We left Chitwan in the morning. My stomach sure felt better riding the bus then when we came to Chitwan. This was a bit of a bigger bus, but nonetheless excessively crazy. We sped through the winding roads dodging other buses as we honked the horn on blind corners listening to the Hindi music blasting on the radio. It was a holy day for the Hindus, so people came by and marked our foreheads with a red dot between our eyes. People seemed to be amused with this large white guy (me) with the red paint on his head. They were even more amused with me when the bus hit a big bump and I went sprawling on the seats in the back. We were driving back to Kathmandu, but we had a stop along the way. Along a river whose name escapes me after the years have passed we stopped in the late morning to do some river rafting. I felt good enough before the raft trip to buy some coconut cookies, so I was happy that I was getting my appetite back. We quickly got a brief orientation, through our cameras in a dry bag, and were given lifejackets and helmets. We were going river rafting!
I was so excited. I had only been river rafting once and that was in the Grand Canyon. We got in the boat and had to do some paddling. There were about a dozen people going on the trip and Alanna, Uncle Jim, and I were the only Americans. There were some people from Great Britain, Australia, Germany, but no other Americans. The river quickly got interesting with big rapids that rocked the boat. We ran quite a few rapids before stopping for lunch. Uncle Jim asked lots of questions and everyone was very friendly as we sat around and talked about our travels. Many people were on long trips and we were definitely not the norm to only be traveling for a few weeks. After lunch they let us get out of the boat and float the river for some time. I was digging it as the water was a comfortable temperature with warm sun beating down on us. I was the last one to get in the boat again and barely made it back before the next big rapid. I could not believe that this river trip only cost us $25 each as it was incredibly fun. We turned in all our gear and then were back on the next bus that came by watching the terraced fields decrease slowly until we pulled into the crazy city of Kathmandu and back to Mr. Paudell's house for some rest and a day to chill out before the big, exciting part of the trip where I would get to spend two weeks in the Khumbu.
I was so excited. I had only been river rafting once and that was in the Grand Canyon. We got in the boat and had to do some paddling. There were about a dozen people going on the trip and Alanna, Uncle Jim, and I were the only Americans. There were some people from Great Britain, Australia, Germany, but no other Americans. The river quickly got interesting with big rapids that rocked the boat. We ran quite a few rapids before stopping for lunch. Uncle Jim asked lots of questions and everyone was very friendly as we sat around and talked about our travels. Many people were on long trips and we were definitely not the norm to only be traveling for a few weeks. After lunch they let us get out of the boat and float the river for some time. I was digging it as the water was a comfortable temperature with warm sun beating down on us. I was the last one to get in the boat again and barely made it back before the next big rapid. I could not believe that this river trip only cost us $25 each as it was incredibly fun. We turned in all our gear and then were back on the next bus that came by watching the terraced fields decrease slowly until we pulled into the crazy city of Kathmandu and back to Mr. Paudell's house for some rest and a day to chill out before the big, exciting part of the trip where I would get to spend two weeks in the Khumbu. 
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