The trip was a big deal for Scared Summits, the first of a hopefully annual event. They managed to get a pretty big group together, received lots of sponsorship, most of which was in kind (let's just say there was no shortage of beer during the trip). It was also a poker run - at each of the five breaks we pulled a card and there were prizes to be won. There was also a raffle, with more prizes than participants. I won a lunch for two that I won't have time to cash in on, and another very exciting prize, about which more later.
As an actual riding experience it was less fun than the last trip, partly because the route wasn't nearly so lovely and interesting this time and partly because the novelty was lost, both in terms of Nepali scenery and being on the back of a bike. But it was more comfortable - this time my helmet actually fitted, I had an air filter and was wearing cycling shorts which provided some much appreciated extra padding.
But the whole experience was still super. There was another English girl, Emma, on the trip this time and we got on really well. She's an art historian, extremely cultured, lots of fun and knows Janet Burden (bat mitzvah teacher, friend, mentor and one of my favourite people in the whole world). What are the chances? I had to remind myself where I was.
The trip was two days, with the overnight stop at a fantastic place called The Last Resort, 12km from the Tibet border. It's in a lush setting on the banks of the wild Bhote Kosi river. Accommodation is in very comfortable safari tents from which you can hear the river and birds chirpping, wonderful sounds to wake up to.
The Last Resort is famous for its bungy jump, the only one in Nepal and the second highest in the world, at 160m. All the way up I was convinced I would do it. I got there, took one look over the canyon into which I would be falling and thought that perhaps it wasn't such a necessary part of my gap year experience after all! Crossing the suspension bridge to the resort and looking down from the exact spot of the jumps it actually didn't seem so bad (the canyon looks wider from that point, though the river equally forbidding, but most importantly I didn't seem prohibitively high). I was back in the 'yes' camp. Then I found out how much it cost and went back to 'no'. US$75 seems an outrageous amount for an experience that lasts just a few seconds.
But The Last Resort had a final trick up its sleeve. As a sponsor of the bike ride, it had offered as a raffle prize one free bungy jump. Those who wanted to do it drew lots and I won. So that was final. I was doing it. Half an hour later I was harnessed up and ready to go. I didn't feel particularly nervous and my adrenalin level and heart beat weren't anywhere near what I'd have imagined them being. I shuffled to the edge of the platform (the harness round my feet prevented going any faster). The guy said 1...2...3...go, and I did. There were no second thoughts, no anxious looking over the edge. I just did it. Everyone watching said I was cool as a cucumber.
It was a two second free-fall. I'd been told it would be the longest two seconds of my life, but it seemed pretty quick to me. I seem to recall screaming but nobody heard me (and they would have done if I had). The first thought I remember having, at the bottom of the free-fall was 'Is that it?' But it wasn't it. There was the first bounce up and, my favourite part, the top of the first bounce when there's a brief moment of suspended animation before you head back down again. A couple of bounces later and that was it, maybe 30 seconds in total. Then there I was, suspended by my feet, dangling head down 20 metres above a white water river and that was the first time I was really able to take stock of my situation. And what a situation to find myself in! I was then lowered and pulled ashore by two crew members at the bottom. The canyon seemed much higher looking back up than when I was at the top and I got a great rush thinking about what I'd just done. As I was the last jump of the day, I waited for my two rescuers as they packed up. I enjoyed being down by the river and alternated between feeling the calm that comes after a massive adrenalin rush and wishing that I could jump immediately into a white-water raft right there and then. Eventually it was time to hike back up, twenty minutes up the side of the canyon, a beautiful walk made even better by the friendly chattiness of the two guys.
Very early the next morning I joined a couple of the bikers on an side excursion to Tatopani, which literally translates as 'hot water' and was exactly that - natural hot springs further up the road towards Tibet. Although the water was naturally hot, it wasn't some lovely, secluded natural pool. It was a crowded washing area, separated by gender. In the women's section, the water came out of three fountain heads in the wall and there were at least 20 people trying to wash themselves and each other under them. The water was almost uncomfortably hot and slightly sulphourous, but I cannot even begin to tell you how lovely it is, when you're covered in road grime and sweat from a long motorbike ride and haven't had a decent shower in days, to wash under such circumstances. I was the only non-Nepali there, much to the amusement of all the locals and I did curious things like shower in a swimsuit as opposed to the traditional petticoat, much to their befuddlement. Still, there was a convivial atmosphere as we all took turns under the water and, having often seen women wash in this fashion at water tanks in Kathmandu, I must admit it was fun to join them.
I enjoyed the ride back to Kathmandu much more than the ride up, probably because everything seems better once you've done a bungy jump and had a hot shower!
Back in the city I had one night to pack for the trek, for early the next morning, I was off.
But the whole experience was still super. There was another English girl, Emma, on the trip this time and we got on really well. She's an art historian, extremely cultured, lots of fun and knows Janet Burden (bat mitzvah teacher, friend, mentor and one of my favourite people in the whole world). What are the chances? I had to remind myself where I was.
The trip was two days, with the overnight stop at a fantastic place called The Last Resort, 12km from the Tibet border. It's in a lush setting on the banks of the wild Bhote Kosi river. Accommodation is in very comfortable safari tents from which you can hear the river and birds chirpping, wonderful sounds to wake up to.
The Last Resort is famous for its bungy jump, the only one in Nepal and the second highest in the world, at 160m. All the way up I was convinced I would do it. I got there, took one look over the canyon into which I would be falling and thought that perhaps it wasn't such a necessary part of my gap year experience after all! Crossing the suspension bridge to the resort and looking down from the exact spot of the jumps it actually didn't seem so bad (the canyon looks wider from that point, though the river equally forbidding, but most importantly I didn't seem prohibitively high). I was back in the 'yes' camp. Then I found out how much it cost and went back to 'no'. US$75 seems an outrageous amount for an experience that lasts just a few seconds.
But The Last Resort had a final trick up its sleeve. As a sponsor of the bike ride, it had offered as a raffle prize one free bungy jump. Those who wanted to do it drew lots and I won. So that was final. I was doing it. Half an hour later I was harnessed up and ready to go. I didn't feel particularly nervous and my adrenalin level and heart beat weren't anywhere near what I'd have imagined them being. I shuffled to the edge of the platform (the harness round my feet prevented going any faster). The guy said 1...2...3...go, and I did. There were no second thoughts, no anxious looking over the edge. I just did it. Everyone watching said I was cool as a cucumber.
It was a two second free-fall. I'd been told it would be the longest two seconds of my life, but it seemed pretty quick to me. I seem to recall screaming but nobody heard me (and they would have done if I had). The first thought I remember having, at the bottom of the free-fall was 'Is that it?' But it wasn't it. There was the first bounce up and, my favourite part, the top of the first bounce when there's a brief moment of suspended animation before you head back down again. A couple of bounces later and that was it, maybe 30 seconds in total. Then there I was, suspended by my feet, dangling head down 20 metres above a white water river and that was the first time I was really able to take stock of my situation. And what a situation to find myself in! I was then lowered and pulled ashore by two crew members at the bottom. The canyon seemed much higher looking back up than when I was at the top and I got a great rush thinking about what I'd just done. As I was the last jump of the day, I waited for my two rescuers as they packed up. I enjoyed being down by the river and alternated between feeling the calm that comes after a massive adrenalin rush and wishing that I could jump immediately into a white-water raft right there and then. Eventually it was time to hike back up, twenty minutes up the side of the canyon, a beautiful walk made even better by the friendly chattiness of the two guys.
Very early the next morning I joined a couple of the bikers on an side excursion to Tatopani, which literally translates as 'hot water' and was exactly that - natural hot springs further up the road towards Tibet. Although the water was naturally hot, it wasn't some lovely, secluded natural pool. It was a crowded washing area, separated by gender. In the women's section, the water came out of three fountain heads in the wall and there were at least 20 people trying to wash themselves and each other under them. The water was almost uncomfortably hot and slightly sulphourous, but I cannot even begin to tell you how lovely it is, when you're covered in road grime and sweat from a long motorbike ride and haven't had a decent shower in days, to wash under such circumstances. I was the only non-Nepali there, much to the amusement of all the locals and I did curious things like shower in a swimsuit as opposed to the traditional petticoat, much to their befuddlement. Still, there was a convivial atmosphere as we all took turns under the water and, having often seen women wash in this fashion at water tanks in Kathmandu, I must admit it was fun to join them.
I enjoyed the ride back to Kathmandu much more than the ride up, probably because everything seems better once you've done a bungy jump and had a hot shower!
Back in the city I had one night to pack for the trek, for early the next morning, I was off.
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