Today started out normal enough. Krissy and I left our hotel in Kathmandu to catch a ride in a
van that took us to the Borderlands Resort. The resort is a hub of adrenaline charged sports such as rafting, mountain biking, kayaking and, what we were headed out to do, canyoning. The ride was three and a half hour long and the driver was unusually cautious for a Nepali. It was a welcome change to watch all the buses and dump trucks manically pass us on narrow roads around blind corners.The resort is really nice. Set along the banks of the Bhoti Khosi (river), it has the typical style of any tropical resort. Thatched roofs, winding stone paths, bright blooming flowers, expansive green lawns and a rough-hewn, heavily lacquered bar. The only thing missing is the tiki torches.
Since the canyoning group for the next two days only consisted of Krissy, me and an awkward,
quiet Israeli named Aric, we would be finishing our two canyoning excursions way ahead of schedule. This was good news for Krissy, because 3km up the road at another adventure resort was a bungee jump that she was very excited about doing. At 160 meters, it is the second highest bungee jump in the world.Wasting no time, we geared up in wetsuits, helmets, harnesses and hardware and started walking up the road to the canyoning spot. We had two guides that were showing us the ropes today. Our main guide, Prem, and in support, Vijay. Prem gave us a brief safety talk and lightly explained rappelling to us. Then he set to work anchoring the rope. Krissy and I watched intently since we both are highly interested in doing some canyoning on our own.
He got everything set up and I volunteered to be first. I stepped up and Prem hooked me into the rope via a figure eight belay device. He told me to go so I sat down in rappel stance, leaned back over the edge and off I went. Vijay down below had a fireman's belay on me so it was a very slow descent. It was good though since the rock was slick where the waterfall ran it's course. Twenty feet later I was down on the ground and Vijay unclipped me from the rope. I'm definitely not used to having people clip and unclip me as well as control the speed of my descent.
That was pretty much how the first day of canyoning went. We did three more rappels that increased in difficulty. By the end the guides trusted my technique enough to let me control my descent speed. Vijay was impressed that I was "running."
At the bottom of the last waterfall I was waiting for Arik and Krissy to finish their rappels when I felt something squishy between my toes. I bent down to look and there it was. Another thing to check off the life list. I had a leech that was fat with blood stuck between my toes. I pulled it off, threw it away and a stream of blood began to flow.
We went back to the resort and ate a hurried lunch. It was almost time for Krissy to jump off a bridge! As we started to leave Vijay told us "there was no time." So he flagged down a motorcycle driven by his friend and told us to hop on and pay him 50 rupees. Krissy and I exchanged worried looks.
"Both of us?" I inquired.
"Yes, yes! No time! Give him 25 rupees," Vijay said excitedly.
"It's only 3km isn't it?" Then I turned to Krissy. "You go ahead, I'll just walk."
But Vijay was insistent. He said it was a long hot walk. Krissy was already on the bike. "Are you coming?" she asked.
So this is how I found myself as the third passenger on the back of a motorcycle.
Krissy turns her head and says, "Do you see all the unnecessary risks you have to take when you hang out with me?"
"Hmm," I said.
Actually, it wasn't at all bad. The driver was really talented and had obviously ridden with two passengers before. He took corners slow, expertly dodged potholes and accelerated and braked smoothly. Even still, I kept a white-knuckle grip onto the rear handholds. It was a short ride but when I got off my hands ached from the effort.
We payed the guy 50 rupees and headed up the bridge in time to watch someone jump off. We heard him yell in fear: "Ah! Ahhhhh...." His voice trailed off as he disappeared into the gorge below. Krissy looked at me wide eyed with a maniacal look of terror and nervous anticipation.
We had to pass all the jumpers on the bridge to pay for her jump. Some were quiet and looked pensive while the rest chatted excitedly. When we showed up to the counter to pay Krissy was presented with some disappointed news.
The guy at the counter shouted to a chubby old white guy with grey, balding dreadlocks. "Any more jumps today?"
"No. No more jumps," was his plain answer.
It turns out dready was one of the owners of the resort. Krissy pleaded her case with dready saying that she had been told there was a spot reserved for her.
"Yeah, at two o'clock," he stated with what appeared to be his trademark surly/emotionless voice. "You showed up too late."
"Are there are anymore jumps tomorrow?" Krissy asked hopefully.
"No. The next day."
"So if I stayed here for two nights I could jump?" I looked at Krissy in horror. It's $40 a night to there. Plus, what would we do for an entire day? And the time in between the jump?
"I'll go check," said surly dready.
I began to protest to Krissy about staying at a resort for two extra nights.
"Relax," she interrupted. "I have no intention of staying here. I just want to make the bastard work."
We sat outside in a lounge area while we watched surly dready walk out to the bridge to talk to someone. A while late he waddled over to us and said, "If you can wait 45 minutes you can jump. You'll have to go at the end because we need to change out the weight."
Krissy was ecstatic. She paid for the jump and then went out to the bridge to wait. Since I wasn't crazy or rich enough to jump I had to wait at the viewing platform where I planned to take a video of Krissy's jump. It provided a decent view of the loonies as they all lined up and hopped off one by one like lemmings. For the next hour and a half I didn't do much but wait, so I'll let Krissy describe her experience:
I've always been fascinated with jumping off things. When I saw there was a chance to bungee in Nepal I figured I had to do it. I stood on that bridge for a lifetime... felt like it at least. Everyone was chatting nervously. When some would be called over - this was by weight- we'd hoot at him or her. You could see most people talking to themselves, like they were giving themselves a pep-talk. It made me laugh. Honestly, there is no risk involved here. Killing clients is bad for business so I knew it would be safe. Only human error would cause a mishap but these guys ran a tight ship. After about 15 people, one French girl and I remained. I was called over and harnessed up.
"When you jump, keep your eyes open. Experience every moment," I was told by the boy suiting me up.
"Oh no worries, I didn't spend 6000 rupees to close my eyes." He liked my response.
I wondered if the wind would affect my falling as I walked out on the plank. "Feet on the line," I was told. I shuffled out, toes hanging over. Well, no turning back now. I took a breath and thought that if I can't jump off a bridge I'll never be able to jump off a cliff. Baby steps, really. Putting my arms out, I leaned forward and jumped. The few seconds of freefall can't be put into words. You see the walls and trees moving past you, the river coming at you. There isn't even time to think about anything going wrong before your bungee catches you and bounces you around a few times. It was exhilarating! More so than skydiving! I squealed and giggled like a lunatic. As soon as I was lowered and unhooked, I logged up the trail to go meet Kevin. Others wanted to talk but I was ready to get going I figured Kevin was too. The 45 minute wait turned into a two and a half to three hour ordeal. I'd very much appreciated Kevin being there and his patience.
Breathless, Krissy met me at the top of the gorge by the bridge. She was very happy that she got to jump. She thanked me for waiting and for filming the whole thing. We hurried across the bridge and began our, thankfully, uneventful 3km downhill walk back to Borderlands Resort.
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