DAY 81 (Saturday 08 October 2011)

Today there really isn’t much to tell, all we really did was go into THAMEL to buy a couple more DVD box sets, a bit of shopping for food and then my main thing that I was going to do was my letter writing but I got weigh laid with ironing (had to get that out of the way) and cookie baking

Peanut Blossom Cookies

As you can see they looked and I will confirm they also tasted delicious.

Tomorrow I shall have to sit down and catch up on my letter writing as I was away last weekend so did not write my weekly letters.

DAY 80 (Friday 07 October 2011)

Today was personal admin day, so there really isn’t anything for me to tell you as I don’t think you will want me to tell you about the amount of washing that needed to be done, so I shall leave it at that.

DAY 79 (Thursday 06 October 2011)

Today was the day that we had to travel home from POKHARA, to be honest I didn’t want to go back and I don’t think Charlie really did either, I know one thing though, if I was actually posted in POKHARA at the British Camp there then I know that I wouldn’t save any money as every chance I got I would be out exploring, rafting, paragliding, trekking, etc... anyway, once we had finally managed to get our little Maruti Jeep (now known as Mickey) out of the hotel carpark we were on our way.  The journey back was quieter, there was less traffic on the road, but there was one point that I actually turned to Charlie and said ‘the drive home was like a ride at Theme Park where you have had enough and just want to get off’, I felt like that because the road home was bumpy with all the pot holes (ok I mean craters) well that is what some of the holes felt like if you actually hit them head on, sometimes there was just no getting away from them because you’d have a stupid pillock try and overtake you whilst there was still traffic coming the other way, but that is the NEPALI way out here.

We stopped off at Riverside as it is the halfway point for a bite to eat and something to drink, then headed on our merry way again.  When we got back to KATHMANDU itself, Charlie was actually not looking forward to the drive at the main junction as he had to get across it and turn right, that meant battling with the locals and they way that they drove, but we were pleasantly surprised that it was a smooth transition and we were home in no time.

Once we got home we saw Marion who had just returned from her few days away at the KAKANI bungalow that we are allowed to rent for a few days, she was happy to have got away and recharged her batteries too.

I think next time I have a few days to spare, even if it’s just a long weekend, I might see if KAKANI is booked and if not, me and Charlie will have to go for a couple of days break again.

DAY 78 (Wednesday 05 October 2011)

Today was White Water Rafting day, we got up and had to be down at PADDLE NEPAL for 0930hrs, but with us the excitement or maybe apprehensiveness of going down a fast river had us up early so we were at the shop for 0900hrs, it gave us a chance to look through some of their past customers experiences whilst we waited.

Our river guide MIM (I think that’s how it’s spelt) was very good, he took us and 5 other poor soles to the SETI RIVER, we were going to do the Upper part of the SETI, along with 3 safety rowers who were to be in front of us in their one person kayak, when we got to the location on the river where we were going to launch the boat from MIM gave us a safety brief and whilst he was doing that, even though I had been rafting twice before I was actually thinking, ‘do I really want to do this?’ the river was flowing pretty well as it had just recently been having a lot of rain in POKHARA and with the snow coming in off the mountains, it was quite high, nonetheless, Charlie, me and the 5 others that came along (3 British girls and 2 foreign speaking people) donned our life jackets and helmets, picked up our oars and got into the raft where MIM placed us, poor Charlie who hasn’t done this before  was stuck at the front with another raft guide so he would see everything coming first, that’s if we had the boat facing the right way down the river.  After a couple of practise strokes in the calm part of the river MIM decided we were ready and pushed off, this was it, we were on our way and no turning back.

There was one part where we actually got stuck for a minute on a rock, but the river eventually pushed us off the rock for us to carry on our way, I must admit, the first wave of water that came over the boat was flipping freezing, but after that you didn’t really feel the cold of the water as the adrenalin that was pumping around you was keeping you from feeling the cold. 

After a few near misses and flips we managed to get back to where the vehicle had been taken too for our landing area to get the boat out of the river, the guide MIM had a camera strapped to his helmet, but unfortunately there was a problem that we were to find out later on so we were not able to purchase a DVD of our time going down the SETI RIVER, so that really leaves one alternative; we will just have to go and do it all over again.

Our last evening meal was to be at the POKHARA STEAK HOUSE, purely because we were recommended this place by BK because of one of the steaks, now to be honest I wished I had taken my camera out for that evening meal because this steak which actually melted in your mouth so you didn’t have to chew much was actually meant for 3 people to share, it was actually about a foot in length, me and Charlie couldn’t believe it when we saw it, it was massive, but needless to say we had a go and between the 2 of us we managed to polish it off including the vegetables and chips that came with it.  I shall have to get a picture next time I go back.

Pokhara Steak House

DAY 76 (Tuesday 04 October 2011)

To be honest there really isn’t much to tell about today, the only constructive thing that we did was book a half day White Water Rafting with PADDLE NEPAL,

Paddle Nepal

Oh and do my shopping that I wanted to get done that I had decided I wanted to do whilst I was in POKHARA, it was so much easier than shopping in THAMEL, at least with POKHARA you didn’t get dragged into shops like you can do in THAMEL.  I must admit I was well happy that I managed to do some constructive haggling with one of the locals, but I had done my homework and got a quote for one item the night before and went back the next day and managed to knock the shop keeper down from his first initial price of NRs 6000 to NRs 3800, I am not saying what I did buy as it will spoil the surprise for a couple of my friends.

DAY 75 (Monday 03 October 2011)

Well today is the day that Charlie and me are allegedly going to chuck ourselves off a mountain, ok maybe not a mountain, and maybe not chuck, but from the size of the thing we had to get up it sure felt like a mountain, as for the chucking ourselves of bit, well that wasn’t that far from the truth, to be told you have to run and keep running, even though you are in the air, it’s just in case you come close to the ground before you are completely airbourne.

Charlie had Jamie (British) and I had Ivan (Spanish) as our pilots to get us from where we were at the launch site to get us both safely down to the landing site by the lake, not before may I add having a fun time up in the air riding the thermals, not only did I see Black Kites, I also got to see a couple of Egyptian Vultures, but I was glad to know that they weren’t circling us.

Charlie taking off with Jamie

The views that both Charlie and I had whilst we were paragliding were absolutely amazing, anyone who is thinking of having a go at paragliding must certainly give it a try, the experience is brilliant, I would quite happily to it again, (Tandem of course), not so sure about doing it solo, but I suppose with practice and a proper course then maybe, but it is not something I shall be doing in the near future.

Charlie and me with Ivan (my pilot)

Me with Ivan and the cracking views

 Charlie with Jamie

I will however come back to POKHARA and do the what is also called Para Hawking, one of the guys out here get his Egyptian Vulture to fly around you as he is has a small camera strapped to him, so you are actually being filmed by a bird.  This particular bird that he has trained to do this is called Kevin, he was washed out of his nest during the Monsoon in 2006 and was hand reared.

Kevin (Egyptian Vulture)

There is also another breed of bird that they sometimes use, but as yet she has not been trained up for a camera to be attached to her and her name is SAPANA, she is a BLACK KITE.

Sapana (Black Kite)

After both Charlie and I had a very successful landing, albeit I did end up on my bum (Ivan pulled the breaks a bit too quick) we had a look at Kevin and his flying buddies and then walked (it was too nice to get in the back of the landrover) back to FRONTIERS to collect our CD of our adventures in the sky, on our walk back around the lake we came across some ponies that were used for pony trekking, however, the black and white one you see in the picture is actually a cow.

Ponies by the Lake in POKHARA

The rest of the day was spent relaxing in the pool at the hotel before we got showered to head out for something to eat in the evening at MONSOON.

Monsoon Restaurant

DAY 74 (Sunday 02 October 2011)

Well today I got up to go for a swim to find that the pool wasn’t going to be opened until 0800hrs, so we decided to get up go for breakfast and then set off to see where we were going to head for, Charlie by this time had already looked at the map as he saw temple on the hill over to the left of FEWA LAKE a temple so we decided we would give it a go to get there.

We headed out of POKHARA around the lake but taking the road as we were following the little map in our trekking book that we bought before we came out here, whilst we were headed to what we found out was called WORLD PEACE PAGODA we stopped off and took a look at DEVI’s FALLS

Write up about Devi’s Fall

Devi’s Fall

We finally made it to the WORLD PEACE PAGODA about 2½ hours from setting off from our hotel; the views from the top were absolutely amazing as you can see below.

View on the right of the FEWA LAKE

 

View on the left of FEWA LAKE

Charlie on the steps of the temple

 

Me on the steps of the temple

View over Charlie’s shoulder at the top level of the temple

View over my shoulder at the top level of the temple

The World Peace Pagoda

We stayed to have something to eat and drink at the little cafe that is near the PAGODA and to top it of she was British, Juliette (that was her name) has been living out here for the past couple of years with her Nepali partner and she was very welcoming.  Not only is it a cafe, she also has rooms, so if you wanted you could stay for the night for a small price if you couldn’t be bothered trekking back down the massive hill come mountain.

Juliette had also recommended a place for us to go and book our Paragliding session; it was called FRONTIERS PARAGLIDING

Frontiers Paragliding

and is run by a British bloke, so yep you guessed it we are booked in for a session of Paragliding tomorrow.  I know what you must be thinking, ‘Are you nuts?’, well to be honest I am asking myself that same question, but at the end of the day it is an experience that I may either never do again or never want to do again.  The good thing that will come out of the paragliding tomorrow is that there will be photographic proof that I have done it so as soon as I can I shall get a couple of pictures put on here.

Well true to form for a Sunday, we got absolutely wet through so before going out for our evening meal, we came back to the hotel for a shower and some dry clothes before waiting for the rain to stop or even ease off so that we could go out for our evening meal.

 

La Pizzeria

Back to the hotel, for an earlyish night as we have to be back to FRONTIER tomorrow for 0900hrs to take the 25 minute drive to the launch point ready for take off.  So if I make it back in one piece I shall tell you of mine and Charlie’s adventures of the day.