I'm sitting in Thamel, the main travellers district in Kathmandu, trying to determine the best way to spend a month or two in Nepal. It has been painless and non-intimidating travel so far. By any indication, the Nepali people seem very welcoming and friendly. This is despite an amazing affluence gap between travellers and locals (around 80% of Nepalis live on under $2 per day). I have a lot to see, but that is my impression so far.
I met with the owner of Ultimate Descents, Mal Ale last evening in order to talk about paddling here. He was a very welcoming, stout man with short white hair. We started talking about our shared acquaintance, Lee Chantrell, who worked in Nepal for 10 seasons and now lives in the Madawaska valley. Mal described to me, with a downturned face, that rafting here was not what it once was. It has been a general decline that as I understand been an international trend. It is hard to imagine here where walking through the tourist area, you'll see no less than 20 organizations offering rafting and kayaking trips.
Mal offered that I could come kayak on a Bhote Kosi trip when an American school would come rafting. The Bhote Kosi is 4 day trip with a lot of consistent class 4 paddling. The trip is not for 2 weeks and we agreed to stay in touch. I would like most to go on 8-10 day trip on the Sun Kosi or Karnali rivers and may need to pay my own way in the end.
The other option is to head to the Annapurna region and start a trek. The treks vary from 4-30 days around, over and into the bowl of the Annapurna mountain range. I first need to find a trekking partner. There are posting boards around town (it feels a bit like a dating board) and I am surrounded by gringos in this restaurant, so I don't imagine it will be a problem.
For the next few days, I will balance the excitement of planning trips with the jet-lag and frustrations that accompany coming to such a new area. I notice the desire to chat up everyone around me grows and grows.
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