Good news: we all survived 4 days of white water kayaking! Better yet, we all learned how to Eskimo roll, so we can now add that to our extreme sport CVs. Day one was a training day in the lake (Fewa Tal, near Pokhara) learning the basics on flat water before jumping into the whitewater. We started off with some paddle strokes (much harder to go straight in a whitewater kayak than an ocean kayak apparently...) then moved on to several rescue techniques. Finally, we spent the majority of the afternoon learning the roll! To learn we started off half submerged with our ears full of water while the instructors tried to tell us what to do. Only problem was we couldn't hear them...so it took us a while to figure things out. Our instructors were great, but relentless. After one (usually failed) roll attempt we were immediately flung back under water for a second, then third, then fourth attempt. After several minutes we realized we may have inadvertently signed up for a water boarding punishment, not white water kayaking. Miraculously, though, we all got the roll! Apparently there are many types of eskimo rolls: the guitar roll, the 90 degree roll, the hand roll, helicopter roll, avacado roll...ok the last one is actually a sushi roll, but you get the idea. We started with the guitar roll, which is substantially easier than all the others. But by the end of our 4 days we had all gotten the 90 down too.
Day two was the actual start of our whitewater trip. We drove a couple hours out of Pokhara to the Lower Seti river. Once we arrived we all helped carry the gear down to the river. But before we could hop in, some Nepalese reporters came down to see what we were up to. We're not sure if this was something pre arranged, or if they just spotted the boats from the road, but they ended up taking down our names to include in their article. Vanessa they thought was named Banana (which became her nickname for the rest of the trip), they wrote Christina's name down as Krishna, they got the fourth member of our group's name correct, but that's only because his name (Guy) means Cow in Nepali, we're pretty sure they had no idea what Nouri's name was. After that we got right into the water, and proceeded to scream our way down the first section of river. We spent most of the first day stopping at pre-set locations to practice various maneuvers, such as eddying in and out, rolling in still water, rolling in the current, crossing the main current, and paddling upstream. By the end of the day we were all exhausted from both adrenaline and exertion. Fortunately, our guides whipped up an amazing meal in no time. Before we had even gotten out of our kayaks they had made us a huge vat of popcorn and had boiled water for tea. For dinner we had delicious spaghetti and curry. This was luxury camping at its finest!
The third day (second on river) was a bit tougher than the previous day, but we were also a bit more comfortable on the water. We had one large rapid (a 3-, for those keeping score) that managed to kick 3 of us out of our boats. Fortunately, our guides were quick to the rescue and we all made it out unscathed. That night we had another feast (past with alfredo sauce and french fries!) followed by a Nepalese dance and song performance provided by some local kids. When we say provided by the locals we mean they sort of sang for a while, then would periodically drag us up to dance in front of the fire. Every time we'd get tired some other kid would come out of the crowd, drag us all up again, and try to teach us his dance moves. Eventually we decided it would probably be less work if we just stayed up there the whole time, and we spent the next hour dancing a combination of our butchered Nepali dancing and our own Canadian dance moves. These moves included, but were not limited to: the Macarana, the robot, the moonwalk, and that Greek wedding dance you see in the movies. The Greek one was really popular, we didn't have the heart to tell them it wasn't really the proper dance. Exhausted, we eventually convinced them to wind it down so we could get some sleep. What party animals we are!
The last day was probably the most exciting. We only went for a half day, but we managed to cram 7 rapids into that time. We arrived at our final spot around lunch, helped pack things up, ate some lunch, then jumped on a very hot bus headed towards our next destination: Chitwan National Park.
Stay tuned for more on Chitwan (Rhinos, Tigers, and [Sloth] Bears, oh my!).
Day two was the actual start of our whitewater trip. We drove a couple hours out of Pokhara to the Lower Seti river. Once we arrived we all helped carry the gear down to the river. But before we could hop in, some Nepalese reporters came down to see what we were up to. We're not sure if this was something pre arranged, or if they just spotted the boats from the road, but they ended up taking down our names to include in their article. Vanessa they thought was named Banana (which became her nickname for the rest of the trip), they wrote Christina's name down as Krishna, they got the fourth member of our group's name correct, but that's only because his name (Guy) means Cow in Nepali, we're pretty sure they had no idea what Nouri's name was. After that we got right into the water, and proceeded to scream our way down the first section of river. We spent most of the first day stopping at pre-set locations to practice various maneuvers, such as eddying in and out, rolling in still water, rolling in the current, crossing the main current, and paddling upstream. By the end of the day we were all exhausted from both adrenaline and exertion. Fortunately, our guides whipped up an amazing meal in no time. Before we had even gotten out of our kayaks they had made us a huge vat of popcorn and had boiled water for tea. For dinner we had delicious spaghetti and curry. This was luxury camping at its finest!
The third day (second on river) was a bit tougher than the previous day, but we were also a bit more comfortable on the water. We had one large rapid (a 3-, for those keeping score) that managed to kick 3 of us out of our boats. Fortunately, our guides were quick to the rescue and we all made it out unscathed. That night we had another feast (past with alfredo sauce and french fries!) followed by a Nepalese dance and song performance provided by some local kids. When we say provided by the locals we mean they sort of sang for a while, then would periodically drag us up to dance in front of the fire. Every time we'd get tired some other kid would come out of the crowd, drag us all up again, and try to teach us his dance moves. Eventually we decided it would probably be less work if we just stayed up there the whole time, and we spent the next hour dancing a combination of our butchered Nepali dancing and our own Canadian dance moves. These moves included, but were not limited to: the Macarana, the robot, the moonwalk, and that Greek wedding dance you see in the movies. The Greek one was really popular, we didn't have the heart to tell them it wasn't really the proper dance. Exhausted, we eventually convinced them to wind it down so we could get some sleep. What party animals we are!
The last day was probably the most exciting. We only went for a half day, but we managed to cram 7 rapids into that time. We arrived at our final spot around lunch, helped pack things up, ate some lunch, then jumped on a very hot bus headed towards our next destination: Chitwan National Park.
Stay tuned for more on Chitwan (Rhinos, Tigers, and [Sloth] Bears, oh my!).
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