even sitting on an actual seat- it was a bar. It was so incredibly hot I was literally dripping sweat. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hot in my life.
So, a continuation from last time…
We had to meet the bus to Pokhara in front of Himalayan Java at 6:30am sharp, so I got up at the ungodly early hour of 4:15am to shower and finish packing. However, as that was too early I hit the snooze until about 5am, and then finally got up to finish packing, shave and get dressed. I was too tired to shower, felt fairly clean, and figured since I was going rafting anyway it wouldn’t matter.
Kaka and Kaki got up to see me off at 6am and then I left in the car with Ram (our driver whose name I finally learned). I got there in good time and dropped some of my stuff off at Blue Horizon. I left some stuff at the host family’s; I’ll pick it up when I get back from this trip. It was raining when we got there, so luckily the bus had a tarp to cover up all of our stuff on the top.
I think the bus ride out to the rafting spot was an adventure in itself. We drove for awhile, and then hit this gigantic line of cars/busses/trucks/etc. As we were sitting there for some time, we got out to see what was going on. As it turns out, we got to see how a bandh gets formed. The story of what happened as we compiled it later: the night before, a power pole crashed down onto a house and a power line snapped. The villagers called NEA (Nepal Electrical Authority) to have them shut the power off. After that, someone died. So, that morning some of the locals decided to call a bandh to demand their right to power and compensation for the victim’s family. Apparently they also wanted NEA to come out there immediately to restore power and that they would block the road until NEA did so. They put a table in the middle of the road and also threw across the broken power line and some large pieces of wood. Basically, this stuff continues because those with the biggest sticks make the rules, and here the locals had the biggest sticks.
A couple of extra-interesting things happened while we were in the midst of this bandh. First, Dee ran into our driver from the Tibet border, who drove us to Kathmandu. Second, somebody tried driving through the bandh, and then everyone started running towards the car, shouting and picking up sticks. Apparently, they were shouting something along the lines of “Let’s go get him!” because he was breaking (or trying to break) the bandh. Luckily, that didn’t go anywhere much and after about another 10 minutes or so they were convinced to end the bandh.
We got back on the bus and continued to move, so glad that it was all over and we were back moving on the bus. Then after about a half hour or so, we hit another long line of vehicles- this time way longer. Here, as we found out, there was a landslide and possibly a bus stuck in it, and there were only a few people working to clear it. We sat there for quite some time, waiting to move. In the meantime, we came across this crazy bridge that allowed people to cross the river. It was basically a chair on a pulley system. There were two large steel cables running along the top, which the carriage (thin, with two seats facing each other) was attached to. Then there was a rope for a pulley. People would sit in the carriage and pull the rope, basically pulling themselves across. Ashe went down to investigate first and took himself out there. So, of course most of us ended up trying it. It was actually pretty cool.
The landslide situation seemed like it wasn’t going to change so Ashok had us grab water and our cameras so that we could walk to the rafting place (only 3km!). As we got to the landlide they seemed to be letting through some vehicles, as half of the road was cleared by then. We climbed over the landslide, which was just a gigantic pile of mud and grass. Past the landslide there was a rock wall along the side of the road that we climbed on to avoid a lot of the mud on the road. Eventually we had to get off the wall and crossed to the other side, where it was so hard to avoid the mud. I think just about everyone fell in the mud (my flip flops were filled with rocks and mud), but poor Aya lost both her flip flops. She found one, but it wasn’t hers. Luckily, there was a truck meeting us just past that point, so she didn’t have far to go one-shoed.
The truck was another one of those things that was an adventure in itself. First, the truck was tiny. Second, there were about 15 of us. Third, the back was covered in a tarp. So, most of us managed to squeeze in the back of the truck, and the rest rode on the tailgate. Oh, and that 15? Just our party, not including guides, helpers, or anyone else (and there were more than a few of them). I ended up way in the back, not even sitting on an actual seat- it was a bar. It was so incredibly hot I was literally dripping sweat. I don’t think I’ve ever been that hot in my life.
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