Panorama from Thorepani 

#3 - NOV 29, 2004

Now seems like a pretty good time to start our 3rd update from Nepal. 


I'm sitting alone on top of a ridge called Thorepani ('mustard water'), having just watched Roxanne and Frank launch and fly down to the valley bottom about 2400' below.


There are strong thermals today and they both soared above launch site. The Annapurna Range behind me is also the clearest it's been since we got here. A great day for a photo, yes?


Well, tell that to the little cretin that made off with 'our' camera (Bernie and Krista's actually) yesterday at the landing site. And after I'd given the little buggers treats, too! We're hoping our posters offering a reward equivalent to 10 days wages will flush out the thief. If not, we've threatened to tell George Bush and they all know what that! could mean. (Sorry, couldn't resist. ;-))


Anyways, we both passed our written exams and are now licensed paraglider pilots. Two days ago we flew for the 1st time without radio, supervision, or instructor (although having Frank along was certainly reassuring.) And it was wonderful. Frightening? You bet! Exhilarating? Absolutely.

Roxanne and Frank fly from Thorepani

Trying to determine when you're safe and when you aren't as you circle over ridges, forests, and buildings with no landing site nearby keeps you on your toes. But the scenery is spectacular - 25,000 foot mountains behind us, Fewa Lake and green fields in the valley below us, and ridges in front that mark the border with India on the horizon.

And to actually be flying over it all? Well, it still seems unbelievable.

We are both healthy and intact, quite content in our room at the Tropicana that costs us $3.30 a night. Breakfast comes in at $2.50 for 4 masala coffee, fruit, yogurt, muesli, eggs, toast and hash browns. We drink mineral water at 25 cents a litre. A 750 ml bottle of local beer is just over $3, but rumours suggest it has glycol in it which may account for the wicked hangovers many report.

Breakfast at Guru's

A 40 min. ride up the mostly rough mountain road to the main launch site is $8, or $1.10 if there's room in the company jeep. It's then an hour hike with our 12kg wings on our back to get up here to Thorepani, where we will fly until we feel more comfortable. The main site, Sarangkot, is very busy and would be like tossing a beginner driver onto the L.A. freeway.


And why am I here, surrounded by a horde of kids bellowing out their greetings, questions and demands at full volume? Because last night we found out that my wing is needed for the next beginner's group that starts today. So until we find a replacement, Roxanne and I will be sharing a wing.


She flew first today and I am waiting for a porter to bring the wing back up to me - at least 90 minutes and 2400' vertical for $1.50. I'll then set it up and launch off on my own. At this moment, 2 eagles are riding up on thermals right in front of me, so if it lasts, I may be able to get up high and beat my longest flight so far - about 35 min.

.
Roxanne hikes with her 'wing'

When I land I'll pack up my wing and hitch a ride on top of the local bus back to 'Lakeside' where we're staying. Riding on top is a great wobbly, bouncing experience and well worth the 20 cents. Although you must remember to duck beneath the power lines and low branches.

Heading home on top of bus

Off to my left at the moment there are at least 16 wings circling over the main site - blue, orange, yellow, white, crimson - they look like a giant wind mobile. Over here there are none and the kids seem to have given up on me for entertainment and disappeared. Very quiet. Serene. Lovely.


I hope the world is being as kind to you!


With every good wish,


Van and Roxanne


ps The reward worked - we got the camera back

Maoist message

#4 - Dec 16, 2004

The contrasts in Nepal can be startling.


Yesterday we returned from 3 days in Tang Ting, a high mountain village so quiet and serene you'd think you've entered another age. And in a way you have.

As you wander the narrow stone paths with Annapurna dominating half the horizon, you come across people weaving baskets in their tiny but immaculately swept front yards, hand carding and spinning wool, grinding rice to flour, making lumpy woolen comforters, or laying thin slices of radishes and buffalo meat in the sun to dry.


There are no machines, no motors, no phones. In fact the quiet can be disorienting. The tiny power plant on the waterfall does provide hydro-electricity, but only enough to power a smattering of low-watt bulbs in the evening.


The Gurung-caste people of this village are amazingly self-sufficient and industrious and there is a gracious joy in the way they welcome us  - the only 2 foreigners lucky enough to be invited to visit and stay a few nights.


But to get to the serenity of Tang Ting you must first get to Lamkhet. And getting to Lamkhet involves a drive through the business centre of Pokhara, a place without the slightest hint of serenity.


The blue haze of pollution is so thick it burns your eyes and throat as your taxi hurtles through the crowded streets. Your driver grinds the gears, blasts his horn at anything that moves, and swerves violently to the right and left in an obsessive effort to pass anything, anywhere, in any situation, sending pedestrians leaping across ditches to avoid death, while buffalos and cows ignore him and continue their leisurely stroll down the middle of the road.


Asia is always an adventure, and our (first?) month in Nepal has been no different. Although the flying has certainly ramped things up to a new level.


We now have over 40 flights in and the veteran pilots assure us that the dry-mouth anxiety on take-off, adrenaline rush of concentration in the air, and chattering excitement after landing will only slightly diminish with time. Sounds good to us! ;-))


We are sore today after our descent from Tang Ting yesterday (4 hours turned into 7 hours ... a story for another time) but I had my longest flight today - an hour and a half - and for the last 30 minutes was alone in the sky with the buzzards and eagles, so the soreness is just not an issue.


We remain very healthy and ecstatically happy. We were really looking forward to joining Frank's friends and parents in Germany for Christmas, but there is nothing we can do about the change in plans, so today we changed our flight out of Kathmandu to January 4th. Yippee! See you in the air!


Love to all,


Van and Roxanne


ps We saw the biggest spider this side of the Amazon in Tang Ting - a lumbering beast so huge you could see it shift its weight before it lifted a leg! Not what you want to spy on the ceiling just before you turn out the lights at night.

Checkpoint below hotel

Naturally, this kind of scene wasn't exactly what any of us wanted to witness, and it was certainly more than Roxanne needed to finish off her day.


By the next morning, you wouldn't have known anything had happened - traffic on the street below us was back to normal and even the police at the roadblock who had lost comrades looked as nonchalant and inattentive as always. (I say police because that's what I've been told they are, but they are dressed in combat gear with guns and leisurely stroll around their little sandbagged and barb wired roadblock post.) Still, many of us cast cautious looks here and there for the next few days.


So, Christmas dinner was in our room together, and New Years I went out for a while to join the crowd but Roxanne was still too sore to make it to the restaurant. (I tossed her some crackers and a bottle of Sprite as I left the room.)

She went for her follow-up assessment at the hospital today and the doctors pounded on her back and put her through calisthenics. In fact, she proclaims herself to be 90 percent better and as I type this she is waiting for me in a restaurant down the road.


So I will run now. Sorry for the delay bringing you up to the moment but we didn't want to write until we knew the implications.


I have had some amazing flights. Will write more about that next time. The doctors told Roxanne she is on hold (for flying) for 2 more weeks.
;-((


Must run!


Van

We performed in front of the stage of dignitaries at the closing ceremonies, and I must say we were a smash hit. Even the heavily armed police guarding the Ministers of Tourism and Security were in stitches. (Which is a good thing because they had guns. With real bullets. We know they're real because we found one on our hotel roof after the last shootout.)

Immediately after we finished our performance, we started drinking beer (actually, drinking beer was part OF the performance) and never really came up with a good reason to stop. Which might have had something to do with our decision 2 hours later to 'fly' our wings down the main road of Lakeside in full costume.


'S'-turns, spirals, crossovers ... it was a mesmerizing display of coordination, concentration, and balance (especially considering our drunken state) that had kids and storekeepers either howling with laughter or screaming in terror as we swooped towards them.


We 'swooped' all the way to the Closing Party at the Busy Bee bar and then continued swooping on the dance floor until hours later (many hours later) Roxanne and I giggled our way home in a downpour, using one of the wings as an umbrella.


The next day we awoke stiff and sore from hours of dancing in hiking boots (I seem to recall leading a conga line at one point) and with a vague memory of a surreal conversation with a Nepali Minister of something sinister who wore a massive black cowboy hat and had 2 scowling guards with machine guns at the ready standing behind him.


It would have made a great photo - him with his Black Bart hat and machine-gun buddies, and me in my muddy hiking boots, baggy short pants, over sized yellow t-shirt embroidered with "Team MO", and bright red, Jimminy Cricket face under a traditional Nepali fez.


Ahh, the memories of Nepal - the Himalayas, the temples, the prayer flags ... the drunken bash in the Busy Bee bar with free booze, free food, and the sweet smell of hash everywhere.


So, we are staying a little longer. And by the sounds of the weather back home, this is a good idea.


Roxanne is closer to flying again and we're certain that hours of dancing was great therapy, but she's not quite ready for the big jump yet. And my wing has just been claimed by one of the new students, so I am also grounded for a bit.


A perfect time for us to explore a few business possibilities that have presented themselves. In fact, we're now off to have dinner with an Australian gal who set up a couple wonderful charities that offer housing, medical care, and fair wages to local unfortunates like lepers and rescued girls who had been sold into prostitution. She designs jewellery and things, they make them, and she then sells the products overseas with them sharing the profits. Hmmmm, will let you know what happens.


So, off again. See you all soon. (No, really, I mean it this time.)


Love, Everest beer, and dancing at the Busy Bee to all!


Van and Roxanne