Chillax

Tuesday evening we ate a spicy celebratory dinner at Ojash’s parents house. Mike and I debated pros and cons of Milwaukee while Nepali rap videos played on the TV. As the night concluded we gifted Ojash a bag of the coffee we roasted at a coffee plantation in Laos and a card.

The next day was a painful 5:20 am wake up call. We groggily packed our bags and cabbed to the bus waiting to take us rafting. The bus was surprisingly kush and the four hour ride passed quickly. The bus pulled over near Dhading and we passed the next hour chatting with a Russian woman living in Boston who spends her time whitewater rafting in Sam’s home town in New Hampshire. Small world.

Eventually the rafts and supplies arrived from Kathmandu and we paddled into the water. Three other guides helped us direct the raft from within while an additional kayaker paddled alongside us in case of emergency. The rapids were stronger than we anticipated, and we hooted and hollered as the frigid water manipulated the boat. We paused for lunch at one of the guides houses and ate coleslaw (!!) and PB & nutella sandwiches (!!). I ate until I morphed into a rollie pole-y.

The remainder of the river was comparatively calm and we joked with the guides, splashing each other and attempting to get the boat to capsize. A short hike later we were on a local bus to Chitwan.

The road between the rafting exit point and Chitwan was the worst we’ve experienced on the trip thus far. Massive potholes sent us sailing into the seats in front of us while gravel trickled down steep embankments to the right of the vehicle. We were reminded by Amit stating, “everyone is always 1% away from death, but no one dies…. except for every six months or so a bus tumbles to oblivion.”

We didn’t tumble to oblivion and the “one hour bus” pulled into Chitin 3.5 hours later. I’m really hoping theres an alternate route back to Kathmandu but the likelihood is slim.

In Chitwan we took a cab to “Chillax Hostel” (seriously), ate a top-tier veggie burger, and fell asleep to the delight of the mosquitos in our room.