Pokhara: the adventure capital of Nepal

So, probably the "normal" thing to do after trekking in the Himalayas for 20 days would be to come back to civilization and relax for a few days...but there was just too many cool things to do here in Pokhara!! Eric was on his way back from the Annapurna Basecamp, and Ian was exploring and hiking through the jungles of Bardia National Park, so I decided to go on an adventure of my own and go on an 2-day overnight whitewater rafting trip. The river was a class 2/3/4 so some parts were calm and easy-going, while others were exciting with huge rapids and us frantically paddling away from whirlpools and other more dangerous river features which I don't know the technical names for. We were rafting the Seti River and he water was warm and I was with a fun group...3 guys from Amsterdam and another from Germany...and 3 Nepali guides too of course. We kept singing the Indiana Jones theme song, just seemed fitting for the environment and situation. haha. That night we pulled our raft up to a sandy river bar and made camp. We used our whitewater raft as a shelter, had a campfires and drank some semi-tasty local beer (Everest Beer). The moon was out and the stars were bright and it was so awesome to be sleeping right next to the river. The next morning we had tea and breakfast and then just put our wetsuits on and hopped back in our raft to get on our way down the river. Such a fun trip!

Today was another day packed with adventurous things...this morning Ian, Eric, and I signed up to go paragliding! We had been holding out because the weather here has been smoggy, but this morning we decided to just go for it! We took a jeep up to a viewpoint over the city called Sangrakot. On a non-hazy day we would have had some awesome views of the mountain from there, but even so it was the experience more than the view we were excited for. They were quick about suiting us up and connecting each of us to an instructor and soon we were running full speed down the hill, letting air fill the "wing" (parachute), and leaping into thin air! What a feeling! There were eagles soaring around the thermals up there with us and a few times they came within 20 feet of me. We stayed up in the air circling on a good thermal for about 30 minutes before we started heading back towards the lake where our landing site was. The guide even let me fly for a few minutes and steer myself which was pretty cool. Unfortunatly for my sensitive motion-sickness prone stomach, the ups and downs and spinning on the thermals proved to be too much, and I was feeling quite sick by the time I landed. It really was awesome though and I would love to go again sometime when I get back to Washington (I know there is a good hill right around North Bend). The three of us were talking about how cool it would be to get certified to fly by yourself someday!

After paragliding we went and checked out Devi falls. Its unique because the waterfalls fall straight down into a hole in the ground where they disappear into the largest cave system in Asia. So of course we checked out the caves too. The end of the tunnel we followed brought us to a view of waterfall from underground. While exploring the caves it was weird to imagine that we were actually underneath the city streets somewhere!

Tomorrow we head to Chitwan National Park to go on a safari...we haven't decided what we'll do for sure yet, but most likely the safari will be on the backs of elephants. Should be pretty neat and a nice change again from the city. Pokhara is a fun city and I would love to come back here someday and explore more, but I am also ready to get back out into the jungles and see some neat wildlife!!