Beach Camp site, Rafting and Bus Surfing

22 August 2011 - hello all, hope everyone is good and well. so yesterday I started the dragoman tour and what a great first day we had. In total there is 13 of us, however 2 of them, an Estonia couple didn't meet at the hotel meet point as they randomly got married the day before, so would meet us at the 1st campsite. (little fact for you on Estonia's, they were there wedding ring on the same finger but on the left hand, thought I'd chuck that in as i haven't given any facts for a while). So we set off from the hotel 11 of us plus Jodie the tour leader and Paul the truck driver at around 9am, we had brief talk on our transport for the next 16 days, 'Josh' is the name our truck and he is a beauty. he truck is a huge overland vehicle and seats up to 24 people, the front and back the roof comes off and it has seats so you can sit on top of the bus. Our first stop for the night would 'Beach Camp resort just outside a place called 'Mugling' and would take around 4hrs even though this was less than 100KM away, reason being was the roads, potholed and at times not even surfaced and this was a main road. However the scenery was spectacular, with the Himalayan mountain range all round us as we drove, luckily 'Josh' had windows that drop right down which meant we could take some great pictures, i think in 4 hrs i took well over 100.The journey went quick i think because i was sat with 'joe' Joe is from England and same age as me, same mentality, he is a good laugh and down to earth. We arrived at the campsite just before midday, it wasn't what i was expecting, the site was right on the river, the mountain range in background, very peaceful and beautiful, was perfect start to the tour. It had little huts that where as big as a garden shed which is where we were going to be sleeping, 2 up. We had lunch in the communal area, food was good as always, as it has been most days in Nepal. We chatted and then we asked if we wanted to do rafting, 5 of us were up for it. Myself, Joe and Kate and the 2 Estonia's who had met us at the camp. Kate is 27 from Australia, she is cool too and always up for a laugh and loves taking the piss out of me, think she is just flirting!! Rafting was only around 10KM down river and not many rapids, however typically the one big one we had hit me straight on (as I was at the front) i lost my balance and over i went, the water was fast flowing but when i surfaced managed to grab the rope on the raft and i was pulled in, everyone was in hysteric's and though the rafting was quite lame, made the trip more entertaining, of course as always i seem to provide the laughs even if it is at me, all good fun. we finished the rafting and walked up to the road to wait for a local bus, oars, raft and canoe in tow. The bus came after 10mins or so, our guide said we could sit in top,  so we hauled the gear up and jumped on top, got a grip of what we could on the roof rack and away we went. for those that have been on these Nepali roads you know it isn't exactly a Sunday cruise, bumpy, fast and hair raising, was great though and probably better than the rafting! rest of the day was chilling, get to know each other, a few beers and a good dinner. We then had a campfire by the river and we all sat around chatting and drinking beer. Around 10ish everyone went to bed, myself, Joe, Kate and Caroline stayed up chatting. Caroline is from London, she is 25, has a great big infectious smile and again just chilled and laid back, also really into Buddhism and Hinduism. Was cool just chilling and getting to know one another. Tomorrow we head off for Chitwan National park. Looking forward to this section of the trip. Keep well all.

PS - I am going to start putting the date as now Internet is rare so writing offline and then uploading when i can.