Kelly had a brilliant idea for Saskia'a last weekend. She suggested that we do an Paddle Nepal rafting trip which took us part way to Kathmandu so Saskia could then go on the Kathmandu and we could come back. The river was the Seti which is a fairly easy rafting river with rapids class 1-3 (out of about 5 or 6). Mael arrived on friday but still agreed to come rafting with us on Saturday. We had about an hour or two's bus ride to the starting point. The first part of the river was fairly clam. We had a Paddle Nepal crew member steering and telling us when to paddle and we had a safety kayaker (more to train him than because we needed one apparently). They also told us when we could swim. That was possibly the best part of the first day (we spent about half the time in the water rather than on the raft!). With life jackets on you just float and the current takes you along, it's very peaceful. At times we all got out, including out instructor, and let the raft float along on its own!

We stopped for lunch on a beach and our Paddle Nepal crew impressed us with their culinary skills and prepared a picnic lunch of coleslaw, bread, baked beans and other food (not only can these guys kayak and raft, they can cook!). The rapids were mostly quite small but even so the others nop longer found it so funny that previous POD volunteers had fallen out on this trip! Akit managed to fall into the boat! Sometime in the afternoon we reached the camp. Kelly and the kayak clinic (about 20 crew and kayakers) were already there. Paddle Nepal combines this rafting trip with their kayak clinic which runs for 4 days (1 on the lake to learn to kayak and 3 on the river, as it takes them longer than on a raft). The evening meal was another impressive meal for being cookes on a beach by the side of a river. Afterwards we sat round a big campfire. The locals from the village nearby came and played music. A few danced but mostly it was the kayakers dancing! Mael and I decided to sleep outside despite the thunder and lightning in the distance (it did seem to have passed over a different way). The tents were too hot and dark (for me). Outside was lovely, we could see the stars and the dark hills around. There were some dogs running about and over us but they didn't seem interested in us. The only inconvenience was how sandy everything got. About 6 am we had to move inside beacuse we could see dark storm clouds looming and the wind that tends to precede rain storms here was blowing the sand up all around.

Breakfast was delicious with the best porridge I have ever tasted and pancakes! I also found that there are other people who understand peanut butter and honey on toast! After packing up and a quick warm up game involving paddles, we set off. The second day was slower because we were with the kayakers. They have to re-group after each rapids and get bacj in their kayaks if they've fallen out (which many did). After a big rapids kayaks, paddles and people would come swiftly out seperately. It was very entertaining watching the kayaker, they were actually very good. We also had a few exciting moments. After two days of heavy rainstorms the river was a little higher than usual and fiercer. the rapids were generally bigger than the first day. We managed to get stuck on a huge rock in one. Kalou (our instructor) didn't seem entirely sure what to do! He told us to all go to the from of the raft bounce, it tipped up (so much we thought it might flip over) but didn't budge from the rock. He then had to move to one side and, eventually, the raft began to edge off. Although it was a little scary at the time it made the trip a bit more exciting. Kelly got a video of it too!

We finished at lunch time and had another delicous lunch before heading off. Buses were flagged down for the people going to Kathmandu (including Saskia) and Chitwan. As there were a lot of people going back to Pokhara Paddle Nepal had hired a private bus. This was lucky in that we didn't have to squeeze onto an overcrowded local bus but unfortunately our driver seemed to have no care for his or anyone's life. The road back is that same one to Chitwan and not the nicest1 Our driver sped round hairpin bends next to sheer drops down into the river and, like most Nepali drivers, overtook whenever he wanted without a care as to bends or oncoming traffic. I couldn't even sleep as the bus rattled and creaked so loudly, it seemed it might fall apart! One highlight was the driver stopping to let us watch some monkeys swinging out of a tree and down the cliff away from us and we did manage to get safely back top Pokhara!