Home » United Arab Emirates Nepal India » Nepal, India and Arabia

Seconds after taking off from Kolkata airport, the airplane motors suddenly powered down. A few seconds later they came back just to power down again. It was as if the pilot could not keep them going at full throttle! We heard strange noises and felt vibrations, as if something was loose or open. Then the plane started to loose altitude, which is not something it should be doing during take-off! I feared that the engines were not working properly and mentally pictured us crashing into the ground!

Nepal, India and Arabia

Odv
2006-04-15 18:46:13

Displayed times (last time: )

travel to Nepal.

Mark, our Australian travel companion with whom we had visited Bangladesh was still with us. We took a taxi up Sarangkot and walked around the top and all the way back down to Pokhara (we were later told this was dangerous because of thugs in the area). At the top we had watched a few paragliders, this inspired us to try it too. The next day Mark did a tandem flight with the instructor. From the top it seemed they were going down fast, but they still managed to make it a 30 minute flight.

The next day was my turn and since I weigh at least 30 kilos less than Mark we actually went up and flew over our take-off spot. It was exiting, I felt free as a bird, being held in the air by thin cords attached to some nylon or polyester cloth! With my camera in one hand trying to take photos of the ground and the birds, everything was moving in different directions. It was too much. I started to feel a bit sick. I knew I shouldn't have been taking so many pictures. Suddenly I had to throw up! I leaned over to one side just in time. So now you know why you should not live under a paragliding area!

Back on Earth we went to a yoga and meditation class. I am not too sure about the meditation thing. Unfortunately we did not have enough time to pursue this activity.

The highlight of our stay in Nepal was most certainly our six day trekking excursion to Tatopani, Poon Hill and Ghandruk. As soon as one leaves the road behind a whole new world opens up. Goods are carried by mules (or donkeys) or by people on their backs.

As for us, we hired K.P., a guide who doubled as a porter. We packed as little as we could, which was still about 10 kilos between the two of us. K.P. carried this bag all the way. He was less tired than we were after a day of trekking! In the evenings we played card games with K.P. and during the trekking he had answers to nearly all of our questions about Nepal and the Himalayas. ...