Day 19 - Rafting to Chitwan

We woke to a misty and cool morning, that then turned into a magnificent day. There's something special about being by a campfire in the early morning, and I think the last few days of camping while trekking and on the river have reminded us how much we enjoy getting into the great outdoors.

The Seti River valley is steep, and it would be difficult to move between the little villages by road or track, so the locals have a range of ways to cross the river.  

This dugout canoe was near our campsite. With rapids a couple of hundred metres in each direction, you wouldn't want to stray too far away!

Along the way there were also these suspended cars above the river. People sit in them, and use the wires to pull themselves over. Young kids obviously learn how to do this early, as we saw a child of about 5 pulling himself back and forth over the river, before then stepping up on to the top of the wires to push the car from above. No fear!

Over time, many of the suspended cars have been replaced by suspension bridges. These allow motorbikes to cross, and also provide a useful drying rack for village clothes! Some are more elaborate than others, but they would all feel pretty flimsy when the river is high and raging during the monsoon time!

Our tour group is 4 adventurous families with teenagers - Brian, Patricia, Mitchell (18) and Amanda (14) from Toronto; Dean, Jules, Angus (13) and Ella (12) from Hamilton in country Victoria; Heather and Mitchell (15) from Adelaide; and us with Emma (16) and Alex (12). Padma, our guide, is also proving to be an overgrown teenager!  We've has only known each other for a week, but after a couple of nights camping, a lot of sickness, and some pretty crazy moments, we've bonded well. 

Our rafting adventure was certainly one of the best and most memorable experiences of the trip.

We arrived at Chitwan National Park in the late afternoon and went for a walk through the local village.  The village is pretty large, but self sustaining, so it was filled with animals, crops, and local children.

Many of the houses had pigeon houses perched high, and rows of corn drying in the sun. I think it's the only time I've ever seen people trying to attract pigeons!

This guy was making concrete blocks by hand in his front yard. The concrete was mixed in a little bowl, and then he had 2 moulds on the go - while one dried enough to maintain the shape of the block, he filled the other. It's a far cry from the thousands of blocks I used to watch Besser Masonry pump out!

Even in the rural areas, it's strange to see the different standard of housing side by side, especially considering the way that wealth seems to be distributed across the community. Old shacks are shadowed by ornate two storey colourful places. 

Tuesday afternoon is market day in Bagmara Village in the Nawal Parasi District, so all the villagers come to the local field to stock up for the week.

The market was filled with food, pots and pans, and western and Nepali clothes. Everything is old style, with sacks of grain, old scales, and stall holders on mats on the floor.

The sun set in the market, giving a beautiful, calm close to another busy day. The Nepali calendar that is shown at the hotel suggests I'm exactly 100 and 1 week... if this is what 100 feels like, then bring it on!

Love theBunch x

Day 18 - Rafting on the Seti River

Leaving Pokhara this morning meant that we leave behind the Himalayas. It was a beautiful clear day, so the view was breathtaking. It's an amazing part of our planet, and something that I'm so glad we've seen.

Our tour is called the 'Himalayan Teenage Adventure', and it's certainly living up to that. Today we put on our wetsuits, life jackets and helmets to go white water rafting down the Seti River, with an overnight camp along the way.

The Seti River runs for 202 km from the Himalayas. Over the days we cover 27km of the Lower Seti from Damauli, to the intersection with the Trisuli River between Mugling and Devghat. Most is at a leisurely pace as the river is low at the moment, but with some rapids along the way.  Apparently the section that will take us 4 hours on the first day, takes about 1.5 hours during monsoon time!

The river provided a completely new perspective on life in rural Nepal. We passed tiny villages and huts nestled in the hillside, most of which would be completely self sustaining. Firewood is stacked under houses, small crops are laid out to dry, and washing is done in the river and hung on any available horizontal surface.

The government is currently building a road along the river, and whole villages pitch in to build the retaining walls. We passed diggers cutting into the mountain, young men with tractors in the water gathering large river rocks, and women and older men carrying rocks in baskets at the riverside. This is tough work, but keeps a community employed and working together.

Everything for 20 people for 2 days was bundled into dry bags on our 2 rafts and a safety boat... Food, tents, cooking equipment, water, clothes, sleeping bags. Again, the logistics of this are huge, but the Nepali people take it all in their stride with a big smile. When we paused for lunch, and within about 20 minutes, they'd chopped up meat and salads and put on a huge spread.

The guides clearly love their job! The two in the little safety kayaks were practising tricks along the way, while the guides in our rafts loved taking the path through the rapids that would provide the maximum drenching and plenty of laughs. We could only grab photos in the calm water, but one of the guides took photos and footage of the rapids that we'll receive when we get back to Kathmandu - there could be some interesting shots!

As we headed down the river the sky became more and more ominous. As Queenslanders, we know a good storm when we see one, and the storm front was just like something you'd see on a summer afternoon in Brisbane. We got off the river at our campsite, got 2 tents up in galeforce winds, and then the hail hit. The guides did a remarkable job - they stayed out in the weather to get the rest of the tents up, made dinner, found a local barman, replaced some leaking tents... I'm sure that all they wanted to do was get warm and dry!

Storm passed, and we were able to enjoy our little riverside campground for the evening. It turned out to be a really clear night, so we sat around the campfire and stared at a billion stars, while toasting marshmallows and trying to dry our clothes.

Love theBunch x

Day 17 - Back to Pokhara

Happy New Year! May 2017 be a year of opportunity, health and happiness!

I'm sure Cisepani is normally a quiet little town, but it certainly celebrated the New Year in style... Nepali pop music until 4am that echoed around the hills. When 'Gangnam Style' appeared on the playlist at 3:45 there may have been a couple of Aussie expletives escape from our tent...

It was a beautiful sunrise through the clouds. We just don't take the time to appreciate these things enough when we're at home.

We packed up early to head back down the hill. Before we left, we grabbed a group shot, even though about 10 porters had already headed down the hill. It's a huge group that makes these trips happen, and they really do an exceptional job.

I particularly like the resourceful way they ensure the Intrepid brand is retained. A bit of velcro and a strip of fabric, and all of a sudden 'Intrepid' can be Peregrine or Gecko!

Our guide, Padma, is an avid bird watched, and is a qualified naturalist.  Halfway down the hill he noticed a tiny bird (Black Lored Tit) in the bushes, so stopped us all to look. When he got closer, he realised that the bird was trapped in some nylon wire, so carefully freed it. The bird looks relaxed here, but he was pretty cranky throughout the process!

Lots and lots more downhill on the other side of the hill. Apparently this side is not as steep as the side we climbed yesterday!

Back in the rice paddies, and the simplicity of life is clear. 

There's a tiny school in the middle of the valley, which looked like it took kids right to the end of secondary school. The kids were all very excited to see the group of Westerners and we're hanging out the windows yelling 'Namaste'. It's been a common call from everyone we've seen - the Nepalis have been such a welcoming bunch.

On the way back to Pokhara we finally managed a picture of one of the strangest vehicles we've seen. Looks part tractor, part ute, and part lawn mowers. These are on the roads everywhere in Nepal - not sure if they would ever take off in Brisbane!

It's been a great experience and a lovely way to see in the new year. Definitely got us thinking about the next hiking trip that we might do in Nepal...

Love theBunch x

Day 16 - Hike to Cisepani

This morning we set off on our overnight hike in the foothills of the Himalayas. The morning was beautiful and clear, so we got a fabulous view of The Annapurna Range as we headed out of Pokara. It's times like this that you really appreciate how amazing our planet really is.

Our hike started near Sundarindanda, a tiny town overlooking Begnas Tal, the biggest lake in Nepal. For the first couple of hours we headed downhill, and into a valley of rice paddies. The hills on either side had been terraced by many generations of farmers, and it reminded us how hard the people in rural Nepal must work.

Our photographer works pretty hard too :)

Rural areas also remind us how to keep it simple. This bridge might was made of a few slabs of concrete on some pylons. There really isn't a need for anything else, other than some common sense by those who cross it!

The farm shacks in the valley are very basic, but all have these large haystacks out the front. This is their way of storing the hay for their animals, and at times the animals live underneath the hay and have food on tap.

After about an hour at a leisurely pace we stopped for lunch in a rice paddy beside a little village. Our chef and kitchen team put on a great spread of Puri (flat wheat bread), potato curry, veges and coleslaw - all made on site, and only a few minutes ahead of us... this was hardly the tough trek we'd expected! 

Thankfully, the trail turned skywards as we climbed to Cisepani, 1300m up. In many areas the locals have built stone steps as this is their quickest route to their village. It was lovely to climb in the fresh air, and see the hills poke through the trees.

Our porters were an incredible bunch. We were only required to bring day packs, so our sleeping bags, spare clothes, and everything needed for the campsite was carried up but the team. In total, there were 31 people to support our group of 15...crazy!!!

The porters tied a couple of big backpacks together, and the carried them using a strap on their head. One backpack would have been too heavy for most westerners on the trail, but two, with the weight in their head was unbelievable. In some ways, it seemed quite exploitative for the westerners to leave their heavy work to locals.

5 1/2 hours after we set off, we reached our campsite at the top of the hill, all set up and ready to go. Not only were the porters tough, they were quick too!!!  The site was near Cisepani, at the top of a hill at about 1300m. The town allows tour companies to use the area for a small fee - they are very entrepreneurial!

I quizzed our guide about the financial support for towns. Apparently a group of small villages are collected in a VDC - village development committee. The government supplies support collectively, and it's up to the village to determine the best way to spend the funds.

Our tents were simple and old style with steel poles and heavy fabric, and we even had foam mattresses inside. They certainly wouldn't have been this luxurious if we'd had to carry them up the hill!

In the corner of the campsite there is a run down old stone building that became the makeshift kitchen. Everything was carried up, and all the food is made fresh. The logistics are incredible when you realise that every porter and kitchen hand is an extra mouth to feed and an extra sleeping bag, and there was definitely no rationing or shortage.

The team went to extra effort to celebrate the new year. The dining tent (carried up the hill!) was decorated with balloons and candles, and the chef had made a 'Happy New Year' cake.  We opted to celebrate Sydney new year at 6:45pm, knowing that we were very unlikely to make it to midnight.

And with that, we bid farewell to 2016. Dinner and sitting around a campfire at the top of a Himalayan foothill!

Love theBunch x