Thermals, XC and Flying in the Rain

Andrew calls it "tandemonium" -- the launch craziness of busy tandem businesses!

Another mostly cloudy and overcast day meant that Day 2 of paragliding in Nepal was a fairly mellow day. Three flights, mostly sled rides but still such amazing scenery from the air.

A fairly common traffic jam on the road up to Sarangkot where the launches around Pokhara are located. It takes patience and lots of help from friends to organize the almost inch-by-inch move to get vehicles around the corners. Amazingly, no one has road rage!

After an overnight rain, Day 3 dawned mostly clear and bright. We got to launch just before four van-loads of tandem pilots and their passengers. We knew conditions would only get better as the day went on so we just sat back while they launched and then we had the place to ourselves for a short time.

I didn't get much lift right off launch and as I headed out where other people had seemed to catch some thermals, I wasn't getting much there either. I was annoyed! But then I managed to find a reasonably nice one and worked it, worked it, worked it, with Claudio's guidance on the radio.

Andrew had launched before me and didn't get anything at first either. It looked like he was heading out to land already. It would have been one of the few times I actually got something to work and he didn't! But he did a great job scratching and scratching along a ridge lower down and by the time I was heading out, he was managing to get higher and higher! He ended up landing just a minute after I did.

It doesn't seem like paragliding should be hard work. You're just sitting there after all. But when you're new to it, holding your arms up and tensing shoulders for that amount of time meant that I was tired after just the first flight, not to mention the exhausting mental part of the game.

As we headed back up for a second flight, I debated what I wanted to do. It finally came down to some self-talk: "Getting thermal practice and trying some cross country is what you came for, Shelley, so don't be a wimp! Just do it!"

The idea was for Andrew and I to launch first and then Claudio would launch on his tandem wing with a new paragliding pilot/student, Dima, that he's been instructing this week. Andrew and I both silently wondered how the heck this was going to work with so many other wings in the air but it actually went fairly well, at least to start. Andrew launched first and immediately got up high along the main ridge. It took me a while longer but we managed to sort of keep an eye on each other until I got high enough and Claudio and Dima launched. We all got over Sarangkot (further along the ridge) but then I thought it was Andrew and Claudio I saw back over closer to launch. I headed that way but Claudio kept telling me to  go back to Sarangkot. It wasn't until after we landed that I figured out they had moved yet further east along the ridge and it was totally different people on similar wings that I saw by launch. Oh well! We all landed at a new-to-us LZ and I celebrated one of the few little XC (cross country) flights I've done. I even managed to hold my own for a short time in the big gaggle of pilots above the more popular Sarangkot launch.

Lots of wings above Sarangkot.

I think that's Andrew's wing between the lines of mine.

Water buffalo in the LZ. Take care on landing! Don't get your wing caught in one of those horns!

Today (Day 4) dawned clear and bright and we figured we'd be in for a good day. On the first flight I again wasn't having much luck (or more accurately, skill!) with the thermals and every time I turned I was getting closer to terrain than I was comfortable with so tried some figure 8 turns until I was able to get a bit higher. It was another fun flight! 

Claudio and his wife, Elena, on the tandem wing on the left; Andrew on the right, coming in above the LZ.

That's one way to keep the leading edge from blowing away!
(Packing up in the LZ.)

As the day progressed, things quickly became over-developed. Andrew had a good launch on the second flight but then it started blowing over the back for a brief time and started spitting rain. It stopped, the wind changed and I managed to get launched only to have it start raining a bit harder. But the thermals were amazing! I was up, up, up in no time. But it was also a bit scary. It wasn't long before Claudio told both of us to head out to the valley and to the LZ. He and Elena and Dima waited a long time at the top but it never did calm down enough for them to fly. 

My view along the ridge down to the LZ with Fewa Lake and Pokhara in the distance.

The rainy, cloudy afternoon view from our hotel room.

A photo of the two of us in honour of Valentine's Day! :-)

First Flights in Nepal

We got our first paragliding flights in Nepal yesterday!

In the morning, we had to wait for our paragliding permits to be issued and with not having flown since October, our bags having been packed for a week, and not wanting to try to sort everything out with a bazillion other pilots on launch, we spent a couple hours by the lake getting organized and kiting. It felt good to do a some inflations and turns on the ground to get rid of the nerves. Ok, some of the nerves!

We were humbled by the ~10 yr old Nepali kid, who was kiting like the wing was just an extension of his arms, who asked if we wanted paragliding lessons. "I can help you out, brother," he said to Andrew. :-)

Andrew just after launching

From where we were by the lake, we saw the mass of mostly tandem pilots in the air and can't say we were too excited about trying to fly in that! Yikes! Claudio (our guide/instructor from Air Adventure in Drayton Valley) assured us that we could launch in between the peak times for the tandems. 

But we actually launched from a place a bit further along the ridge (Toripani) and thankfully there weren't too many pilots flying in that area. It was a bit cloudy and hazy and I didn't have much luck with the light thermals but, fighting a headache most of the day, I was happy with a ~20 minute flight. As always, Andrew was up longer and managed to do quite well, getting high enough to go back and forth along the main ridge.

I love the look of all the terraced slopes.

Looking back toward the ridge where the launch areas are.

The end of the ridge down to the landing zone. You can see wings in the LZ, far right, middle of photo.

Andrew coming in to land.

The Garden of Dreams and the Monkey Temple

We are back in Nepal! My 6th time and Andrew's 7th.

We only had a couple days in Kathmandu before heading to Pokhara, where we will be paragliding for two weeks, so we went to our favourite places . . . the Garden of Dreams and the Monkey Temple (more formally known as Swayambhunath). And the monkeys are considered holy because "Manjushri, the bodhisattva of wisdom and learning ... was supposed to leave his hair short but he made it grow long and head lice grew. It is said that the head lice transformed into these monkeys."

Other favourite things . . . fresh lemon soda, banana lassi, prayer flags, and very friendly people that make Nepal what it is.

Fresh lemon soda at the Garden of Dreams

This sign outside a restaurant gave us a laugh! Anyone who's had to choke down dal bhat for weeks on end on a climbing expedition can relate! 

Any electricians in the crowd that would like to tackle this mess?
It's like this on every street corner! 

Just a couple of the many monkeys on the long flight of steps leading up to the entrance of the temple.

Only half way there!

Prayer wheels

Construction work

Waiting to business to pick up

Climbing up to string a new line of prayer flags.

Victoria Peak and Nan Lian Gardens

It's amazing that, in a city filled with masses of people, in just a few minutes you can get to a place where you all you can hear are the birds singing and the leaves rustling amongst the trees. This place is Victoria Peak in Hong Kong. Sure, it only lasts for a short time but it's peaceful and the views are amazing.

We went through the peak gardens and to the highest point of the peak where where is a lookout and then found a side trail to get us back to the main trail that goes around the peak.

A quiet side trail on Victoria Peak.

View from the highest lookout. A cloudy, hazy day.

Looking down on some of the Central Hong Kong high-rises and over to Kowloon.

Details on a high-rise building

Reflections in a mirrored wall of Central high-rise.

We were leaving Hong Kong in the evening so we took all our luggage to the Airport Express Station in Central Hong Kong in the morning (Which is awesome! Drop bags off early and don't have to deal with them at the airport.) and then took the subway over to Kowloon where we went to the Nan Lian Gardens and Chi Lin Nunnery. 

On the way to Kowloon, Andrew and I had one of those classic movie moments where one person (Andrew) gets on the subway at the last moment and the doors close with the other person (me) still standing on the platform! Luckily, we'd just discussed where we needed to switch lines; I mouthed the words "Mong Kok" to confirm with Andrew which station we would meet at and only a few minutes later we were reunited! 

At Nan Lian Gardens -- again such a contrast between old and new, peace and chaos.

Transplanting at the gardens.

A spotted dove

Intricate designs on the roof of the nunnery.