17th May - White Water Rafting and to Kathmandu

Up at 4.30 to make sure I had enough time to organised my equipment after my trek, pack everything back on to my bike, get breakfast and get to the office of Adrenaline Rush for 6. I got there on time to find that the place was shut. I went to get a coffee across the road and waited until they opened at 6.20. The guy said that he had said 6.30 but when I asked him 3 times last night "6?" he said yes. I asked him 3 time because once he had said 6.30 but had originally said 6 and so I asked several times.

I had told the guy several times that I have a bike and that I needed to take it with me and he said that it would not be a problem. In the morning he had forgotten to organise a way for me to get my bike to the bus station and it would not fit with the kayaks on the taxi that he had ordered. Therefore, he gave me instructions to the bus stop to meet with the others. I biked and followed the instructions to the letter. All of them made sense and I went the right way but I could not see it right at the very end of the journey and so I asked a couple of locals for the bus station. They told me the way and it was in the same direction as the original directions so off I went. Unfortunately, I had just passed the tourist bus stand and I had not been told that there were 2 bus stations: a local one and a tourist one. After waiting 30 minutes at the local bus stop and trying to call the two landline numbers on the company website but not getting any answer I biked the 7km back again to the office. There was no one there at first but eventually I managed to wake someone. They put me in a taxi with my bike and we went back to the local bus station. At least it was a beautifully sunny morning and views of the mountains while I was waiting were awesome :-)

They put me on a micro (mini van with loads of seats) to go to the kayaking place. By this time I have been biking round (did 20km) or waiting for 1.5 hours and I was all hot and sweaty and not in a very good mood with the incompetence of the company. They had not tried to call me when I did not turn up at the tourist bus stand and I could not get any answer from them.

I tried to get some sleep on the way but did not really manage it. The micros are cool as you usually get a seat and they don't stop as often. They go faster than the buses. Therefore, I ended up getting there faster than the other girl that was kayaking with me.

It took the company an hour to faff and get us and kayaks down to the river and so we did not get on the water until 11.30. By this point I had been up for 7 hours and only done a 2.5 hour bus ride and been faffing about for the rest of the time.... Arrrgggg.

Megan, the other girl kayaking, had never done it before and did not even know how to row. The company rather stupidly took us straight down to an area with rapids and tried to teach us on the slower flowing section. Megan really has her wits about her and is quite and adventurous, confident person but even she struggled with this. The guy teaching us did not even explain the very basics to her and so I filled in the gaps. He went in at too low a level. I am no expert but I have done a few days white water kayaking before and know how to row and get out of the boat etc. There was just not enough area of flat water for a beginner to get used to it before going down rapids. They said that there was no other entry point but they should have gone further up river or something else instead. It was just incompetent. In the end it worked out OK because he held on to her kayak going over the rapids until the calm water but he should have told her that he would do this from the beginning rather than her panicking for 1 hour before we left and me waiting around for 1 hour while she practiced.

We had an instructor in a kayak and another guy on a big tube. The young lad on the big tube was very cute, funny and had a massive grin. He spoke very little English and was just learning the job and there to act as a second rescue when I went swimming....

I had actually forgotten most of the things I had learnt in the past about how to white water kayak and I ended up going swimming about 5 or 6 times. It was fun though and I did not mind. I remembered what I was doing (no thank to the instructor) half way though and did not go in again after that. Even though I am normally an adrenaline sports junky I was not in the mood for pushing today (maybe over tired) and actually most enjoyed the sections where we were just drifting and taking in the scenery rather than on the white water. The stretch of river going through the mountains really was very lovely. I did enjoy it once we got going and actually on the river.....

I was starving by the time we got lunch at 3. It had taken much longer to get down to the lunch region because we were going slowly with Megan. Megan had been really pissed off at the beginning because she was scared and they had not made her feel comfortable. She had booked 2 days of kayaking and at lunch time canceled the second day and decided to stay elsewhere tonight. However, over lunch the guys were quite fun and then the next stretch of water was flatter and her confidence increased so that she was actually enjoying it by the end and then changed her mind to stay tomorrow. I was very disappointed by the incompetence of the people in general though. Nice guys but not professional.

I was expecting to be stiff today with the mammoth day yesterday but in fact my legs where less stiff than they were the last 2 mornings. I really think that the regular stretching at the beginning, 2 hours in and then at the end of the day makes a major difference. :-)

It was 6 by the time we got back to the office and I got changed to catch the bus to Kathmandu. I had been told that we would finish by 3ish. It was good that they gave us extra time because we had started late, however, I had hoped to get to Kathmandu by about 6.

I was hoping to get a seat on a micro but unfortunately after waiting for 30 minutes to find a micro with a space I gave in and got on a local bus. They put my bike on the top of the bus and got on board. I had forgotten how much slower they go in comparison to the micros.... It was not very comfortable and it was difficult to write my blog on the journey. The bus also stopped for 30mins to give everyone a loo and food break.

It was nice that the rains did not arrive this afternoon but as a consequence it is very very humid and the bus journey was uncomfortably hot.

I did not arrive into Kathmandu until 9.30. Unfortunately the people had not tied down my bike securely and when they handed it down from the top of the bus I found that my pump had snapped off completely and was no longer with my bike (it was well attached with 2 plastic parts and a Velcro strap) and then I found that the frame itself had broken where the panniers attach at the back. This meant that the pannier rack was actually rubbing on the gears at the back. Arrrg! I was not sure how this could be fixed.

I am not having the best of luck at the moment with my bike and it breaking. Since I have left the UK I have had the following things break:

• 10 spokes
• 4 inner tubes (not punchers - the valves have broken)
• 3 back wheels
• 2 front wheels
• 1 pannier rack
• 1 frame welded with pannier rack as link snapped off.
• 1 quick release
• 1 puncture
• 2 pannier bags (currently held together with super-glue)
• 2 tyres (normal wear and tear)
• 4 brake pads
• 2 pannier rack screws
  
• 1 pedal
• 1 group set (old one worn out so replaced with a new one)
• 1 brake cable
• 1 saddle
• 1 bell
• 2 handle bar straps
• GoPro camera bike clip
• .... and probably some other stuff I have forgotten....
  

By the time I had walked my bike (not possible to ride with the pannier rack touching the gears) from the bus stop to Thamel, checked into a hotel, put my laundry in to be done, bought some water and checked in with my tweetie pie guardian angel it was 11.30 and I was knackered......