Trek is done, and rafting has begun!

I didn’t want to leave Tatopani, could’ve stayed in the little village longer, just sitting and looking at the scenery! We took a local bus back to Pokhara – about 1.5 hour ride…

Local bus

I was sooooo happy to see a heater again that I had to take a picture of it😂 You bet it was on non-stop while I was in the room.

omg, a HEATER!!!

Pokhara is a cool little town, but for whatever reason, I didn’t take hardly any pictures of it:/ But these are the ones that I did take, from the hotel…

view from hotel

pokhara pano

view from hotel

seatbelt!

The next morning, we left Pokhara and went on a local bus to a place on the Trisuli River between Pokhara and Kathmandu to go rafting:)

i love the flags!

ready to go!

yes, helmet.

excited

floating

babu😔

Babu = Nepali for son/younger brother/grandson. The kid was 15, and he is working at the rafting company, no school. They were really nice to him though, and he’s learning english, so I don’t doubt that’s the best thing for him, given his situation that was explained to me.

using their pully to get hay across the river

kind of baby + our cool guide (not baby) + just a baby😔

lock in feet please

paddles up!

beach break

The locals pan for gold on the river bank, and after rafting, it looked goldie on my pants😀

goldie looking flakes on my pants

Rafting was scary and fun… and cold! But, I warmed up quick afterwards BY EATING DAL BHAT.

After rafting, Harry and I walked up to the highway and waited to wave down a local bus to bring us back to Kathmandu. It was about a two hour ride, and I guess the bus driver was tired and testy… because he totally GOT IN A FISTFIGHT WITH ONE OF THE PASSENGERS! This is a picture I have from the bus – I was sitting in a tiny seat directly behind the driver, and the other people are piled into the not-actually-seats space in the front of the bus.

bus passengers (sardines)

As I am sitting in the seat behind the driver, he starts screaming at a guy who is standing just inside the open door of the bus. And they are screaming back and forth at each other. Then it stopped for a few seconds. Then they started screaming again. All the while, driver is still driving. And then, while driving, he is huffing and puffing and decides to take off his jacket. I knew that meant a fightfight was going to happen😂 And then, a few minutes of screaming later, the driver slammed on the brakes, put the bus in park, jumped out of the bus, slammed the door, and ran around the bus to the other side faster than I’ve ever seen anyone get out of a vehicle. Insane. So then he and the passenger are both off the bus for a few minutes, then the driver comes back (no passenger), turns on the bus and starts driving WILDLY in lots of traffic, and then he starts getting into an argument with one of the guys that was working on the bus, the ticket-taker. Sheesh.

While this is all going on, I didn’t know anything they were saying to each other; I just knew that they were really pissed off. So, Harry told me afterwards what the fight was about – As we were arriving in Kathmandu, a passenger on the bus wanted the driver to stop so he could get off. But the driver refused to stop because it would just be an extra stop he would have to take. The passenger started yelling, and the driver didn’t back down, and it all just escalated from there (as it will do when testosterone is involved). When the ticket-taker was yelling, it was because the driver accused him of not being loyal and supporting him😆 I was happy then because 1. they didn’t also get in a fight 2. because we got off the bus soon afterwards and 3. it wasn’t America, where the dudes would’ve shot each other.

Excitement, excitement on the local bus😃 That night, my last masala tea😩

masala tea

After staying in Kathmandu for the night, I left Nepal the next day. The Kathmandu Airport has a unique security screening process… they have one line for men and one line for women:

kathmandu airport security – women only line😂

And for whatever reason, 75% of the people flying were men, so they had this lonnngggg line and had to wait forever, and I just walked right up and went through security😂 I have no idea why it’s like that, but it benefitted me that day!

I took pictures of some mountains from the plane; I’m not sure which mountains they are:

from plane window, flying out of kathmandu

not sure which mountains?

Miss you, Nepal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’ll be back!

Next up: Sri Lanka!