Kathmandu

Today has been a good but knackering day. 13 of us got up early at around 5.30am and after breakfast and dropping all our bags off on our bus, we headed off in a minibus to do a days white water-rafting.
It was a bit of a nightmare journey, crammed into a hot bus over really shitty roads. After 2 and a half hours we were all ready to get off and were glad to arrive at the riverside.
We were given a briefing and all our equipment by the Nepalese rafting dude and headed down to the riverbank to board our rafts.
By now it was a boiling hot day, so those of us who had brought waterproof jackets dropped them off and we boarded our two boats.
The day was a blast, starting with how to take orders off the geezer =- practising paddling forwards and backwards as a team, then heading off down river and towards the first set of rapids.
Most of the guys had never done ww rafting before and didn't know what to expect, but everybody had a great time. The water was cool and the waves were big, so we were all thrown about every time we hit white water. In between we were able to throw ourselves into the river, messing about and pulling each other in, before getting back into the boats for the next and bigger rapids.
There were a few scary hairy moments when we nearly hit the cliffs or came close to tipping the rafts, but it was all good fun.
We stopped for half an hour and walked along the bank to where a Nepalese lunch was waiting for us and we all dug in to the good food. Then it was back to the rafts and another hours worth of soaking good fun in the cool water.
All too soon it was over and as we climbed onto the bank we were all exhausted and slightly sun burnt from the scorching sun.
A bus was laid on to take us back to the start and where we met up with our Nepalese Ozbus and the rest of the group. We told them all stories about our day and flopped back onto the bus for the 4 hour journey to Kathmandu.
Once again the roads were terrible, but even worse for some were the steep drops hundreds of feet into the valley below as we drove over the hills. It was pretty scary stuff and sometimes we seemed really close to the edge. However, we made it to Kathmandu just after 6pm and after a quick 10 minute walk through the streets we arrived at the Hotel Tradition.
The Internet had not made the hotel look too good, but we were all pleasantly surprised with the rooms and the location and even the fact that it has decent wifi Internet - even though we are now sat in the 5th floor stairs to use it!! Wifi rules!!

It has been a long day and so Lana had organised a meal for everyone through the local agent at a restaurant around the corner. The food was really good and made a great end to a good day. After dinner we made our way back and another early night. Its not because we are all getting boring in our old age, but because at 6am in the morning we are up for a little trip to see something pretty special. We have a flight around Mount Everest. It should be a good one! Night night!!