Ozbus11 in Nepal - Part 3

Having left the Orphanage a little low, day 45 of my London to Sydney bus trip was spent hanging and pottering around in a boat on the lake in Pokhara. It was day 46 that would mark a milestone in our trip. That morning more than half the group had left very early to go white water rafting. I opted out having done it before and wanting to take advantage of a lie-in before some very early starts coming our way. We left Pokhara saying another bye to Helen and made our way up winding mountain roads to collect the rafters. There, wet bodies (inc. Rob's brother and 2 Canadian women hitching a ride) bundled onto the tiny Nepalese bus and we celebrated officially being 'half way there'!

It was only another 46 days to go until we reached Sydney and having spent the last couple of weeks building up to this milestone, suddenly there was a sense that now we had reached it - it was all going to go far too fast from now on. We arrived in Khatmandu that evening and settled into another hotel in the heart of the city. Many were up early the next day to go on a pleasure flight around Everest. This was by far the most expensive extra on the tour and something I chose not to do owing to my no flying traveling. But it was with great satisfaction that they all came back to breakfast at the hotel, telling us how amazing it was to see.

A mini bus tour of some good sites was laid on for us including being taken to a Stupa and the Monkey Temple. The stupa was very beautiful being deocrated in flags and surrounded by traditional buildings. The monkey temple creeped me out a bit with all the wild monkees running about the place. I got cold and tired as soon as the sun went down and went back to the city for some local Nepalese dinner with Tamara, our super smart, doctor, Canadian Ozbusketeer.

At 6am on day 48 I and a few other Ozbusketeers caught a transfer bus to The Last Resort, near the Tibetan border. It was billed as the perfect retreat, a place to pamper oneself with a range of massages available and activities such as Canyon Swininging and Bungee Jumping optional activites. Accomodation were sveral grades of luxurious tents, but all I was looking forward to was a pool, peace and quiet and Bungee Jumping. As it turned out it wasn't really a retreat but a PGL activity centre for Grown-ups. On arrival our accomadation booking had been typically miscommunicated and there weren't, apparently, enough tents to go round as one lady was expected to share a tent with another man in our group. I don't know if I'm just out of date with things but isn't that completely unacceptable within the tourist industry? Regardless of country. It wasn't a sham organisation that was being run here. It was owned by some Kiwi's and the drinks prices at the bar set the tone for being a first class type of place. But the way it was run - completely over capacity, as the first day there, we had to fight to get any lunch (breakfast lunch and dinner were inc. in price). And it seemed that they were setting food out after being cooked and re-heating it for the different groups coming along. Very dodgy.

Also - there was no pool! How can you run a resort without a pool? Come on! There was a mini square of a cold plunge poole available but it's not the same. Initial dissapointment aside, it was a beautiful setting nestled into the mountain-side. I chose not to do my jump that day, preferring that I take the full time to relax and get excited tomorrow when I had to leave anyway. The next day I did my jump and of course I had to be the first one to do it. It was because you jump by weight and I was the lightest. Both the Bungy and Canyon Swing were over a gorge and we were told by Phil to feel priveleged as it was illegal elsewhere to bungy from bridges these days and was the no.1 Canyon Swing in the world. So I was called. Tentatively made my way over to the middle of the bridge. Stepped into a harness. Told to sit down as they attached bungy to ankes. My god - they strapped it on tight, just as well really. But it did hurt. Then I shuffled under fence out onto jumping platform.

Bungy jumping is something I have always wanted to do just because of the challenge that it is. Something so high, so un-natural - how will I cope? I refused to get scared though. The last thing I wanted was to be was on that platform, look down and have thoughts of terrible things making me hesitate to do it. I just powered on through. So I raised my arms making me into a sort of cross figure, listened to Nepalese jump guy count 3,2,1.......... and I dived head first into a gorge with a river at the bottom, my eyes were shut. Then I opened them and I was still falling. And then I bounced a bit, not much, then I hung for what seemed like ages until they lowered me enough for me to grap a stick and two people at the side of the river pull me in. I was relived to get the bungy off my ankles purely because it was so painful round them. But then I stood up, looked up and went... "huh. I've done it and I feel...... nothing?! How can I feel nothing? I've just jumped the third highest bungy in the world?" I thought.

So I clambered up the steep valley face up to the viewing deck to watch the others go. Then we all re-conviened for lunch and to watch our prosective videos. And I thought - I need something else. So I went and paid to do the Canyon Swing that everyone said felt amazing. By this time there were only 3 as opposed to approx. 30 people on the bridge doing their jump. Now it felt like my turn, something truly for me, nothing to prove. I jumped the Canyon Swing where the rope was attached to your waist harness and suspended from accross the gorge further out. Freefalling until it picked up the slack was really good and swinging back a forth a few times, I felt more of an adrenaline rush on this than on the bungy.

Satisfied I packed up my things to catch the bus with everyon,e back to Khatmandu. At 10am on day 50 I reluctantly got on the bus to leave Khatmandu and head to the Nepal border to go back into India. I was dreading it. Leaving behind such an amazing country with amazing scenery, food and wonderful people to go into one where I couldn't eat anything nor sleep properly in hotels where cleanliness was something out of a western magazine, not Indian culture. In fact it terrified Linda so much that she went back to Pokhara and met us at Bangkok airport when we flew there from Calcutta.