The last few days in Kathmandu were spent catching up with our friend Woody Plus we had to take in the iconic sights: the Swayambunath Stupa and of course the old Freak Street area. Freak street was part of the old hippie trail of the 60s and 70s, mostly shut down in the late 70s and 80s by US intervention (as usual)…. we picked up lots of light clothes for India and warmer climates…. The stupa is probably the best known landmark in Kathmandu, as despite being templed-out, the girls survived. The views of the city …
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Chitiwan National Park
After the mountainous Pokhara it was on to hot Chitiwan National Park to see elephants and hopefully Asian PygmyRhinos! We got to the park and it was hot. Damn hot. After lunch we had several hours to kill before a bush walk so I joined the little two in some pool time. There I met a guy from Montreal and a woman from Portland, Or – she is a specialist elephant vet! They have an NGO called Stand Up 4 Elephants https://www.su4e.org For the next few hours I found out about the plight of Nepali …
Beautiful Pokhara
Beautiful Pokhara is Nepal’s second city but first city of activities. Rafting, paragliding, zip lining, hiking, kayaking etc are all based in Pokhara. There are some beat sites to see but the crowning glory is the surrounding Annapurna Range including the well named Annapurna 1, Annapurna 2, Annapurna 3….you get the picture. It’s a multinational backpacker haven with lots of cheap accommodation and banana pancakes! Activity wise, we saw the sights, walked the town a lot and ate yummy curries. The brave females all went paragliding while I sat at the pool and bravely drank beer. Though it was the …
Kathmandu
Up until now things have been pretty busy and programmed, so Kathmandu was planned to be R &R. Staying in my friend Woodys 2 bedroom apartment ( while he was away in Denmark) afforded us the opportunity to do lots of nothing, catch up on the blog and just rest. Woody and I have had numerous adventures together in such far flung places as Mocambique, Madagascar, South Africa and a few Burning Man experiences to name a few…. we are so lucky to use his apartment. As my daughter said – “ This place is lit” It was also …
Bucket list and no2 spot in the world
On August 17, we got to tick an item off the bucket list. Paragliding and paragliding in the no 2 spot in the world. What a blast!
The girls and I were picked up from the hotel and brought to Sarangkot. A short 25 min drive up the hills of Pokhara.
Post a massive storm the night before, the weather cleared . It’s the tail end of monsoon so the sun is back shining again. It’s hot and it’s humid.
I went parasailing many moons ago but consider this adventure with my chicks as an all round first time.
Kaia… My mind says yes but my guts tell me no, walk away!
Skye… I want to do it but don’t ask me again.
Willow .. I’m definitely doing it. Out of 10, I’m an 11.
Me… As long as I don’t wipe out on take off and rip a hole up the backside of my trousers … Bring it on!
Papa… I’ll sit this one out.
We get to the hill and get assigned to our pilots. This is tandem paragliding. We get our briefing and Q&A. The chutes gets prepped and we suit up. When I tell you to walk, walk against the resistance of the chute… When I tell you to run, run! Pretty simple commands and now the adrenaline really kicks in…
I’m so proud of the girls. They are still game and are excited. Kaia goes first. A mere 4 steps and she is off in the sky! What an awesome take off and not a peep. Skye and Willow are next. Skye is the meat of the Willow/pilot sandwich. These 2 are very excited. Take off is very smooth. I get to see Willow’s and then Skye’s little legs still pumping in the air when they suddenly realize they have left the ground. And then a resounding “wooohooo”. I’m last to go. I wait for the wind sock to be in the right direction to start the walk and then the run… I question briefly my great parenting skills… Before you know it, I’m up gaining altitude rejoining the others.
The setup. You are sitting in what ressembles a chair leaning back against the pilot who is directly behind you. It’s really comfortable and very peaceful. Just the wind, the kites, the sights and a few other paragliders in the sky.
The sights remained awesome even with the Himalayas hiding behind clouds.
So so cool !
We have converts. The girls want to go again.
Group shot pré flight.
Got to love them…
A prickly topic to post but one that should be addressed nevertheless. Extended travel with your loved ones. It’s your family. You love them, right? Warts and all? Hmmmm… Honestly, not easy. The 24/7 isn’t the problem. The difficulty in negotiating the needs and wants of 5 is. Everyone wanting something, generally different, at different times. “Not now…”, “Later !” “But why now?” “why can’t I have pizza again?” It’s important to retain humour throughout the getting to know you 24/7 phase. Keeping a routine when so much changes around you is really hard. Eat, sleep or soiled diaper… If …
Gyirong to Kathmandu
The drive from the Gyirong border post to Kathmandu was a horrible experience. The Tibetan side was great but the Nepali side….. This year has had tons of monsoon rains and the road has washed out numerous times. Many have died this year. For those who have driven with me – I am a notoriously bad passenger and I hate heights. A bad combo. We were told the drive was 6-7 hours and it took 12+. Four hours were spent watching a bulldozer and two front end loaders rebuild a road that just had a landslide. Real …
El jefe…
Car = sleep. My beloved insomniac sleeps like a baby within 15 mins of driving 😂
6 degrees of separation
Here we are in UB, have a meeting planned, to find out that 2 people, randomly connected to us, know each other. How? The teacher and her student. The background. When we decided that Mongolia would be the starting point for our adventure, a DB friend’s interest was heightened as their family sponsor a young girl there via the Christina Noble Foundation. He floated the idea of a meeting. He wasn’t sure where she lived but would reach out to the foundation and organise a meeting if it was possible. And so it happened! The young girl lived on the …
The favorites
Skye on Chengdu, China 🇨🇳 All of us just might remember Chengdu because of the panda 🐼 My favourite parts were 1. Seeing the pandas and the baby pandas 2. Going to the panda our Gide said that Chengdu hade one word to describe it”poets” she said each letter hade it one meaning “p” for pandas “o” opera “e” eat it base a lot of good food 🥘 “t” for tea ☕️ “s” for Shelly her name but usant its poets with out the s 3. Seeing the biggest Buddha in the world 🌍 the Lashan Buddha 4. And that …