Rafting
Made it back safely from the raft trip. It was a great time. We headed east out of Kathmandu. The country was much more beautiful that way. It's approaching monsoon season now, and it was pretty hazy. Part of where we were driving would have allowed us to see the Everest range, but it was too cloudy.
We arrived at the drop point after about a 4 hour drive in the bus. There were 4 dutch, 4 americans, and 1 canadian. The canadian was kayaking with the guides. We ate lunch, then had our 'training,' which was really just the usual 'when I say this, do this'. Anyway, we went about 1/2 way down the river that day, about 2 hours. On the 2nd rapid, about 10mins down the river, there was a big eddy where we got the raft stuck, and we had to jump around the raft to keep from flipping it. We got out, though. I wasn't anxious after that happened, and really got into the rafting. The river was not that rough, but it was technical because of all the rocks.
We got out of the river and they took us back to camp where we had a snack. They cooked us a great spaghetti dinner, and then we sat around and talked. The guides were really great people, all guys in their early 20's. I learned a few new Nepali words, and exchanged a few with them. :-)
We slept under tarps that night, next to the river. It was really great. About 3am we got a pretty big thunderstorm. A few people got wet, but I managed to stay dry. The next morning we had a great breakfast, and launched again. The river was a bit higher and faster that day because of the rain, which made it better for me. At the end of the stretch we were doing, there was another eddy. We made it past and let the other raft go through. Our guide then asked if we wanted to get stuck. We yelled 'YES!', so we paddled back and got the raft stuck. It was a lot of fun, and we decided to flip the raft. Everyone except the guide fell off, but we swam to the side, went back up the river, and 3 of us jumped back into the water and got back on the raft, and managed to flip it! It was great fun, because the river after that eddy was really tame, and it provided us with some great excitement at the end of the trip.
On the bus ride back, about an hour in, we came to a dead stop. I awoke to find that a crane had tipped over on the road, and the government had not come to move it. It had been there for over a day. The locals tried to pull it off the road with cables to no avail. They managed to fill in the side of the road with rocks and dirt and essetially made another lane. A bus got stuck, and they told us we were probably going to spend the night there. Fortunately, Nepali don't give up that easily, and they got the bus out, strengthened the 'new' lane, and we made it through with only a 3 hour delay. Fortunately, I was asleep for most of it.
I'm in Bangkok now, and will be heading home in 2 days. It is good to get back to a little more civilization before heading back to the US for complete culture de-shock. Thailand is helping ease me back into it, albeit sometimes harshly. Had a first hand experience with a scam today, but fortunately had read enough to know what was happening to me, and came out unscathed. I was a bit pissed, though, and let the guy know it (after I got back home).