Yesterday Karen, Christie, and I went white water rafting! I was a bit nervous at first, imagining sharp rocks and intense waterfalls... you may remember The Emperor's New Groove when Cuzco (I think that's his name) goes over the waterfall... Yeah, that was how I was feeling.
To refresh your memory, check out the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOrxkGlLDM
Turns out it wasn't that intense. We had two other people on the raft with us, one man who was super intense and lots of fun with his girlfriend who was quiet and scared of water. We had a couple big waves and the guy fell out once. It was hilarious! We were all equipped with life jackets and helmets "just in case" and got the run down of how to not drown if we did fall out. That talk got me more scared than the rafting itself! One other thing, our guide's name was Pineapple. Yes. Pineapple.
We started upstream of the base camp about 10kms I think. We were out for maybe 30-60mins and once we arrived at base camp we had lunch. It consisted of rice, vegetables, chicken and lentils. It seemed to be a pretty standard Nepali meal. I had a coke in a glass bottle with lunch.
The camp was beautiful... it over looked the river and offered tents and little cabins to stay in, had a pool and lots of adventure activities. It was called "Royal Beach Camp" and looked like a fun place to stay, although pretty remote. We drove about 3 hours out of Kathmandu to get there.
The second half of the rafting seemed much shorter but we got to jump out of the raft and swim in the calm areas. However, the current was so strong it pulled us along so we didn't really need to kick. That was fun! We went through some rapids again, but it wasn't anything crazy and none of us fell out this time. :P
Afterwards, we drove back to base camp standing in the back of a truck carrying the kayaks, raft, paddles and other equipment. There were about 4 people in the truck and about 4 of us in the box of the truck and two guys just hanging on and standing on the bumper. Nepalis are totally crazy. The ride follows the curves of the mountain and they were going really fast.
Our driver took us home shortly after and was doing about 80km/h on these 'back roads' where there are hairpin turns. It was a little scary sometimes to be cutting off cars and passing them around bends and hills when we couldn't see ahead of us. But that seems to be the way things are done here. You just honk as you're going around a corner and hope the people slow down enough that you don't do a head-on collision. One time it was so close we had to back up and go around them again. People ride on motorbikes without gear or helmets and sit sideways on the bike. It's just stupid.
I put on sun screen in the morning and despite wearing a t-shirt and capris I still got a decent burn. My arms and the back of my hands are burned as well as the back of my neck and my cheeks. It isn't super painful, just hot and annoying.
I woke up last night really sick and have been feeling pretty 'blah' all day so I stayed inside. I'm not sure if it's from the sun burn or maybe I accidentally ingested some of the dirty river water. I slept from 8pm to about 8am and had breakfast. Then I went in my room and Skyped with Max until about 11:30am when I was feeling sick again. My head has been hurting and my stomach was a bit upset but that passed. I then went back to sleep until 4:45pm. I'm just tired of feeling gross.
Depending on how I'm feeling tomorrow I may join Christie at the daycare she volunteers at. Maybe I will have another day re-couping. I have been really run down after such a long week. I have gone from flying Sunday-Wednesday and doing nothing to lots of physically demanding activities like hiking and rafting in hot hot weather. Maybe that makes me weak? I know I'm definitely out of shape but things feel a lot different here. Hiking in Winnipeg is different than hiking in Nepal that's for sure! (Maybe because there are no hills in Winnipeg?)
During my relaxing time this morning Laurel, Christie's cousin and the woman whose house I am staying at, called me up to the third floor where I looked out and saw the Himalayas! I feel so lucky to have (partially) seen them twice this trip because you usually can't see them at all during monsoon season.
I'm heading out for now, I really want to be rested and feel better tomorrow! talk soon!
To refresh your memory, check out the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhOrxkGlLDM
Turns out it wasn't that intense. We had two other people on the raft with us, one man who was super intense and lots of fun with his girlfriend who was quiet and scared of water. We had a couple big waves and the guy fell out once. It was hilarious! We were all equipped with life jackets and helmets "just in case" and got the run down of how to not drown if we did fall out. That talk got me more scared than the rafting itself! One other thing, our guide's name was Pineapple. Yes. Pineapple.
We started upstream of the base camp about 10kms I think. We were out for maybe 30-60mins and once we arrived at base camp we had lunch. It consisted of rice, vegetables, chicken and lentils. It seemed to be a pretty standard Nepali meal. I had a coke in a glass bottle with lunch.
The camp was beautiful... it over looked the river and offered tents and little cabins to stay in, had a pool and lots of adventure activities. It was called "Royal Beach Camp" and looked like a fun place to stay, although pretty remote. We drove about 3 hours out of Kathmandu to get there.
The second half of the rafting seemed much shorter but we got to jump out of the raft and swim in the calm areas. However, the current was so strong it pulled us along so we didn't really need to kick. That was fun! We went through some rapids again, but it wasn't anything crazy and none of us fell out this time. :P
Afterwards, we drove back to base camp standing in the back of a truck carrying the kayaks, raft, paddles and other equipment. There were about 4 people in the truck and about 4 of us in the box of the truck and two guys just hanging on and standing on the bumper. Nepalis are totally crazy. The ride follows the curves of the mountain and they were going really fast.
Our driver took us home shortly after and was doing about 80km/h on these 'back roads' where there are hairpin turns. It was a little scary sometimes to be cutting off cars and passing them around bends and hills when we couldn't see ahead of us. But that seems to be the way things are done here. You just honk as you're going around a corner and hope the people slow down enough that you don't do a head-on collision. One time it was so close we had to back up and go around them again. People ride on motorbikes without gear or helmets and sit sideways on the bike. It's just stupid.
I put on sun screen in the morning and despite wearing a t-shirt and capris I still got a decent burn. My arms and the back of my hands are burned as well as the back of my neck and my cheeks. It isn't super painful, just hot and annoying.
I woke up last night really sick and have been feeling pretty 'blah' all day so I stayed inside. I'm not sure if it's from the sun burn or maybe I accidentally ingested some of the dirty river water. I slept from 8pm to about 8am and had breakfast. Then I went in my room and Skyped with Max until about 11:30am when I was feeling sick again. My head has been hurting and my stomach was a bit upset but that passed. I then went back to sleep until 4:45pm. I'm just tired of feeling gross.
Depending on how I'm feeling tomorrow I may join Christie at the daycare she volunteers at. Maybe I will have another day re-couping. I have been really run down after such a long week. I have gone from flying Sunday-Wednesday and doing nothing to lots of physically demanding activities like hiking and rafting in hot hot weather. Maybe that makes me weak? I know I'm definitely out of shape but things feel a lot different here. Hiking in Winnipeg is different than hiking in Nepal that's for sure! (Maybe because there are no hills in Winnipeg?)
During my relaxing time this morning Laurel, Christie's cousin and the woman whose house I am staying at, called me up to the third floor where I looked out and saw the Himalayas! I feel so lucky to have (partially) seen them twice this trip because you usually can't see them at all during monsoon season.
I'm heading out for now, I really want to be rested and feel better tomorrow! talk soon!
The white water rafting sounds amazing - cross that off your bucket list now!
ReplyDeleteI hope you're feeling better!
xo
Lyndsay
I hope you are feeling better! It's nice to hear you have been enjoying fun things and going on those adventures, sounds exhausting! I feel burnt just reading about it.
ReplyDelete-Max