Nepal: part 1

Wow...
Where to begin? This could be a long post! It's been almost six weeks now since i arrived in Nepal and It's certainly hasn't been smooth sailing thats for sure. I had originally come out here to work with a company but decided to go it alone in the end, just to say first off it's not a reflection on them and that i'd still recommend their trips and staff, and in fact the guys have become really good friends.
Anyway, i'm unsure on how much coverage there has been in the west of the goings on in Nepal, but things here have been rocky since i arrived to say the least. Many of the areas normally bustling with tourists are ghost towns, almost certainly due to the media coverage of the Earthquake that occurred earlier on in the year. On that matter, i'd like to say please don't be put off by that. Almost all of there areas i have visited have survived unscathed or have recovered well, and if you have put off or are putting off your visit because of that then you are doing more harm than good. Tourism is Nepal's lifeblood and the country needs it to survive.
To make matters hugely worse, Nepal created a constitution shortly after my arrival. This is something the country has desperately needed for decades, but also a matter of huge controversy. The creation of this bill of rights upset India, who, to put it bluntly, there their toys out of the pram. I can't explain the issues in too much depth, but the constitution made it hard for India to gain further control of Nepal, and it's no secret that India want to own Nepal. India closed their borders after unrest in the Terrai region and haven't open since. This has cut off all fuel to the country and caused a huge amount of difficulty to everyone, creating even further economic downturn and political unrest. Taxis and buses are running out of fuel, making it hard for us to get transport anywhere, restaurants have run out of gas and food to cook, forced to prepare meals on wood fires. Hospitals are also running low on supplies. I struggle to understand how the UN haven't stepped in and forced the border to re-open with support from UN troops to keep the peace. To me it seems like a political atrocity, the type that organisations such as the UN have the responsibility to help police.
Anyway...
back to our adventures.

After i decided to go it alone i put a shout out to my kayaking pals to ask if they knew anyone else in country. After a few replies i met up with George Younger and we teamed up to try and get out paddling. Sick of the noise and pollution of Kathmandu, we headed West to the much more chilled city of Pokhara, to escape the hustle and bustle and to meet up with Roshan, a Nepali who i had become good friends with.
Roshan had been working with the same company, but had also decided to move on so was now freelance in Pokhara, and through him we managed to jump on some trips on the Kali Gandaki river in exchange for video boating for the raft companies. I was happy to oblige as it meant free transport and food, in exchange for another of my favourite past times, taking photos.
The Kali Gandaki is a holy river, with many cremations happening on it's banks and at it's confluences. It also has great geological significance as well as being home to many rare plants, animals and birds... and scorpions! It's a pretty chilled affair, with most of the rapids on the commercial section being class 3, however, it also has a couple harder rapids and is a great river to get used to paddling with exped kit on big volume.

 On our second trip, for Adrenaline Rush, the Nepali guides suggested we embark on a mini mission to run the lower Modi Khola. This river has several dams, so early season is often the only opportunity to paddle this section. After they were kind enough to arrange a taxi for us we woke up at 5 30 am to hike out of the canyon with our boats and kit to the road where our taxi should of been waiting. Notice i say "should of".
After almost an hour of waiting and calling the taxi driver, (who didn't speak English) one of the guides, Gotham, appeared around the corner.
"What are you guys still doing here?"
We explained the situation and handed him the phone. After a few heated words in Nepali, Gotham handed me the phone back.
"He'll be here in 10 minutes"
We were feeling pretty rough after our early start and hike, plus the few days of having bad stomachs before the trip after eating some dodgy food in town, but despite this we had a great run down. The river started steeply, with boulder garden grade 4, most of which was scout-able from the boat. We opted to portage all of the dams, which although may have been runnable, we didn't want to risk any metal work piercing our kayaks, or us for that matter.

The river eased off as we descended, eventually turning to continuous alpine 3/4 before rejoining the Kali Gandaki and we boosted down catching up with the raft group for some lunch.

After our stint in Pokhara, we headed back to Kathmandu to meet up with Bastien, Ciaran, Greg and Bob and to head east to paddle the world famous Sun Kosi...