A Change of Plans; White Water Rafting

We just had a wonderful dinner at the Killroy, a nearby place recommended by the locals. We were joined by the owner of the tour company, Bikram Pandey and Pande Shikharr, one of his senior employees. It was great of them to join us. Bikram is one of the leading voices in Nepal in trying to get post-earthquake tourism back on track. He expressed his gratitude to us (I captured it on video but the wifi isn't good enough to upload it) and said that we were pioneers in jumpstarting the Nepal tourism recovery. This country really needs Pete to start coming back. It's a magnificent place. If you enjoy challenging hiking, trekking or biking, Nepal is for you. Please come. Bring your friends too.
Shikharr was telling us about Mt. Everest and the effort necessary to get to Basecamp and then Camps 1-5. The physical toughest, the mental strain, the time, the money; it's insane. About one in five dies trying to reach the summit. I'm all for adventure but I'd prefer something with a little better odds than that. Shikharr organizes trekking and biking trips all through the region. He does an amazing job. There were many other stories told at dinner and we shared a lot of laughs. It was a marvelous night.
Now I'm packing in preparation for an early wake up call and a short flight to Pokhara. We've changed out plans a bit. We are going to spend the day white river rafting, rather than exploring the town. I can't wait.
Today, after a morning of sightseeing, a nice lunch and a trip to the bike shop to check out our mountain bike, we returned to the hotel. After dropping stuff in our rooms, we went to the pool to relax for a bit. Awhile later I was half asleep on my cot when I heard Stephen say, "The only good thing about being bald is that you know it's raining before anyone else." I opened my eyes as Nick added, "Oh yeah, it's starting to rain. Holy shit, look at that cloud. Pretty ominous." It wasn't ten second later that a violent wind gust blasted us from out of nowhere. Cushions started flying, trees were bending, the hotel's construction canvas was shredding, workers scrambled and the other poolside guests sprinted for shelter. I'd never seen anything like it. It was completely calm one minute and 80+ mph winds the next. I could tell by the workers demeanor that this was unusual for them too. I was a little slow in taking video but I did capture a few seconds towards the end. See link; http://youtu.be/fFoTxV6S9qY
Th accompanying rain is just what was needed around here. It knocks the smog and pollutants out of the air, at least temporarily. The dirty air really takes a toll on you. Besides the sore throat and coughing, a film of soot covers you. After taking a shower this afternoon, the water left in the tub was a reddish copper color.
Our sightseeing tour took us to the Monkey Temple (named for all of the monkeys running around) and Dubar Square, the site of the Royal Palace built in the 1400's. Unfortunately several of the buildings in the square collapsed in the recent earthquake.
That's it for now. Time to sleep.




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Location:Kathmandu,Nepal