Fantastic Weekend

I have to report that despite hating Kathmandu Colette and I had a great time this weekend when we escaped the city and caught a tourist bus up to 'The Last Resort'. It is a small tourist resort North West of Kathmandu by the border of Nepal and Tibet. It was fabulous getting out of Kathmandu and the further away you get the more beautiful the countryside becomes. As it is such a hilly area all the farm land has been landscaped so for a lot of the journey we were on a winding road around hills and steps of corn or cabbages or wheat. Makes you realise how hard all the people here work to make a living/to survive.

A snap shot of The Last Resort

The Last Resort was like an oasis with luxuary tents, lots of trees and some nice food for a change. When we got there we dropped all our things in the tent and then got changed to go for day one of canyoning. Canyoning basically translates as abseiling down waterfalls. I was nervous until I got there however there is no other way of seeing the scenery and it was so much fun there was little time to be nervous. Thankfully I have done a little rock climbing in the past so I was used to trusting my life to a rope and a metal Caribiner. They were really good there though, we had a lesson, a safety talk and the most rediculous combination of a fleece, wetsuit, helmet and leather gloves. On the first day we abseiled 6 waterfalls, the highest being 35m. So much for not liking getting water in my eyes in the shower, I had to get over that pretty quickly. It was worth it though.

The second day we were with a different group of people... the ones mad enough to do it again. Even Colette went ahead despite being scared the first day. Well what can I say. It was amazing!! We had to hike up a mini mountain to get there and when we finally did we all got togged up to look silly again. We then had the choice. Abseil the first waterfall and have to to the next seven or chicken out there and then. It was not possible to turn back! We had a fantastic group of people with us that day and it was great fun with everyone cheering each other on all the way. The highlight though was by far the 60m waterfall. Yes you did read that right 60m!! They told us as we got to it, and remember by then it was too late to turn back so we had to do it. I admit I was a little nervous as I walked backward over the edge of the cliff however by then I think I had got the hang of it and it wasn't scary as I was expecting, just a great feeling that I was capable of doing something like that. Great view too. As I neared the bottom the guide (b-lay) pulled on the rope, pulling me off the wall and leaving me suspended above a huge pool of white water. I admit my first reaction was to scream rather loudly, however that set everyone off laughing. I was quite comical as I slid down the rope half upside down where I had lost my balance! You have to have a look at some of the canyoning photos otherwise I'm sure you will never believe me.

Coming down one of the waterfalls.

That evening there was a music festival at the resort with several band playing from different countries. We all sat around on cushions listening to them and chatting to each other. Just in the groups I had been with there were Australians, a canadian an Israli and some people from the UK. A great mix. There was also a huge BBQ so good food again.

The next morning we all got up and caught the bus to go down to the river to go white water rafting. It was a lot of fun. We went down several rapids over a period of about 3 hours. I have to say though I think I was in the best of the three boats there. We were all in time with the rowing so the raft responded quickly to what we wanted to do. I may have got completely drenched as expected but I didn't fall out. I nearly did on several occasions though.

Have a look at some of the other photos from my trip to Nepal.

xxx