My solo adventures have officially begun!

My solo adventures have officially begun! They began over a week ago when I left KTM and went white water rafting for two days. I woke up early to catch the bus to Fishling, a little town on the road to Chitwan where rafters get dropped off to get wet ‘n wild for a few hours or days. I choose the longest trip being advertised during this time of year, two days. On the three hour bus ride to Fishling I sat next to another lone traveler, a Spaniard. (!!!) Seeing that a Spanish interview is approaching, I quickly jumped from English to Spanish and told her I needed to practice. I think it was too early for her as we only exchanged a few sentences during the first part of the ride. After our pit-stop we started a much better conversation where I learned her boyfriend (who she was visiting in Bangladesh) is from Granada, Nicaragua. So we talked about that for a while and about the project in Nepal and the job in Bolivia…and the normal things strangers talk about.

We had an excellent rafting group: our guide, Laxman, three Aussies, the Spaniard, and myself. There were two Aussie guys and a sheila (as they call them in Australia, right?) The girl and one guy were obviously dating and the other guy was their friend who recently flew to Nepal and met them mid-way in their travels. It was obvious the single guy was a little lonely and was very sociable among the young ladies in other rafts (and with me at first). That was kinda funny to watch. So we ate lunch with two other rafts and met Natalie from London who was super sweet and had been teaching English outside of KTM for six weeks. There were also lots of naked little boys playing unashamedly in the sand and water where we stopped for lunch. It was a great mixture of new people and places.

We continued rafting for two more hours until we reached our final destination for the day. Most people just do one day trips on their way to Pokhara or Chitwan so I said goodbye to them when we got out. My “agent” in KTM told me I would be staying in a “luxury” hotel for the night. The guides had no knowledge of this and actually laughed in my face so they told me I would have to stay in a cheep hotel for the night and pay myself. There was no cell phone service where we were to call the agent. So, I got in a bus and was told to follow Laxman, who was riding on the top of the bus in typical Nepali fashion. Inside the bus sat next to a really nice guy who spoke decent English and owns several private schools. So we exchanged the normal formalities and I told him about my hotel blunders. He started calling my agent whenever we had the slight glimmers of cell service. No luck. I had already been on the bus for over and hour and had no idea where to get off and I also thought at one point I had lost Laxman who was climbing all over the bus inside and out like a monkey while it was moving. I started getting nervous and didn’t know what was really going on. Finally right before we got off (and I found Laxman) we got through to the agent who confirmed with Laxman the hotel and food were supposed to be included. Whew. So Laxman and I went on a journey together to find a hotel just as it was getting dark. We basically took the first thing we came to and didn’t look at the room first, which is basically unheard of in Nepal. I didn’t really care by that point, I was tired, dirty, and in need of a computer…which didn’t work when the lights went out five minutes later. Perfect.

I came back to the hotel to find myself locked out of my room and my luggage locked inside. So via candle light and (thank god for) the little flashlight on my cell phone we eventually broke into my room leaving a hole in the door. The guys at the hotel decided it was best if I switched rooms, I agreed. When I walked into the room it looked much like the other room, meaning it could easily pass for a jail cell or scene for SAW 345. It smelled funny and I made a face. Then I asked for an extra sheet. No go. Toilet paper? Yup! I guess my “I’m an alone white girl” face worked well and I got my TP.

When the guy delivered the toilet paper he sprayed some soap stuff in the toilet that had obviously not been washed for a while. I’m not sure the soap stuff helped but to cover up whatever may have already been in the toilet, which I never dared to look to see. He also tried spraying air freshener but the can was empty, oh well. Shower (out of bathing suit finally!) food- dalbaat of course, I choose to eat it with my hands and no one said a thing. Went back to my room and read this absolutely hilarious and genius book about baboons in eastern Africa. It helped me forget where I was for a while. I also checked out the fan situation and discovered there were only two settings: helicopter landing in my room and dead off and stuffy. I chose the company of the helicopter.

I woke up to my alarm around 7 and met Laxman, who awkwardly shook my hand and gave me a hug (one of the few hugs I’ve received while being in Nepal). I’m thinking he was just glad to see I survived the night with a smile still on? He wanted to feed me so we what were called on the menu banana honey crepes at the hotel. When they came out it was basically crepes rolled up with scatterings of bug pieces that I pushed to the side.

We went back to the river and Laxman forced me to eat breakfast again saying I needed my strength for the river. Okay…. This time I had eggs and toast with no bugs. I was instructed to sit inside the mud house to eat because there were fewer flies. I complied. I sat in the kitchen made bedroom of visa versa. There were two beds that also served as benches for the table found in the middle of them. I sat on the unoccupied bed/bench and enjoyed my company across the table: a middle aged man sleeping while everyone ran about doing their daily chores. Oh you have it good, I thought.

Then my day’s playmates arrived – four Brits and a heavily cologned, chain smoking South African who studied law in England and now lives in Afghanistan building court houses for the UN. Much more about him later. We did the raft “training” before setting off and I was practically introduced as an experienced guide by Laxman. I’m not sure if it was because of the previous day’s rafting experience or sleeping in the hotel, but I enjoyed pretending like I was a river goddess. The Brits were fun, just out of university. There were two guys and two lady Brits, both in couples, all friends but not traveling together the entire time. Well I know one was a couple, but I’m pretty sure the other set were just friends. One girl wore her orange polk-dotted undies the whole day- which is a huge no-no in Nepal. We had a nice time rafting together and did pretty well although the South African was a bit fussy. The rapids were much bigger on this river.

We stopped for lunch and discussed our studies, jobs, and lack there of. We talked about Afghanistan a lot and the great work of the UN. (mainly because he like to talk about himself) He basically thought the UN was the shit and everyone should work for them so he tried to convince us of its benefits although he did agree it takes some luck to get in….hmmm….He’s a lawyer turned architect who is building court houses in Afghanistan because where is justice going to start if you don’t have a building to do it in?....hmmmm…..I got in a few sentences about our project in KTM and he asked why not Afghanistan- they need book and libraries there more….hmmmm….I tried to explain, but he just seemed it necessary for me to come to Afghanistan- which I wouldn’t mind doing, actually. I also tried to tell him about Three Cups of Tea and the work Greg Morrison is doing in that part of the world. He has never heard of the book and didn’t seem too interested….hmmm…. At the end of the day when he left he shook everyone’s hand on our raft except mine. Oh well.

The day ended rather uneventfully except the bus to Chitwan was full so I got to experience “Nepali air conditioning” for the first time. Aka: sitting on the roof of the bus for over an hour! Matt Enriquez would have loved it.