So we packed up and rolled out from our last beautiful white-sand beach campsite without much adieu. The guides were keen to get us going so we could stop at a temple along the river before getting to the take-out.

[ngfilename filename='DSCN9169.JPG' float=center]

Interestingly, one unique feature about this temple (besides the holy man who was murmuring chants while wearing an iPod) is a an apparently very heavy rock that weighs much more than it looks like it should. Between my angry feet and now even angrier chafed nether regions, my body suggested to me in no uncertain terms that I ought not put it through any further undue stress, as the climb up the stairs to the temple had been offensive enough and that we would be having a little chit-chat later on about this whitewater rafting “fun” I’d subjected it to for the past week. So I didn’t try the rock. But watching the guys struggle to do their circumambulations with it was proof enough.

[ngfilename filename='DSCN9170.JPG' float=center]

It was the weirdest thing; as we exited the mountains that had cradled us for so many miles and so many days, the river getting bigger and bigger as a number of other rivers joined it, the mouth opened up so wide and into such desolation, it looked just like we were about to go out onto the ocean. Then, as the dusty Terai region channeled off bits of the river to dams or irrigation schemes, by the time we reached our end point, we were down to little more than a large canal. We got to the take-out and somehow wrangled our group together to get a group shot, then while the Nepalis packed up, they sent the whiteys off to the nearby town to get drinks and snacks for the ensuing 20-hour (for a few of us) bus journey home.

[ngfilename filename='P1070189.JPG' float=center]

I knew we’d been out in the sticks for awhile, but I wondered if maybe we’d missed more going on in the world than we’d thought?

[ngfilename filename='P1070205.JPG' float=center]

Just kidding – apparently Nepal is on a different year-schedule, though I never did quite get an explanation as to why or how it works. So, snacks in hand and bus loaded, we got on the bus and settled in for another long haul. We drove along the river for a little while longer, and it was amazing to think about how this

[ngfilename filename='P1070069.JPG' float=center]

and this

[ngfilename filename='DSCN8943.JPG' float=center]

had now become this:

[ngfilename filename='P1070214.JPG' float=center]

It had been quite an incredible trip indeed. Now just the long 20-hour ride home and a few last days to enjoy our now-beloved Nepal (and beef!) lay in store.

[ngfilename filename='P1070233.JPG' float=center]

There are – of COURSE! – albums of all the people and the trip in the gallery.