To Nam and back – Day 26 of 26
I’ve made it back to Kathmandu, and have brought approximately half of the sand of the Karnali River with me. It was a great trip, although it didn’t start out so great.

First the bus ride was hell. With traffic jams and bus breakdowns (we had a very local bus with several busted windows and dilapidated seats), we didn’t have time to stop at a guesthouse to sleep Sunday night as promised and had to drive thru the night. But then there was a curfew which stopped us around 2am until 4am, just sitting in the bus on the side of the road. And the bus was full, so I had a seatmate, and it was cold due to the busted out windows. We changed to an even smaller bus for the last 4 hours because the road was so bad. I was told by the people on the other side of the bus that the road would crumble from under our wheels and we were many times seemingly hanging over the steep edge. At least I didn’t know that until we finished. We got to our put in point a full 36 hours after we left Kathmandu, the entire time on the bus, instead of the 14 hours with a night of sleep in the guesthouse as promised.

Our private bus

Our put in point was near a village, and it seems the entire village turned out (especially all the children) to stand around and watch us, creeping ever closer until when only a few feet away one of the guides would tell them to all get back. That part was okay. But we (I hung out with two Slovenians for the most part – yes Slovenians (capital Ljubljana, it’s the northernmost Balkan, for those geography buffs, with Italy to the west, Austria to the north, and Croatia to the south)- a guy and a girl who were just friends) had asked for a tent at the departure meeting only to find out they hadn’t packed one for us. I had asked for it because of spiders. But they only packed them for the “couples” in the group. It turned out to be fun staying in our lean tos, which were the rafts tipped on their sides, leaning on paddles, and a tarp slung over it and held up with paddles, but after that bus ride I was looking forward to a tent. But I slept very well and the next day was better.

Nepali girls with Petra

In my raft was our guide, Deepak, who was the team leader and fun with decent English. Also the Slovenians, a German couple in their 40s, and two Austrian guys, late 30s. The other rafts held an Irish couple, Dutch couple, Swiss couple, and the Israeli; 3 British guys best friends since they were 4, a Brit couple and Brit guy traveling with them, and the French guy. A pretty international team.

Early morning, Offir, my bag, Petra, and Danny (l to r)

The first day we just had warm up rapids, Class 2 and 3s. Normally we only stayed on the river for about 4-5 hours per day, with a stop for lunch around 12:30 and then finishing for the day around 2:30 or 3. The guides did most of the work around the camp, although we helped unload the boats (there was an additional gear boat with all the kitchen stuff) and put up the shelters. Each day a different raft was assigned to help with lunch and/or dinner, mostly chopping veges. Our camps were always on a sandy beach, fairly comfortable, but chilly in the evening so we built a campfire. The guides also had different games to play almost every night, which were fun, and there was rum punch. The food was okay, not great, not terrible, but I guess good enough considering we were in remote western Nepal.

They brought iodine to wash the food in, but that didn’t prevent four of us from being sick the third day. I was hit the least, probably because I ate the least. We had some really good rapids that day, some class 4+, but I opted to ride in the gearboat because I was told I could just hold on and not have to paddle. Instead I had to paddle on every rapid, and they sent us down first. I found out later the rest of the rafts thought that was very funny, here I thought I would be able to take it easy and rest on the gearboat, instead I was the testboat for all the big rapids. My main complaint from my sickness tho was that I was freezing cold, the river was cold and I couldn’t get warm. But by the end of the day I was feeling better.

A flat water day

The fourth day was GREAT, super big rapids, I felt good, went in my regular boat, and the river was very exciting. We had really fun games that night too. My favorite was Magic Stick, if someone needs a fun game for a big group of people in a campfire like setting, let me know. I also had a good time with the chicken fights.

The next 3 days on the river were flat. Just a few waves here and there. We made them much more exciting by having huge water fights between rafts. Really it was just the two rafts, the raft of couples generally avoided it, except the time when we came up on either side of them and drowned them. At first it was just smacking paddles, but things really heated up when they gave us buckets. I was the de facto commanding officer of our boat, but our most valiant fighter was Danny (the Slovenian), but he had no patience nor self control, so my main task was using him strategically. The one Austrian also did a good job. I would say that our boat won, decidedly during Water War II. I told them all that America wins all the war it fights in (Vietnam was not technically a war).

The way back was much better, only about half the people were on the bus and most of them drank beer continually which made for some amusing aisle wrestling and arm wrestling. We had to drive through the night but I had both seats to myself so was able to sleep. We arrived in Kathmandu around 10am Tuesday morning.

So overall it was a good trip, I wish the journey had been shorter and that I’d had a tent on the last night when we slept on what we nickname Spider Beach. There were HUNDREDS of them, and most of them were fairly large with a body at least half an inch wide and leg span of a few inches. (During the day I didn’t see many, but the Israeli said to me, you know what it means when there are crickets (we could hear them) and I said, no. He said it means spiders. I did not know this, now I fear the sound of crickets). I also found a scorpion near my bag which the guides said was not poisonous. And I wish I had been able to enjoy the second day. But the overall experience was good. I realized I had been wanting to do this river for almost 10 years, since I read about it before I left on my first trip in 96.

Last night those of us who returned to Kathmandu went to Everest Steak House where I had probably the least tasty filet mignon of my life, but it was still a fun time. Then we went and played pool. I left around 11pm because I was dead tired, but those crazy Slovenians stayed out til 7am!!!

Dinner on the way home

Today I went to start the application for my Indian Visa. I had to stand in line for 2 hours, just to submit my first form. Then I have to go back in a week to submit a second form, then later that day return to pick up the visa.

I’ve also purchased my ticket to Lukla for tomorrow. From there I will hike to near Everest Base Camp. There is a peak called Kala Pattar nearby that has amazing views (you need to go early in the morning as the clouds come in mid-morning), so I definitely want to go there. EBC isn’t that great, except for being what it is. I will probably decide later, depending on altitude sickness. There is internet in that region, but only on like my second or third day. If I can post from there I will, but if not, I should be back in Kathmandu around Nov 20.