Rafting + Pokara = PHENOMENAL

Going rafting, I was kind of apprehensive...I planned this trip on a whim and had NO idea what I was doing, I didn't even know what river I was rafting when I left Kathmandu on Saturday! I took the bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara, which is this AWESOME hippy town south of the Annapurna mountain range which is situated on a HUGE lake, it is really beautiful. Aunt Cathy you would have LOVED the vibe in Pokhara, it's really laid back and chill. The bus ride was relatively uneventful, met this really nice Dutchman...(hehe!) his name was Jose, how great is that?!? A Dutchman named Jose....okay! Maybe I am the only one who finds humor in that.
Get to Pokhara, find my hotel, get settled in this AMAZING room (remember this thought for later...) and I go off in search of food. I have a pretty strict no eating/very little drink policy while traveling in Nepal, especially via bus. You never know when you are going to need a toilet and not have access to one! I ate at this really cool restaurant near the lake. I was suppose to meet my rafting group at 730pm, so I just had time to kill. I wandered around looking at all the cool shops and bought some snacks for the trip.
Meeting at 730, everyone seemed pretty cool, especially this American/Israeli (her name is Shira). Also, there were two guys (Tristan and Clinton) from Australia who seemed AWESOME and they evidently knew each other. They had to go rent sleeping bags, and then we went for a drink. Shira said she would meet up with us later and I went off with Veggie Mite (Tristan and Clint) to meet "the crew." "The crew" ended up being three Brits, Mark, Tom, and Adam.....ahhhhh some "normal" non-Nepali names to remember, I seriously breathed a sigh of relief. We had drinks and pizza, Shira joined us and we just sat around getting acquainted swapping travel stories. All too soon I was off to bed, the rafting group had an early morning.
The rafting group met at 730, had breakfast together and then off for a 2 hours bus ride to the Kali Gandaki (the river we would be rafting). So let me give you the break down, the guides were Sanu and Ashok with three helpers JK and two other randoms. Then there were Shira, Veggie Mite (Tristan and Clint), a German gal (Jeanette, will be fondly referred to in my blog as Coke), and a French couple (Jeremy and Emilie, which sound very English but say them with a French accent and they sound BEAUtiful). ALSO, can't leave out Julia (girl from the UK) who met up with us after our first day of rafting.
So we get to the river, and lets just say I am really glad I haven't been calling it "white water" rafting because the water in the river was far from white! Another thing the motto of rafting is teamwork, everyone pitches in unloading the bus, setting up lunch, pumping the raft, etc. This motto carried out throughout the whole trip and it was a really cool piece to my rafting trip because EVERYONE was a team player and pitched in, with any other group this communal aspect probably would've been seen as a negative.
We lunched, quick lesson, life jacket, helmet and into the water!!! Basic command lesson in the water and then down the rapids we went. Our first day was the biggest rapid day, Big Brother is a 4 on the rapid scale (5 is really dangerous and 6 is impassable). Funny thing about our guide Ashok, when we were in a big rapid he would be yelling "Paddle! FUCKING HARDER! Dig it in!" We all found this a endearing quality in Baba. There were also several smaller rapids, it was a TOTAL blast...with the exception that it was cloudy. All too soon we were pulling up to the shore and getting everything around to camp. YAY CAMPING! This camp site had the BEST shit-pit EVER, it had a curtain concealing it and they even had a system so you would know whether or not it was occupied (helmet on paddle, vacant). They had a GREAT set up. Soon everything was settled, good thing because about 20 minutes later it started to POUR down rain and it rained until night fall. It sounds like it would be terrible, but it really wasn't that bad. It cleared up for dinner and then sing along time. Dinner was surprisingly good, pasta, with meat sauce and veggies....it was REALLY yummy! Sing along time was GREAT, Nepali songs to an acoustic guitar. Then another Nepali guy from a neighboring camp came over and tried to teach our group the game "Mafia" but I would have to say he definitely failed...and he became an on-going joke during the trip.
Sleeping situation was actually quite good with the exception that I got TERRIBLY hot and one of our guides was invading my personal space. I ended up sleeping semi-outside both nights of camping, which was really beautiful because every time you roll over if you look up you see all these AMAZING stars. I guess there can be scorpion issues, but I didn't see one the entire time rafting so I didn't worry about it.
The next morning, I was up at dawn per usual. I had coffee, read my book and watched the sun rise. It was so beautiful! Once everyone was up, they served porridge and THEN breakfast. The food was really good the entire trip! Julia also made her awesome addition to the group that morning. Into the raft! The rapids were GREAT the second day, we crossed rapids named: Good morning (1st one of the day), Little Sister, Monkey rapid, and Washing Bowl. We also saw a TON of waterfalls, and actually rode the raft underneath the biggest waterfall we saw that day. Another great day on the river ended, we were close enough to a village that two porters came with a mini-store...so we indulged in coke, to go with the rum we brought with us :) Set-up camp, changed into dry clothes and had "chill time." OH! Another thing our second day on the river it was Tristan's 23rd Birthday, so Shira and I made him a "river" cake, which consisted of biscuits, peanut butter, Clif bar, and raisins....I don't think anyone actually liked it but they ate it out of courtesy. Dinner and singing time commenced, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Tristan, then I was off to bed....at this point of the trip I was TOTALLY beat.
Next morning, up early because we had a four hour bus ride back to Pokhara. The rafting on the last day was pretty chill, so I rode in front! I was pretty exciting and the person who sits in front gets wet most often so that was also cool! The last hour or so of rafting was all flat, so the guides let me get in the kayak and kayak the rest of the way down the river. It was so AWESOME! Ashok one of our guides offered to give me a kayak lesson in the lake the next day...teach me how to roll and such (I ended up taking him up on his offer). All too soon we reached the dam, and the trip was over....ho hum! I was really sad. But back to Pokhara, (God! I love Pokhara) we all went our separate ways planning to meet up that night for dinner.
Back at my hotel I had to figure out how to get my bus ticket back to Kathmandu and maybe spend an extra day in Pokhara. Well, come to find out the really nice room I stayed in before rafting I was paying for, in addition to return bus ticket and my remaining lodging. Hmmmm....lets just say I was alittle hot! Not mad at the Snow Hill Lodge (where I was staying) but mad at the the trekking company that arranged the rafting for me (not naming names, but Ram is going to hear from me soon). The people at Snow Hill were AWESOME! They reduced the rate on my first night's stay and gave me a reduced rate for the room I stayed in for following two nights. It's Nepal!
With everything settled, I showered (AHHHH!) and just hung out...watched some American news (PBS nonetheless!), that seriously put a smile on my face. I have also taken up reading the Nepali newspaper, which is really interesting considering the current political climate. I just hung around until dinner time. Then I was re-united with the ENTIRE rafting gang, I can't began to explain how well we all messed...from so many different places ( I mean all Western, but still different!) and we got along great! Jeremy and Emilie, we just such a sweet couple. Veggie Mite (who are going to road trip across America after they leave Nepal, I am SO pumped for them!) were so cool and chill, but still made great conversation. Coke, what a doll! Julia, was just this really intelligent chill Brit, who also just chatted with you and was really cool. Shira!!!! LOVE HER! American, what can I say we connected instantly over our distaste for ethnocentric America. She just has so much perspective living in Israel and she is also a yoga instructor which makes her exponentially chill and awesome! I really have (probably subconsciously) left out one of the main characters of the trip Ashok (one of our guides). He was pretty cool, we called him "Old Mate" or "baba" the entire trip and he was a good sport. But he was also kind of oookie, touchy feely bullshit...as I am sure you can imagine I tolerated that REALLY well, not! It was fine though, fine enough that I took kayak lessons from him the next day....for free :)
We did dinner, drinks, and then another bar....where I a was tortured playing pool. God! If I was remotely decent at pool I would love it, but I am TERRIBLE! Soon, after the THIRD game of pool started I finally had to sneak out (away from Ashok). After a buzzed walk in the dark back to my hotel (don't worry family Pokhara, is about like Dominica everyone is too stoned to try and jump you), I ate a Snickers :) and went to bed.
Then next morning I met Coke for breakfast and then met up with Ashok for our "free" kayak lesson. We had to pay for our gear, which is understandable but otherwise it was actually free. The day was AMAZING. The weather was beautiful, sun shining (Phenomenal) and almost hot. We paddled across the lake and then my lesson began. It started out really well, learning how to use my hips to flip the kayak...but then when it came to actually going under the water I really had to work on NOT panicking and relax. Which is a bit difficult when you are trapped under water, under a kayak...but by the end of the day I did two half rolls by myself (okay, maybe I had alittle help from Ashok but at least at this point I wasn't panicking). Paddled back to the other side of the lake, carried my kayak back to the rafting shop (I am WOman hear me roar!) and went back to my hotel. I was totally pooped. I showered and vegged until almost dark, "the crew", Shira, Coke, Julia and Veggie Mite were all meeting up for dinner at Moondance.
Moondance, food was GREAT, atmosphere was awesome as well, but the company was the best part. Sitting at dinner chatting with Mark, looking around at the all the phenomenal people I have met in Pokhara I got SUPER sad to come back to Kathmandu. Coke and I had bonded over mutual distaste for Ashok and she is going to volunteer some when she comes back to Kathmandu....such an AWESOME girl! Shira, LOVE HER, we have already made plans to meet up this summer when she comes to visit the states. "The crew" they just are an awesome group of guys with a great story of just quitting "real life" to travel. Good for them!
The next morning, 6 hour bus ride back to Kathamandu as uneventful as it is going to get in Nepal. Back to the volunteer house (home sweet home) I was greeted at the door with a HUGE hug from Allison (amazing little Scottish 10 year old, who about to go back to Scotland)....this made leaving Pokhara all worthwhile. Chatted with Emma, and realized how much I missed her! Had yummy momo's while Pieter and I solved America's problems with the legalization of marijuana. I love the Volunteer House! Today, laundry and then the Patan Museum....I am excited to see some culture! Much more later!