Thursday 11 April 2013

Paragliding in Nepal

Flying...



Tuesday 9 April 2013

Out of India and into Nepal

Well. India happened pretty quickly and with hardly any blogging. It was bonkers. I'll try to cover it quickly here and leave room later for some reflections. This is quick - I've got to dash with no sparing of the horses. Time for my first bullet-point blog...

1) It was hot. Too hot. Nothing to do but die in the afternoon hot. That hot. Sweaty me.

2) I went in to a recording studio one very hot afternoon with an ice cream and met two fabulous fellows and we turned the random trip into a commitment of sorts - a day of recording. This was traumatic. I had completely forgotten how dead a 'dead room' sounds. Like your singing into a piece of concrete. So I had a hard time digging out any kind of feeling, but I think we got there in the end. Should hear the tracks in a week or so. Good version of the Hat Song, one hopes, and another one I wrote about returning home from an all-nighter with the girl of your dreams, only to find out she's dreaming about the guy of her dreams. Who is not you. Oh dear.

3) The toilet hose is a magnificent invention and should be exported into our culture. I may export it into my bathroom if I ever get one.

4) The couch surfing guys I met opened my eyes to couch surfing, which is a good thing to have one's eyes opened to and a far more engaging and connecting way to see places - straight to the locals, but straight to more broad-minded and open-hearted folk generally.

5) The police are painfully useless. Sorry, but I found myself screaming vitriol into an officers face while a friend of mine was in serious trouble and he was doing nothing whatsoever about it. He somehow managed to keep smiling afterwards. Awkwardly, I hope, but still. Smiling. And doing nothing.

6) India has a remarkable amount of people. Remarkable and unmanageable. I can't imagine how governance works here, but then again, from conversations I've had and from experiences too, I'm led to believe that it sorta doesn't.

7) I rode a jet ski for the first time

Now I'm in Nepal. It is COOL. Temperature-wise. 

This is the culmination of the dream and I've patiently waited 15 months to go see the big mountains, having been tantalized by their proximity during my time in Bhutan but given no opportunity to get close. So tomorrow I'm rafting and camping. The day after I'm paragliding near the Annapurnas. Next week I head out to Langtang with a port/guide for 3 weeks of trekking. Of course, I've got my back problems to worry about, but drawing inspiration from Jane McGonigal, I've devised an ingenious gaming strategy to minimise my discomfort and defeat my evil nemesis... the sciatica. It''s all about keeping them discs happy and grabbing as many power-ups as you can ;-)

For those of you who haven't heard her remarkable story - click here... 

Jane McGonigal

(http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_the_game_that_can_give_you_10_extra_years_of_life.html)

(why is everything suddenly so remarkable?)