Seeing that the gastronomical experience in Nepal has been well documented ... I thought I would spin one on the other highlights of the trip......5 wonderful days…...the awe inspiring Himalayan ranges, trekking through thick forests, rafting on frothy rivers to the spiritual Pashupatinath & Bhaktapur , Nepal for me, was also an opportunity to tick a few boxes off my bucket list and face a few of my fears.
With the cyclone from India working
its way up North, it was rain, rain and more rain at Kathmandu, all the way to
Pokhara . The drenched landscape was beautiful with its green rolling hills ,
the intermittent dots of houses , the rain fed turbulent Trishuli river winding
its way to the plains , hanging bridges
that stretched from one side to the other, pretty girls all decked up in red on account of
Vijayadeshmi with big tikkas on their foreheads and jangling red bangles on
their wrists .(The men? with all due respect..unfortunately nothing to shout about)
Our first stop in that 6 hour
journey to Pokhara was at the white
water rafting start point, where we kitted ourselves out with the mandatory life
jackets , paddles etc..
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| Bring it on ! |
The Trisuli river, obviously in spate , with its steady
shhhhhh sparked an initial rush of nervousness which disappeared once we were
on the water. Not the grade 4 level that we expected, but enough to trigger a
rush of adrenaline. The rich greenness of the lofty hills on both sides of the Trisuli, bird calls
, Trees bent over with the weight of the soaked branches and leaves ,the pitter
patter of the light rain on the water over the sound of the rapids , icy
splashes as the raft bobbed up and down making us catch our breaths , the misty
spray of the white water just skimming the surface of the river… it was an
amazing experience. The feeling of being
in the now, living life kingsize , at the same time wondering at how insignificant
each one of us actually is in the
overall scheme of creation. It took my breath away and I was filled with a
sense of gratitude. Sent a thank you thought to the powers that be.
My moment of truth No 1!!!
Zipfly. The winding drive up the mountain was scary enough with the driver morphing
into a formula 1 racer on narrow roads, where one side literally dropped out of
sight... reaching the zip fly tower perched
way up on the highest hill was almost an
anticlimax. The view was amazing but the sight of the cables disappearing
downwards into the distance scared me terribly. ‘I’m scared’, I kept repeating,
hoping that someone will then say ok if you are that scared don’t do it.
Thankfully no one did .My wise owl daughter said,’ Ma figure out what you are
actually frightened of’. Hmmm..at that point too wound up to ponder over that..
I can remember the fear I felt as
I walked up the tower where there were evil beings ready to hurl me to my fate.
Palpitations, sweaty hands and then surprisingly yawns!!! What the heck?! There
I was at the point of no return standing
by the gates looking down at this green abyss( not really seeing anything)
wanting to cry , not wanting to budge
and then… yawning away.
Them evil beings hitched me to the
seat fiddled around with some cables, swung the gates closed, doled out instructions
in neutral tones, probably to offset my high pitched questions. I think there
were encouragements also but I was too busy being scared and yawning. So there
I was, feet braced on the closed gates which would swing open at any moment.
Hardly had time to prepare mentally when the gates swung open and away I flew
hurtling down. I remember looking up, eyes scrunched and screeching but almost
immediately I stopped, no longer afraid , the harness was super safe and I felt
super secure.
Exhilarating it was, zipping down at 120mph over green green hills;
wind on my face, Wheeeee Bring it on!! Pondering over my owl’s query later, I
realized I was afraid of my fear. Does that make sense? To me it does. It
wasn’t the height or the speed, it was being afraid of not knowing how to
handle my fear!! And I made a another big
discovery.. I yawn when I’m scared silly. Will I do it again? O yes I will. It’s a piece of
cake you bunch of scary cats.
Paragliding was a tad better, now
super confident, after all…., I ZIP
FLEW.. and also cos there was this cool dude with fantastic arms and great hair behind me… couple of botched
attempts at lift off (which my son never
fails to remind me of) and there I was running off the cliff and then being lifted back and up..(it was literally up, up and away
) What a feeling !!, Up there among
the thin clouds.. So quiet… cool moist wind on my face, hearing only the glider
wing, high over the mountains of pokhara
looking down at the city . Breathtaking!!! Unlike the Zipfly, I had all the time in the world to drink it all
in.., The calm, dignified glassy lake, the rolling mountains with its snaky roads ,
the meandering river with its tributaries , the tiny houses that dotted the
landscape , Looking up to see other paragliders all around… … Had the best 10
minutes of my life until I started to
get a tad sick and by the time my cool dude started spiraling us downwards, I
was air sick. But it was so cathartic for me.
Will I do it again? Will I run
off a cliff? Nope, been there, done that and besides, don’t wanna feel sick. …
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| Mah Jai ..high up in the clouds! |
Pokhara is a beautiful city and
one of the highlights of our stay
was the amazing sunrise viewing
trip early one morning. Having dragged myself out of my warm bed at an
unearthly hour of 4 30 am , I had a few misgivings about how wonderful it would
be . The treacherous van ride up the hills jolted me awake, these formula 1
guys I tell you…
‘So, what are we looking at, I
asked the guide and he showed me a poster of the Annapurna range and indicated
that on a clear morning ,one could see all the 5 peaks in particular the Fish
tail peak . Ok.. so we waited.. and I’m so grateful that we did.. After many moments,
just when we were about to give up and head back,(twas a cloudy morn)the mighty
sun shone through and persuaded the shy peaks to unveil themselves through the
cloudy veil. Majestic is the only way to describe them, like gods revealing
themselves to us lesser mortals, just
for a moment , in order that we pay homage to their grandeur. So high up among
the clouds, literally touching the heavens, it was easy to imagine the great Yogi,
Shiva on those mighty Himalayan silvery peaks, looking down upon us. The clouds
would quickly regroup and once again protectively shield them from prying eyes.
Humbling experience to say the least. Its
apparently very rare that the purdah like clouds lift long enough to reveal the
beautiful shy peaks.
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| Early morning peek at the Magnificent Fishtail peak. |
Back in Kathmandu, the Pashupati
temple stands out for me as the highlight of that sector. Spiritual ,historic,
the cycle of birth and death so apparent there, with the crematorial ghats by
the temple on one side and humanity on the other side paying obeisance to the lord Shiva. The
ancient architecture of the different temples, combined with the chanting of
slokas, the lamps, sound of bells, the incense stimulated all senses and overwhelmed
me, the tears flowed and flowed. Is it cos
I am older, that I am affected in this manner, I ask myself. I have no answer
to that. I unburdened a lot of myself there, a total surrender of mind and
body. Would I go back there? Yes I
would, with my mom.
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| The ancient Bhaktapur Square |
Yes, Nepal was wonderful, even more so with my family and good friends by my side to share the experiences with. I will always remember the glorious nights outside our rooms, our own private garden, glasses in hand, listening to songs, singing along sometimes, reliving the day’s activities, each one of us with a different perspective and with hearts full, retiring for the night to recharge ourselves for the day that would follow. Another grateful note sent up to the Master Yogi on those silvery peaks.
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| The White Crew. |
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