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Luckily the morning was clear, the sky was blue and the Annapurna was there for all to see. The jeep from the flight centre came to pick me up on time and we promptly got going. John, the Nepalese driver was also my instructor for both flights, he explained that because it was the low season they were normally close, he was just there to test the equipment and make sure it wasn’t rotting. Because of my pretty dark eyes (and my pretty green dollars) he would specially reopen for me today. I expressed my gratitude, he looked a bit embarrassed and finally told me that because he was close he had no license, so should anything happen I would not be covered by any insurance whatsoever. I pondered and decided to go for it anyway, couldn’t possibly miss such an opportunity.

Paraglyding around the Anapourna

Degrubenc
2006-08-12 15:04:29

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going incredibly low and then John would find an air tunnel and we would suddenly rise up to dominate the whole panorama. I was comfortably seated while John did all the work, sadly the experience lasted only 45 minutes before he took us back to where we started. The fact that John was an incredible pilot gave me confidence for the ultralight flight later. The paragliding was an eerie experience, I felt like we were intruding in the life of the locals, as if we were spying, we would approach behind them without a noise and suddenly appear as if we were demons dropping out of the sky.

John drove me to the lakeside where we had an early lunch together at the boomerang restaurant by the lake. My legs were still shaking half an hour later. I don’t know if it was the lack of blood due to the position or the sheer adrenaline of it.

After lunch followed a siesta, john said it was most important so he promptly fell asleep, I went for a walk around town.

2 hours later I returned to the restaurant just in time to catch john, as he was about to take off in the jeep. He explained that he would go ahead, prepare everything and get the plane ready for the flight. I was to meet him at the airport in an hour.

I drunk a couple of fresh mango juices, read my book and took a cab to the airport, as I got there a soldier at the entrance absolutely wanted to see my flight ticket, I explained calmly that I was doing an ultralight flight. He still thought I ought to have a ticket, after much arguing and gesturing towards the waiting plane he escorted me to it.

The plane had a bizarre appearance it was like a small plastic bubble suspended to a large wing with a giant propeller attached to the wing in front of the bubble. It seemed unstable and fragile at the best of time but mighty fun.

We got strapped in with helmets but sadly no parachutes, about me asking if there was any chance of a parachute John laughed and told me that ...