One day we hired out the motorbike and drove up to the Peace Stupa, which as always in this area was a beautiful drive
Just in case anyone has noticed that Craig is always wearing a bike helmet whereas I am not. This is because in Nepal, the law states that only the driver has to wear a helmet. Therefore they only supply one helmet, which must be worn by the driver, pretty crazy! And yes, we are being extra careful!
Peace Stupa - the brilliant-white Shanti Stupa in Pokhara is a massive Buddhist stupa which was constructed by Buddhist monks from the Japanese Nipponzan Myōhōji organisation. The shrine is a vantage point which offers spectacular views of the Annapurna range and Pokhara city. The shining golden statue depicts the Buddha in the posture he assumed when he was born. Near the base of the stupa is the grave of a Japanese monk murdered by anti-Buddhist extremists during the construction of the monument. A Peace Pagoda is a Buddhist stupa; a monument to inspire peace, designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds, and to help unite them in their search for world peace.
When we got to the parking as usual it was another 50 or so steps to the Stupa. It was really hot that day so by the time i got to the top, I was not a pretty sight. The Stupa however was...
On the way back down we came across a waterfall running across the road on a blind bend with a sheer drop off the side. Now in most countries you probably wouldn't stop, but this is Nepal, so we parked up as far off the road as possible, and went for a paddle. As it goes about 2 minutes after we pulled up so did a moped with a family of three in and a taxi all of which parked in the middle of the road and proceeded to have a waterfight (making water bombs out of used crisp packets). To be fair it was a lovely little spot.....
Coming back into town we made a diversion to Devis Falls. It is as they name suggests a waterfall. There is a story about a European woman, Devis that died whilst swimming in the falls, thats how they got their name. If its true I am not suprised she died, there was a huge amount of water coming through quite a small gorge. I think we were lucky to see it at the end of the rainy season, I think nearly at full capacity.
That evening there was a very odd sunset over Pokhara
The weather in Pokhara in monsoon season is odd. Its generally really clear at 6am in the morning then by about 10am it starts to cloud over, about 12noon it will rain for a couple of hours. Then the sun will come out and it will be baking hot, until about 8pm, then it rains torrentially again. It can make for planning a day out difficult, but the following day is was baking hot all day. So we were very pleased to have already made the decision to drive to Begnas Taal (lake). It was really beautiful, and serene and best of all cool.
And then the peace was broken, we were set upon by some children that had come down too cool off and do some washing. They were very friendly, we had a swimming race, and they asked us about a million questions.
A couple of days later, having made the decision not to do trekking. The weather is so unpredictable, when its hot, its like 40 degrees and when it rains it so torrential that it hurts your head. Not the weather I felt was conducive to trekking, so with that in mind we decided to drive to Phedi, right on the edge of the Annapurna Conservation Area (so basically as far as you can go without paying the $45 each for permits).
The drive through the mountains of course was beautiful. When we stopped to take photos we came across some interesting looking bugs, scary spiky plants and some unidentified fruit too......
When we arrived in Phedi there was not a lot there and it started to rain. On the way back we came across some very weathered looking Buddhist prayer flags. A prayer flag is a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside. The five colors represent the elements, blue symbolizes the sky and space, white symbolizes the air and wind, red symbolizes fire, green symbolizes water, and yellow symbolizes earth. According to traditional tibetan medicine, health and harmony are produced through the balance of the five elements. Traditionally, prayer flags are used to promote peace, compassion, strength, and wisdom. The flags do not carry prayers to gods, which is a common misconception; rather, the Tibetans believe the prayers and mantras will be blown by the wind to spread the good will and compassion into all pervading space. Therefore, prayer flags are thought to bring benefit to all.
On the way back down we made another cool down stop at the river, this time we were joined by just a dragonfly and some kids with mischief in mind with tubes!
That afternoon we drove round the other side of Phewa Lake, which is massive. The road is absolutely shocking, by the end of the day I was glad to drop the bike back, as my bum was killing. We timed is just right too, as just as got back the clouds came over and the heavens opened.
After spending the following day doing some gift shopping. For the record Nepal is awesome for shopping, everything is pretty cheap and hand made. The clothes are a lot more original that most of the stuff in South East Asia, and there is a lot of Cashmere. Anyway we went to a garden café and made a lizard friend and I got some nice flower pictures.
Now since we did the paragliding, its pretty much all both of us have talked about it. So, yes you guessed it, we did it again. This time it was more awesome because it wasn't at all nervous so I really could enjoy it from start to finish. As i was feeling so brave i asked do some spins, which basically involves tipping the parachute from one side to another until you are spinning with the parachute directly across from you horizontally, and you free-fall. I thought I would feel dreadful, but it is an amazing feeling. The only thing is because you fall so far, it does make the flight a bit shorter, but i enjoyed it so much we did it again, what an amazing feeling. Anyway this time we didn't pay out for professional photos, but I took the camera and managed to get a few of Craig and the beautiful view.
One morning woke up to a man cooking sweet corn under our window on a bbq attached to his push bike, you've gotta love that...
Our last bit of excitement before we leave, and the reason we have stayed till the beginning of September, is the Zipflyer - 1800 metres long, 2000 ft vertical drop, max speed 120 kph all in 2 minutes.
So the morning we woke up to do the zip-lining it had been raining all the day and night before and it was still drizzling. We called the office and they said, we were all good to go ahead. When we arrived at the office at 11am, there was a group of 6 other people, so we all squashed into the jeep and off we went. We headed back up Sarangkot, as we got higher the weather got worse and it started to rain quite hard. At one point the jeep started to make quite an odd noise, this went on for a couple of minutes. Then funnily enough right by the paragliding jump off point the jeep gave up. So we all piled out into the rain (luckily we were armed with rain jackets), and there we stood for about half an hour, whilst the staff tried to get it going again. By the time the jeep was operational the weather had really closed in, and the decision was made to call it off and head back down.
Although disappointing the weather was really grim and it probably would not have been a lot of fun. But High Ground Adventures were really good and told us that we would either get a call later that afternoon or the next day to head up again. We got a call that evening to say that we would head off at 11am the following morning. So at 11am the following morning we were there, and off we went again. This time it was little overcast but not raining, so it promised to be good trip.
The drive takes you about another 20 minutes further up Sarangkot past the paragliding take off. Then we got stuck in the mud so we had to walk the last 10 minutes. When we eventually reached the top, it was like being in the top of the earth. There were still a few clouds around and we were above a lot of them, its quite an odd feeling.
So we had our safety briefing, and given our instructions, which were very basic. Sit back, relax, if you start to twist pull the straps slightly further apart, one break and one release for the break. We were told the only time you need to use the break is if the guy at the end waves a flag as you are coming into land. My flag was white and Craigs was Orange. So on this zip line there are two lines, so you race the person next to you. After the line was sent down first empty and then the staff did a test run we were ready to go. The first couple up, very nice couple called Rusha and Jason from Delhi, got up onto the platform for the last safety instructions
Now Rusha had been very nervous from the beginning and when they went to put on her safety helmet, she began backing away, which is never a good sign. Anyway after about 10 minutes of discussion with her husband and the staff and me giving what i hopped was helpful encouragement, she decided she couldn't do it. So she came back down and they put another guy to go against Jason. So they went and then another couple of Nepalese chaps and then it was our turn. To be honest i had spent most of the time trying to encourage Rusha to do it because i thought she would regret it otherwise, so I didn't really have a chance to get nervous.
But when I got up on the platform it hit me. They strap you into this seat type/ harness thing, and then you have to rest your legs out in front of you on the door. There are some last minute instructions, they count you down from 5, and the door opens and off you go.....
There is a quite a steep vertical drop to start with and it is totally amazing, it was really fast, but it still felt very safe. I for some reason started off a lot quicker than Craig and was about 20 foot in front for the whole ride. It went so quick, but it was such a rush, at one point we were flying above two eagles, which was so special.
When I got near to the end I could see the guy waving my flag, so I pulled on my break, a little too hard it would seem, as I came to halt about 10 foot from the platform. I was just pulling on my release string when Craig came flying in about 30 miles and hour and made a very impressive quite abrupt swinging stop. Apparently his guy had not waved the flag so he came in at full pelt, it was pretty amusing, you can see on the video below.
That was totally one of the best things that we have done, it was totally different to the paragliding and such a rush. I would recommend it to anyone, I am still smiling as i write this 7 hours later, awesome.
So tomorrow our time Nepal comes to and end, and i have absolutely loved it. Its so much fun and totally crazy, but beautiful at the same time. We catch a bus to the India border in the morning at 6am. The plan goes like this, we get the bus from here at 6am, supposedly 7 hours later we arrive in Sanauli, which is the border. I am guessing a couple of hours at the border, then a couple of hours in a shared jeep to Gorakhpur, reaching there in time to get the 11pm train to Varanasi. Which is supposed to get us to Varanasi at 6am in the morning, sounds like fun eh. We shall see how that goes.........
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