Hanging in Kathmandu
Location: Kathmandu, Nepal
Local Time: Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005 - 10:00am
Well, a lot has happened since last time I posted.
I jumped off a mountain on Sunday. I did a tandem paraglide. Basically it works like this. You fork over your $75 USD (wow did that day break the budget). A truck hauls you up the mountain beside Phewa Lake in Pokhara for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Then they strap a harness on you and clip you on to someone who actually knows how to paraglide.
Next, you stand on the hillside, which is really only big enough for you, your pilot, and the parachute laying on the ground behind you. In front of you there is about 3 meters (10 feet) of hillside before it drops of at about a 75 degree slope. Your instructions are, wait until told. Then walk a couple steps, then run. Me, I'm standing there, my legs tremblings, truly astonished by my lack of good sense, thinking, there is only about 4 -5 steps of space there before we jump a LONG way down the mountain. Walking a couple steps will really eat into the available space.
However, it all worked out. It is a little fuzzy, but I think I remember walking about 2 steps, maybe 3, then running, and within 1 - 2 steps we were in the air.
Being in the air is far less frightening than actually taking off. We flew around in circles trying to stay near the thermal air currents that lift us up and keep us in the air. Without thermals, we are in a constant fall until we hit the ground.
So, we circled up there, looking at the houses that pokadot the hillside beside their little tiered fields.
We chased the vultures a couple of times. Elliot, my pilot, told me that they really know how to catch the thermals.
Then, we flew out over the lake and I got to try my hand at the controls for a few minutes. I circled left and right a couple of times and that was that. We were approaching the ground so Elliot took us off the lake over to the 'highway' where we landed.
I say 'highway' because this road is the main road leading out north of Pokhara. To say it has 1 lane to be shared for both directions of traffic would be generous. There is a few inches of pavement on each side of the tires of larger trucks that drive this road.
Chilled out in Pokhara for the rest of the afternoon. Drank the fabulous orange juice and fruit lassis that are available at the road side stands. We went looking to see if there was a movie to see for our last night in Pokhara, but only Mr. & Mrs. Smith was playing. At several different restaurants. I've seen it twice already.
So, we had dinner at a sandwich shop. Think of a footlong sub from Subway, with ham omlet, mayonese and veggies. Pretty good. Wash it down with a fruit lassi (mixture of yogurt, juice and fruit) and that is very nice.
We met the next morning at 6:45am to get a taxi to the bus station. When I got there, Shelby was so sick (from something, maybe the food the day before) that she had decided not to come. So, Seth and I took the taxi to the bus station. Shelby's friend, Mayrav from Israel, shared a taxi with us, and happened to be on the same bus too.
The bus took until 5:30pm to get to Kathmandu. 4.5 hours longer than I expected. There was a military roadblock where soldiers (who may start shaving any day now) made the Nepali young men get off the bus and walk to the other side of the roadblock. Tourists, kids, women and family men didn't have to get off the bus.
So, that was yesterday.
Today, Seth is off to Kopan Monastery for a 1 month Buddhist retreat. So my travelling buddy and I are parting ways for the time being. Maybe I'll see him again sometime. He plans to visit India, Thailand and China. All places on my list.
Of course, my list grows the more I talk to other travellers. If this keeps up I'll never get to China, which is meant to be the crowning glory of my journey.
Local Time: Tuesday, Nov 8, 2005 - 10:00am
Well, a lot has happened since last time I posted.
I jumped off a mountain on Sunday. I did a tandem paraglide. Basically it works like this. You fork over your $75 USD (wow did that day break the budget). A truck hauls you up the mountain beside Phewa Lake in Pokhara for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Then they strap a harness on you and clip you on to someone who actually knows how to paraglide.
Next, you stand on the hillside, which is really only big enough for you, your pilot, and the parachute laying on the ground behind you. In front of you there is about 3 meters (10 feet) of hillside before it drops of at about a 75 degree slope. Your instructions are, wait until told. Then walk a couple steps, then run. Me, I'm standing there, my legs tremblings, truly astonished by my lack of good sense, thinking, there is only about 4 -5 steps of space there before we jump a LONG way down the mountain. Walking a couple steps will really eat into the available space.
However, it all worked out. It is a little fuzzy, but I think I remember walking about 2 steps, maybe 3, then running, and within 1 - 2 steps we were in the air.
Being in the air is far less frightening than actually taking off. We flew around in circles trying to stay near the thermal air currents that lift us up and keep us in the air. Without thermals, we are in a constant fall until we hit the ground.
So, we circled up there, looking at the houses that pokadot the hillside beside their little tiered fields.
We chased the vultures a couple of times. Elliot, my pilot, told me that they really know how to catch the thermals.
Then, we flew out over the lake and I got to try my hand at the controls for a few minutes. I circled left and right a couple of times and that was that. We were approaching the ground so Elliot took us off the lake over to the 'highway' where we landed.
I say 'highway' because this road is the main road leading out north of Pokhara. To say it has 1 lane to be shared for both directions of traffic would be generous. There is a few inches of pavement on each side of the tires of larger trucks that drive this road.
Chilled out in Pokhara for the rest of the afternoon. Drank the fabulous orange juice and fruit lassis that are available at the road side stands. We went looking to see if there was a movie to see for our last night in Pokhara, but only Mr. & Mrs. Smith was playing. At several different restaurants. I've seen it twice already.
So, we had dinner at a sandwich shop. Think of a footlong sub from Subway, with ham omlet, mayonese and veggies. Pretty good. Wash it down with a fruit lassi (mixture of yogurt, juice and fruit) and that is very nice.
We met the next morning at 6:45am to get a taxi to the bus station. When I got there, Shelby was so sick (from something, maybe the food the day before) that she had decided not to come. So, Seth and I took the taxi to the bus station. Shelby's friend, Mayrav from Israel, shared a taxi with us, and happened to be on the same bus too.
The bus took until 5:30pm to get to Kathmandu. 4.5 hours longer than I expected. There was a military roadblock where soldiers (who may start shaving any day now) made the Nepali young men get off the bus and walk to the other side of the roadblock. Tourists, kids, women and family men didn't have to get off the bus.
So, that was yesterday.
Today, Seth is off to Kopan Monastery for a 1 month Buddhist retreat. So my travelling buddy and I are parting ways for the time being. Maybe I'll see him again sometime. He plans to visit India, Thailand and China. All places on my list.
Of course, my list grows the more I talk to other travellers. If this keeps up I'll never get to China, which is meant to be the crowning glory of my journey.
posted by Jaye | 9:34 AM
1 Comments:
Hey man, just so you know, there are breakfast subs at Subway, too! Eggs and ham or bacon, or a western omlette. :) You can get them on the crappy round buns, or on a regular 6"/12" sub bun. :)
Dude, trim the list so you make it to China.
Cheers!
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