Rafting is Good Fun

After 20 days of trekking, I was ready to see Nepal from a more seated position - starting with rafting.

I had never been rafting before, but I was very much looking forward to spending two days speeding down a river. Rafting started with a very early morning bus ride. I met Bishnu at the hotel at 6:30 in the morning and we walked to the bus stop where he put me in my seat and stuck my backpack on top. We had a hug good bye and he set me up with his wife's phone number as I will be spending my first night back in Kathmandu at his apartment.

The bus ride was another 5 hours until the rafting site. I befriended the Belgian next to me and we chatted a bit. He was headed straight to Chitwan National Park, and had a bit longer on the bus then I did. The bus was a tourist bus which meant slightly bigger seats and a few less stops than the local bus.

Finally we arrived at the rafting destination and I was the only one off. There were already several people from our group waiting and we sat around as a variety of buses came and dropped more people off.

I was put in a raft with the four others who were rafting for 2 days, as well as a Lithuanian guy, and a couple from the Netherlands. After a safety discussion and some paddle practice - we were off!

Soon we were amongst the rapids and trying out best to follow our guides commands - forward - left forward- right forward - stop. The rapids were great and there were times I looked up to see a wall of water in front of me, before it came crashing down. At other times, I struggled to get my paddle in the water as our guide shouted "faster, faster". Each rapid lasted only a few minutes and then we would have a little break before the next one came. We went for an hour and half before our lunch break and then another hour afterward.

At the end of the first day, most people we went on to other activities, while the five of us remained at the beach. They had tents set up for camping and we each claimed our tent and changed into dry clothing.

Let me take a moment to tell you that I camped that night. And not Trish-style there is a bathroom up the hill and if you bring quarters you can shower camping - real on the sand we dug a whole and put a tent around it as the toilet camping.

It was fun to hang out with the other rafters - it was one couple from the UK who were in Nepal n a 2 week holiday and a father/son combo who were in Nepal for a month. The father/son combo had done the Annapurna circuit plus base camp in 18 days - which is quite an impressive feat and it was fun to share stories (I mentioned something about a guy who wore some very short shorts and they immediately said the French guy, so we had a good laugh over him!).

Why is it that no other countries make smores? They are delicious. I found this group to be the second group I talked to about smores who had no idea what I was talking about. I mean honestly, what is the point of camping if you are not roasting marshmallows? Although, the son of the father/son combo did know about marshmallow fluff and has a friend who sends him some every so often, which I found a bit funny.

The next morning we woke up and had a relaxing breakfast before another couple joined us and we continued on for day two. Day two was not quite as intense as day one, but we were still soaked by the time we got for lunch.

At lunch we broke off to go to our next activities. All in all, rafting was a blast - and I would recommend it as a stop from Kathmandu to Pokhara or vice versa.

Next it is off to Chitwan National Park for me!