Getting ready for my glide.
Myself and my pilot from Switzerland.
A view from the paraglide.
Yes, yes I did.
Ever since I saw the movie, Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle, I’ve wanted to hang-glide. For some reason, I thought that would be possible in Nepal. But it’s not. So I resorted to the next best thing available (for a reasonable price) – paragliding.
I knew I would go some time before leaving Nepal, but the opportunity arose today because one of Muna’s friends, Prasanna, came to Pokhara with his brother, who is visiting from Australia (where he works). Because the last time he came to Nepal was over 3 years ago, he was very eager to do some of the more toruisty things that I have been planning on doing. It worked out perfectly. Yesterday we hiked up a hill to get to a Buddhist stupa called the World Peace Pagoda. It’s white and gold and visible from any point in Pokhara (weather providing). From up there, there’s a nice view of the lake and the mountains behind it, so that was nice.
But, truly, the highlight was today’s paragliding experience. I was at Lakeside by about 9am and took off at about 10am. I was not nervous AT ALL because it actually looked rather tame – you get clipped in, have a professional pilot behind you to do the hard work, and all you have to do is run off a hill! No sweat!!
My ride was about an hour long and it was quite beautiful. My pilot was from Switzerland so we spoke French, which was nice. He actually gave me the controls for a little while so I was actually flying the paraglide!! That was probably the best part because I started paying really close attention to the wind thermals and adjusting my reins accordingly – how neat!
We were probably close to 2000m at our highest point so it was a little chilly and windy – but how peaceful up there, and how wonderful to be able to see so far and feel so free! I was flying with the eagles and the hawks and thinking about my father the entire time because of his great passion for birds of prey.
At the end of my ride I asked my pilot to do a little acrobatics because I was looking for a little thrill. He did a little spin but after said that we were too low to do anymore. My natural reaction was to say, “Well go higher then, duh!” but apparently he was feeling a little queasy at that point – I had forgotten that he had mentioned that fact prior to our flight.
Turns out that every other person I talked to after the flight was feeling kinda rough – one person actually vomited a little and the other 2 I spoke to were feeling strange and nauseous. Somehow, miraculously, I felt nothing – despite my less that perfectly strong stomach. I guess I’m just made to fly!
Ever since I saw the movie, Harold and Kumar go to Whitecastle, I’ve wanted to hang-glide. For some reason, I thought that would be possible in Nepal. But it’s not. So I resorted to the next best thing available (for a reasonable price) – paragliding.
I knew I would go some time before leaving Nepal, but the opportunity arose today because one of Muna’s friends, Prasanna, came to Pokhara with his brother, who is visiting from Australia (where he works). Because the last time he came to Nepal was over 3 years ago, he was very eager to do some of the more toruisty things that I have been planning on doing. It worked out perfectly. Yesterday we hiked up a hill to get to a Buddhist stupa called the World Peace Pagoda. It’s white and gold and visible from any point in Pokhara (weather providing). From up there, there’s a nice view of the lake and the mountains behind it, so that was nice.
But, truly, the highlight was today’s paragliding experience. I was at Lakeside by about 9am and took off at about 10am. I was not nervous AT ALL because it actually looked rather tame – you get clipped in, have a professional pilot behind you to do the hard work, and all you have to do is run off a hill! No sweat!!
My ride was about an hour long and it was quite beautiful. My pilot was from Switzerland so we spoke French, which was nice. He actually gave me the controls for a little while so I was actually flying the paraglide!! That was probably the best part because I started paying really close attention to the wind thermals and adjusting my reins accordingly – how neat!
We were probably close to 2000m at our highest point so it was a little chilly and windy – but how peaceful up there, and how wonderful to be able to see so far and feel so free! I was flying with the eagles and the hawks and thinking about my father the entire time because of his great passion for birds of prey.
At the end of my ride I asked my pilot to do a little acrobatics because I was looking for a little thrill. He did a little spin but after said that we were too low to do anymore. My natural reaction was to say, “Well go higher then, duh!” but apparently he was feeling a little queasy at that point – I had forgotten that he had mentioned that fact prior to our flight.
Turns out that every other person I talked to after the flight was feeling kinda rough – one person actually vomited a little and the other 2 I spoke to were feeling strange and nauseous. Somehow, miraculously, I felt nothing – despite my less that perfectly strong stomach. I guess I’m just made to fly!
