Flights

  Katmandu, Nepal
Thursday, May 3, 2007

Nathan here: As previously mentioned, Pokhara is an absolutely gorgeous little place to unwind. Now, we happened to see some ads for some adventure type activities and, after some discussion, decided to sign up for an ultralight flight in the mountains. Always wanted to fly in an ultralight and Tara adores flying so it wasn't really that hard of a decision. Avia Club Nepal has three 2-seat planes so we were able to go at the same time. In a word, the whole experience was awesome. They provided us with insulated wind pants and a jacket to protect us from the cold air - it is afterall an open cockpit experience. The ultralight was surprisingly small with a nose wheel and two at the back. You sit immediately behind and slightly above the pilot. Before I knew it, we were zipping along the runway and after a quick burst of speed we were climbing very quickly into the air. It wasn't long before we were comfortably cruising at 3000M at a speed of 100km an hour. For those with some dollars to spend, suggest you check out www.aviaclubnepal.com.

Tara here: for the record, we didn't come close to the 5450 M height that we had climbed. Which was crazy because we were still quite high in the plane. It reinforced the fact that we had indeed climbed high during our trek.



Nathan here: So I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who has been fascinated with Everest. To be clear, I'm not one of those newbies who have only given the mountain some consideration following the success of Krakauer's "Into Thin Air." I've always been interested in anything to do with Everest. We were initially looking at a trek to Everest's base camp but finally elected the Annapurna Circuit, arguably a much nicer trek. Still, we didn't want to leave Nepal without having seen the big one. So, in true Nathan and Tara sytle, we splurged.

Buddha Air (love that name and it ranks up their with Yeti Airlines, the airline we flew from Pokhara to Kathmandu - yes, this time we skipped the bus) has a one hour flight that promises to take you within 5 nautical miles of the summit. So we signed up.
For those interested, more info can be found at www.buddhaair.com.

The flight went well and we did come quite close to Everest. It's a neat experience because you fly parallel to the mountains and each one seems to be bigger than the last and then, all of a sudden, one stands heads and tails taller than the rest. Yep, not hard to point out Everest.



Final thoughts about Kathmandu. If you love books and book stores, then come to this city. You can't walk more than a few feet in Thamel, the city's tourist district, without tripping over one. And they're incredibly well stocked with new and used books of all kinds, but with a specialization on all things to do with the mountains, Buddhism, the Dalai Lama etc. It was heaven.

Tara here: Of course, despite the attractions inherent in Thamel, you still have to cope with the noise pollution and fast moving vehicles.

So we're off to Jordan next. We've signed up for a three week tour of this country and Egypt with Intrepid Travel. We're both looking forward to not having to plan our days. We just want to be told when and where to show up. Highlights in the short term will include a two-day visit to the ancient city of Petra. Promise to keep you posted. N&T.



PS - for the record, I'm happy to see Ottawa advance, but I found out that Sid was playing with a broken foot. Willing to give credit for a big series win over Brodeur though. One last thing, Frank, if you're going to sell the furniture, please note that the larger pieces have been scotchguarded against spills (Tara's tested it repeatedly and it works). However, you may wish to check the otoman for fleas...