beautiful, right? did you happen to notice the guy up in the top left corner? that’s me – 196 feet up. more on that in a minute. like i mentioned in the last post, i booked a few days away at a resort called The Last Resort. it specializes in adventure activities like bungee jumping, canyoning, rope courses, rafting, etc, and when i booked it, i had no idea what to expect. the bus ride out took about three hours, and today i found out we were about 15km from the tibet and china borders to give you an idea of where it is located. the two pictures below show how you get to the resort, and the view from the halfway point of the bridge.
i had booked one day canyoning (which is repelling, jumping, zip lining, and sliding down waterfalls), and thought i’d get to the resort yesterday, hang out, and go canyoning today. turned out i went about one hour after i got there yesterday. it was cool – after a 40 foot decent with the guides doing all the work and about 15 minutes of instruction, we were left to finish out the day repelling solo, doing all the work ourselves. the guides were there if we had any questions or needed help, but it was pretty nuts hanging out over a 80 foot waterfall all by myself after only about one hour (plus, i have never repelled on dry rocks before, let alone down a waterfall).
afterwards, i went to check in (my tent wasn’t ready when i got there), and made my way through the resort to find my lodging for the night.
i had no idea i would be sleeping in a tent, or that this place was so outdoorsy, but it was pretty rad. there was a super comfortable bed, lights, and a nightstand in each tent, the showers were hot and had mad pressure, and the food was actually really good (all meals were provided in the cost).
just outside the resort was a small village. what i didn’t mention earlier is that the three hour ride out to the resort only got better and better the entire way. the air cleared, the trash along the roads declined the whole way, and the scenery just kept getting better. the village reminded me a lot of the sapa region in vietnam, and the people were actually friendly – something i really haven’t experienced since i got here.
last night, i was asked by one of the canyoning guides what my plan was for today. he said the bus didn’t leave until about 3:00pm back to kathmandu, and with no plans, he said i could go out with him and another guide for the advanced canyoning trip. he said it was way better then day one, and involved more jumps, zip lines, and way higher repels. solo trip with two awesome guides? sure.
we left this morning at about 7:30 am this morning, and hiked up about 12,000 feet to start the day. amazing.
the view along the way:
we then met up with the porter to get our gear, and after suiting up, we started our decent. if i remember correctly, we did six repels (ranging from 50 feet to 196 feet – that’s the one shown in the opening picture), two jumps (where you simply jump down a waterfall – one was about 10 feet, the other was about 18 feet down), three zip lines, and a headfirst slide down a small rapids into a freezing cold pool of water. again, amazing. (the only pictures i have to show are ones taken by the guide on the way down, so you have to look at me in all of them.)
i’d like to say the pictures speak for themselves, but they just don’t do justice – i never wanted to stop looking at the views, and sometimes i stopped during a repel to just take it all in. the gorge we made our way down in was by far the most beautiful place i’ve ever been to in my whole life, and the guide was totally right – day two was loads better than the first day.
and what better way to end the canyoning by riding on top of a bus back to the resort.
i’m back in kathmandu tonight, have an airplane tour of the mountains tomorrow morning, and will be back to the house by about noon tomorrow. the boys start school MON, and thanks to even more generous donations, i’m hoping to not only buy the text books they need, but put a good amount towards their tuition as well! i can’t say thank you enough.
i may be able to post once more before i leave, but if not, i’ll be posting a recap and my final thoughts when i get back home. i leave TUE night, and quite frankly, i’m not looking forward the 16 hours plane ride from abu dhabi to chicago. but it’s been a good holiday, and if that’s the price i have to pay, so be it.
chat to you all in a few days.
SEPTASTIC! 