Travel blog: White-water rafting and bungee in Nepal

Tag : Metallic Taste
Nick Claxton has never ventured outside of Europe before but acombination of too many years in London, a lack of properresponsibilities and an unhealthy admiration for Michael Palin nowmeans he is spending a year travelling the globe. Aterminally-disorganised 24-year-old taking on the world - solo.Here is his tenth blog entry:

The atmosphere of Kathmandu is what will stay with me most, Ithink. I'd love to say that I'm referring to the city's vibrantmaelstrom of human activity - but unfortunately, many of my abidingmemories are of the smog.

It hits you almost as soon as you pass the 'Welcome to Kathmandu'sign. The four-hour bus ride from Pokhara (500 rupees) had beenenjoyable - snaking through the lush Kathmandu Valley - until weground to a stand-still as we entered the city, choking in thetraffic jam fumes for over an hour.

These queues greeted me every time I left or entered the city butthe metallic taste to the air was present even in the centre.Kathmandu rates among the most polluted cities in the world. Thisis not due to too many cars (despite the jams on the outskirts) butrather the tainted petrol being sold - regularly mixed withkerosene by crooked salesman to make more profit.

I put the blame on these guys for making me fall ill for the firsttime on my travels - a few days were spent coughing and splutteringin my Thamel hotel room (£5 a night at the Hotel Prime).

Naturally, this coloured my first impressions of Kathmandu.Compared to the clean air and blue lakes of Pokhara, it was grimyand completely over-commercialised - especially around Thamel.

To get away from the city, I booked a white-water rafting trip onthe Bhote Kosi river, which boasts rapids classed between three andfive (out of six).

As a complete newbie to rafting, I was slightly perturbed by thesehigh numbers - especially since my guidebook mentioned 'death'three times in its class five description. But everyone else turnedout to be rafting novices too - and my worries were eased by theinstructor's confident description of the rapids as "just a greatadrenaline rush". Still, I paid serious attention to his adviceabout holding on tightly!

It was a couple of hours drive north-east of Kathmandu to therafting put-in point. Our first day was on the lower section of theBhote Kosi so that we would be eased into white-water rafting withsome smaller rapids.

The guys from Ultimate Rivers were a really professional bunch - making sure we all knew thesafety procedures and running through the commands before we evengot into the rafts. So it was with some confidence that we set offdownstream and bumped along through a few class two and threerapids.

Trying to paddle in unison bonded the eight members of our littleraft together and we laughed and joked our way through the rapids,enjoying the blazing sunshine. It wasn't even hard work since theriver charges down off the Himalayas at a fair pace that sped ussouth without much effort.

So it was with some mild thrills and some intentional spills thatwe made it down to the take-out point around four hours later -meeting the bus that took us up to Ultimate Rivers' Last Resortwhere we were staying the night.

Settled into the side of a steep, tropical gorge, the Last Resortlives up to its name - it is less than 12km from the Tibetanborder. Even the lodges I've stayed at in Kashmir and aroundAnnapurna struggle to compare to the dramatic location this placeenjoys.

There may be no snow-capped mountains on the horizon but this isbecause the main event is closer to home. Right on the doorstep infact - as entry to the resort is only by crossing the 166metre-long bridge spanning the gorge.

For me, a small platform in the centre of the bridge stood outimmediately. You see, I'd signed up for the bungee jump off thisthing. For some reason when I had been told back in Kathmandu thatthe 160 metre freefall was either the second or third highest inthe world, I hadn't been fazed. But it all seemed a very differentproposition from up there!

Even though none of my rafting chums were taking the plunge (bungeejumping bumped the whole price of rafting up to $110 (£55) -including the night spent at the Last Resort), I had a chat withsome of the jumpers from earlier that day who tried to put me atease. "Just keep looking forward and jump" was the simplest andbest advice I was offered - though I admit I was not completelyconvinced.

At 08:30 the next morning, I was up on the bridge again - this timewith a glorified elastic band strapped round my ankles. Itentatively waved to the rafting guys who had got up to see myattempted demise and then it was "1-2-3 bungee!".

Apparently, the scream I let out on the way down sounded like adying monkey, but this turned to whoops of delights as the riverbelow stopped speeding towards me and I bounced back up for somemore freefalling. It was insanely fun, completely pointless andeasier than I thought - the climb back up was by far the hardestpart!

My adrenaline kept pumping the rest of the day as we took on someclass four and five rapids, made even more exciting by thetorrential rain which forced us quickly downriver on its muddyswell.

A couple more people fell out, prompting panicked rescues. But wewere all intact enough to climb on to the roof of the bus and holdon tightly once more as we dried ourselves off on the way back toKathmandu.

Nick Claxton