Back to Pokhara

Well I'm back safely from the rafting trip - apart from a minor graze on the knee that is. The trip was genuinely excellent all round. Conditions were good, and the Nepali organisers did a great job. In the end we had about 16 rafters, on two rafts (plus some kayakers), with a third "cargo" raft - carrying cooking and camping materials etc. We covered about 60 km of the Kali Gandaki, and each crew managed to tip the raft a couple of times. I have to say that I didn't manage to take any action photos - because I don't have a waterproof camera, but I hope I'll be able to file a few from others in due course. In the meantime here's a pic of the rafts being prepared for launch at the start of the trip, and another of our first campsite - complete with upturned rafts (propped up with paddles) as makeshift tents. The other is of the load being transferred from one (broken down) bus to another shortly after we left Pokhara. The buses might be a bit ropey, but this was an object lesson in efficient substituting! The rest of the crew turned out to be a lot more mixed than expected. Majority reprentation this time from Ireland, USA, Canada. I still haven't met anyone else from Scotland on the entire trip by the way. Why is that?

Although we were all quite shattered when we got back to Pokhara last night, an end of trip visit to the Busy Bee turned out to be the way to finish. I'm due to meet some of them there again shortly! On a more mundane level I visited a dentist today - to have a small lump investigated. She thinks I have a "torus", which is apparently nothing to worry about. While I was there I took advantage of a bargain offer to have my teeth spring-cleaned. It seemed a fair way to celebrate 3 months without a cigar!