Writing this blog using the world's slowest connections is not easy. Finally after an hour I have come this far. My previous work crashed along with this ancient machine which should actually be in a computer museum not here in Guilin. At least I managed to upload some photos in Hong Kong where the connection speed is slightly better, as one would imagine with a modern sky scrapper city. Advice after my last blog...if you haven't already, please make a cuppa before reading any further.
Anyway so after trekking we headed to Kathmandu where I booked the next adventure trip. With a lot of persuasion Trudy decided to book the rafting too but canyoning was a definite no no. Luckily Trudy didn't contact her mum prior to the trip otherwise it would have been 4 days of shopping in Kathmandu for her. I originally wanted to do the Sun Khosi or River of Gold but the best time of year is around September after the monsoon rains have finished, making it one of the top 10 rafting trips in the world. At the start of the monsoon it would have been flat, long & relatively dull. So instead we ventured up to the Borderlands, a lovely peaceful resort not far from the Tibetan border. The first two days were spent on the Bhote Khosi, a relatively steep river (8 times steeper than the Sun Khosi). Day 1 was a kind of team training day to get the rafters working together on the boats & use to the captain & his commands. This was carried out on the lower half of the river which I later found is actually positioned after a dam, making it pretty easy to learn to raft. It never really exceeded grade 3. The second day was on the upper half of the river & we actually started the trip from the resort. The first rapid was a very short distance away & out of the 3 boats ours was the only one fortunate enough to survive. It was a grade 4 rapid & the other two rafts became stuck on rocks. Both crews had to exit their rafts with one attempting to re-enter the raft, losing one rafter to the rapid, stranding the guide & a rafter, leaving 3 rafters to paddle aimlessly down the rapid before being stranded on another rock. The ordeal lasted just short of an hour but all were rescued unhurt apart from a few bruises & one very pale looking English guy, Henry, who survived his swim down the river.
The remainder of the day wasn't as eventful but there were some close moments. We lost one of our trusty team from the raft but a quick thinking crew member managed to keep hold of his foot & we quickly brought him back onboard. It was a truly exhilarating trip down the river & the guides were very professional, well for Nepalese people. The only reckless moment was when the lead guide river surfed his raft, along with all 7 crew members, under a small waterfall which had an amazing undercurrent. It was unsuccessful & all crew had to jump out to be picked up by the other two rafts.
Canyoning was a lot of fun & it basically involves abseiling & sliding down waterfalls. The first day was a training day & was pretty easy. The second day I managed to convince Trudy to come along & "watch" safely from the side. Before she knew it she was fully rigged up & managed to do two pitches. The first pitch of the day, also Trudy's first abseil ever was more difficult than any attempted the previous day. The instructors have a knack at making their anchor on the edge of the cliff meaning you have to shimmy along the slippery cliff attacked to a safety rope before changing on to your abseil rope. This is actually the scariest part of the experience. The last pitch was around 45 meters down & I managed to go half the way through the waterfall, not as peaceful as it sounds. The water is crashing down on your helmet giving you a mild case of whiplash & a cheeky headache, but fun nonetheless. To add to the experience we had to change ropes half way down, clutching on to the slippery rock face with our fingers, feet & teeth while the smiley faced instructor leans back unclipping & reclipping your gear. A great experience but not for the faint hearted. Both trips are a great way of meeting fellow travellers & we met some great people.
On our return to Kathmandu we spent the last few days relaxing & taking short trips around Kathmandu seeing the various world heritage sights such as Bouddhanath Stupa, Durbar Square & Swayambhunath Temple.
We flew to Delhi where we stayed for one night before flying on to Singapore & then Hong Kong. We were pretty suprised by Delhi as parts are very modern & pleasant. It is a vast contrast from Mumbai & it isn't too taxing to spend a day amongst the western air con shops while waiting for your flight. It was amusing to see Trudy chatting away to a Delhi con man while I ordered food in McDonalds. She just aimlessly told him everything he wanted to know about us. When we passed McD's about 5 hours later he was still in the same seat waiting on his next tourist victim.
As we embarked on our Singapore flight from Delhi the staff informed us that we should transit as quickly as we could in Singapore to reach our connecting flight. We were confident as we did have 90 minutes. However, my last trip to Singapore airport must have been when I was about 16. They have clearly extended the place since then as we only walked (assissted by the flat escalators) about a quarter of the airport distance from one gate to another & this took 25 minutes at a brisk pace. Luckily our flight was delayed or we may have missed it.
Our Hong Kong trip was purely planned to visit Trudy's best friend & their family. We only stayed 3 days as it is pretty expensive in the city but impressive nonetheless. We experienced our first fall of black rain & infact the rain didn't stop until the day we left. The weather limited or sightseeing. We did visit Victoria Harbour & the famous dragon boat races as well as being spoilt by Trudy's friend on several occasions. If it wasn't for this we may be on our way home now with our bank accounts drained.
From Hong Kong we ventured north to Guangzhou where we stayed one night in a lovely new boutique type hotel & then on an overnight train to Guilin in Guizhou province. The train was very similar to that found in India only much nicer apart from the fact the Chinese smoke everywhere.
In Guiling we found a devine new youth hostel (no jokes about youth please), Backstreet Youth Hostel, with big double rooms, great bathrooms & a brilliant lounge diner area. We based ourselves from here & organised all of our trips through the friendly girls at reception. The hostel arranged a free taxi, & along with a Spanish/Bolivian couple, which took us to the Solitary Beauty Peak & Reed Flute Cave. We watched a local Lijiang show at the theatre. It was a mix of ballet & acrobatics. Very entertaining & amazing what one girl can do with so many umbrellas. Yesterday we visited Longsheng & saw a local village show where the women unraveal there very long hair. The longest hair in the world is within the village. The women have to keep it hidden to all men until they are married when their husband is the first male ever to see it. From here we drove & walked to Ping An & viewed the amazing site of the numerous tiered rice terraces spread throughout the valleys. The day was plaqued by heavy rain but it didn't put a damper on things too much...our trip down the River Li to Yangshou was cancelled today due to the vast amount of water but hopefully tomorrow the weather will clear. Last night was total bedlam on our journey back from the rice terraces with cars, bikes & people past their kness in water. Roads were turned in to shallow rivers & even had currents.
China is a stunning place, so modern & hip. The ladies dress in beautiful skirts & dresses & the men adore their sportswear. The people are so friendly & it really is so different from the preconceptions I gave myself for all these years. So far it is my favourite country on this trip. Oh & the women aren't locked away like in India & Nepal so you get to see both sexes...bonus.
One thing which had us hooked in India was the new Indian Premier League 20/20 competition. We followed it in every place we stayed & our team, the Rajasthan Royals (led by the wizard of Oz, Warney), won the league victoriously with a gripping final going down to the last ball. For all those budding sports fans it's well worth watching if you have sky. Look out for it next season, be warned you will be hooked.
