Flying and Kathmandu

Yesterday was paragliding day in Pokhara. The day before we had met up with Dave's friend Charlie and his cousin Sarah who came up from India. They were also interested in getting airborne so the four of us signed up and signed all the legal paperwork (1 page double-spaced). We ended up going with the same company that does parahawking as they have a good reputation and are likely the best trained outfit in town. After a very bumpy ride up a hill we were suited up and strapped to our tandom pilots in under 3 minutes. We then received our instructions:
"When I say walk, start walking. When I say run, start running. Don't rush."

With that the wings were lifted off the ground and we took off one by one. I was the last to get going so had a preview of what to expect. Takeoff was super easy and literally involved walking and then a short jog. No running off a cliff required. My pilot was Illiad from Russia who has been a fighter pilot before turning to helicopters, small planes, and paragliding. Flying was very calm with the only noise the rushing of air by our ears. It was awesome soaring around this hillside cruising with black kites and vultures nearby. Apparently the thermals are so good you could normally stay up from 10AM-4PM without having to land. Our time was limited but sweet. Illiad offered me the controls after a while in the air and I managed to avoid the power lines and trees like a pro. We then cruised over to the lake hands-free, shifting our weight to steer. Illiad then offered a 'trick' and we dove into a huge spiralling corkscrew that made the blood rush to my head and my eyeballs try to pop out of my head. Must have been serious Gs and it was fun. Only downside was it made me get a bit dizzy. We landed a minute later with no problems and no puke. The weather was super cloudy the whole time we were in Pokhara so we didn't get any epic views of the mountains, but paragliding was still a ton of fun. I took my camera with me so managed to snap a good number of pictures during flight. I hope some of them turn out on the computer.

Today we caught our 7:30 bus back to Kathmandu. It was actually a nice bus and by far the most comfortable we've been on. Traffic was light so we only took 2 hours longer than anticipated (8). I had forgotten how crowded and dirty Kathmandu is. Glad I'm here for less than 24 hours. Some packing is left and maybe some shopping. Tonight we're off to taste the local chang beer and local hard alcohol. Certainly sad that my journey is ending. The 3 weeks have completely flown by. Dave & Nico and I are all still speaking to each other so I'd say the trip was a complete success.

Tomorrow AM I start my long flight home and have a nice overnight layover in Mumbai. Hopefully I'll make it back to VA on Thursday PM and my car will still be safely parked in the Giant parking lot. Stay tuned for final thoughts and a massive picture post as I figure out how to get 800+ pics online.

PS- I need to figure out how to turn off those annoying popup adds. Sorry about them.