Posts Tagged With: Paragliding

Adventures in Nepal XI, Into the Sky, Part II

This is my favorite poem about flying:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, –– and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of –– wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air…
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew ––
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

–– John Gillespie Magee, Jr., “High Flight.”

Emma and Elizabeth’s paragliding session lasted for about 30 minutes.

What a rush!

The girls chilled for a while by the lake…

…and then took the shuttle van…

…back to the paragliding company’s shop in Pokhara to get the flight pics transferred from the pilots’ GoPros to their own devices.

Then back to Paljorling Camp, where they reviewed their image files over lunch in a Tibetan restaurant.

After the meal, they visited a camp artisan who weaves colorful jewelry, keychains and other trinkets for the tourist trade.

They bought bracelets for themselves and small gifts for friends and coworkers back home.

Here is an interesting decoration over a doorway in the camp.

Hello, picturesque camp sheep!


Much more to come!

Categories: Animals, Artwork, food, Friends, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Poetry, Travel | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Adventures in Nepal XI: Into the Sky, Part 1

The next day, Emma and Elizabeth went paragliding over Phewa Tal.

For those following the pandemic subplot, January 23 was the day China suspended all public transportation in Wuhan, including all outbound trains and flights. The mysterious virus was still just a story on the news for most people in the US, interesting but not particularly alarming.

The girls took a shuttle van from the hotel to a nearby mountaintop overlooking the lake. During the drive they filled out paperwork and received wooden tokens with the names of their pilots.

Paragliders circled over the mountainside like giant birds:

It gives me a Jurassic Park vibe, like a flock of colorful pterodactyls over a tropical island.

A trail leads from the shuttle dropoff site up to the takeoff point. No stairs this time!

Pre-takeoff selfie!

Getting rigged up.

Ready to fly!

And off they go!

To be continued!

Categories: Covid-19, Friends, Health, Holidays, kids, Life, Nepal, Travel | Tags: | 2 Comments

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