Trisuli

7/02/15

I am the first to arrive at the office. I look at the time: 6:09am. The sun isn’t even up yet. I sit on the front step and wait. Today is the day I finally get to go paddling. It took some doing. After a month and ½ of delays, the girls wanted to cancel again on me yesterday. I finally had to put my foot down to make this trip happen or I might never have seen any rivers in Nepal. The last few weeks I have been feeling more and more restless and frustrated by the fact that I haven’t done any paddling yet or even done much of anything at all here. Every day I feel like time is running out and I don’t have much to show for the time I have been here. Today is a breakthrough. Finally I will be doing something other than sitting around Kathmandu procrastinating and pretending to be working on my thesis when really I haven’t made any progress whatsoever (no surprises there).

In the end everything works out the way it was meant to and the clients that were supposed to go on a trip today but didn’t call (the reason the girls wanted to cancel), called in the morning to confirm their booking. Not only are we going to the river, but now the girls are working so they have a reason for going beyond just accommodating me.

When the clients arrive at the river, we are surprised to find 4 Nepali guys instead of the two foreign women we were expecting, but not matter, the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day to be on the river. It rained the night before and everyone has been saying that it is a sign that warm weather is on its way. The “cold” season is officially over. Nevertheless, I jump in the river to test its temperature so that I will know whether I need to wear my wetsuit or not. I should have known that it wouldn’t be as cold as everyone said it would be. I put my dry top on and leave my wetsuit in my bag.

The first day we do the lower section of Trisuli. The water level is low and the run isn’t that exciting, but it gives me the opportunity to ease back into things and gage how my neck injury will handle the strain. The boat I am in is long and slow to react. I don’t like it much and would prefer to have my playboat with me. I see local guys with their playboats and I am reminded of my smashed up wavesport EZG back home. I miss my boat...

We ride back in the back of the truck – just the way I like it! At first the boys gallantly insisted on sitting in the back but they were freezing so the girls put them into the cab and rode in the back with me. At some point the driver slammed on the breaks and sent us all flying. One girl hit her head pretty hard and another who was still wearing her helmet exclaimed “safety first!” Indeed I always feel much safer on the river than on the road in Nepal.

At night we make a fire and bbq some chicken over a grill. It tastes delicious but I am not that hungry because I already filled up on dahl bhat (the typical Nepali dish of rice and lentils).  Everyone is speaking Nepali and I don’t understand anything so I sing to myself wishing I had a guitar. I am exhausted and just want to sleep but I don’t want to be the first to go to bed and be a party pooper so I stay up. It’s a full moon and the night is clear and glowing with silvery light. The river sparkles in the reflection of the moon and I feel at peace – this is how I remember Nepal; with the soothing sound of the river in the background, the warm glow of the fire, the laughter of friends, the feeling that everything is right with the world…This is what I was searching for when I made the decision to come back here.

That evening, I reminisce about the fun times I had the first time I was in Nepal when everyday was about kayaking and enjoying life, drinking roxy (local wine) and playing music around campfires. Things are different this time around with more work and less play, more responsibilities and fewer random spontaneous adventures. Previously when I was here, my guides and friends were pretty much all young men who were unattached, carefree and at liberty to do what they want. At that time, if we wanted to take off for three days to go down the river or to go on a trek or to randomly paddle across Phewa lake one day and camp out on the other side, we could just go; we weren’t accountable to anyone or anything. But the reality for the women at Himalayan Adventure Girls is quite different; they have families to take care of, responsibilities outside of their work and financial concerns that keep them busy and means they have less free time to spend on the river. I believe this is one of the reasons why I often find it more challenging to develop relationships with women when I travel than with men because my reality is closer to that of men than women. As a result, I have more in common with men and can bond more easily with them over our shared freedom and independence.

The second day we do the upper section which is a way more fun! The rapids are just challenging enough to be fun without being big enough to be scary. The girls are rafting but one of the local guys joins me kayaking.  I flip more times than I would have liked but I am confident that if I run it again, I could do a clean sweep of it. Unfortunately, the girls don’t want to try it again, that evening they tell me they want to go back to Kathmandu. I am a bit disappointed; we had originally planned to do about a week of training on the river, but I understand that they have worries to take care of at home.

I decide to stay behind to enjoy a few more days on the river. After sending the girls off on a bus back to Kathmandu, I enjoy a nap in the sun on a raft drying on the beach while eating oranges. Later, I gear up and borrow someone’s playboat to practice surfing on a wave. The boats here are fitted to tiny Nepali people and we have to take out all the hip padding so that I can fit – this is fairly normal for me as they don’t really make kayaks for women and I have enough hip padding already that I don’t need any extra. It takes me awhile to get back into it, but I eventually manage a spin which made my day a success.

On my last day, I kayak the upper section again and didn’t flip once! I was super proud of myself, especially on the last big drop which had caught me off guard the previous day but which I was ready for this time. I dug my paddle in and managed to hang on as I crashed between two big holes (that’s right I went between them, not straight through them- whose the hole bait now, huh??). I finished with a great big “I LOVE KAYAKING!” and some paddle high fives with my two friends. Every day is a great day when you are on the river!

Unfortunately, I have to head back to Kathmandu tomorrow to meet with the girls and do some work. I really wish I could just stay here and keep paddling, but I know I will be back soon. And next time I will bring a playboat! It’s going to be fun!