SARANGKOT

Touristing again today. The three Aussies decided to walk up to Sarangkot and one of them was going to hang glide down while the others got a taxi down. I had considered doing the same so I went too. What a walk. Steps straight up for 600 metres. If I was disappointed before in not doing a trek in Nepal now I was very glad. It was murder. There was a village just below the top and on top a small army post. Why, I don't know. What were they guarding at 1600 metres? They are stationed there for 3 months.




I did get dizzy at a few places, probably vertigo rather than the effort. We took some great pictures from the top, I could even see the monastery I had been staying at down the other side. We had lunch a little way down and watched the hang gliders. However by this stage none of us felt up to jumping off the mountain anymore. We decided maybe another day. The gliders train the eagles and vultures up there to show them where the hot thermal airs are. We watched one eagle following close behind a glider, and then a vulture doing the same. Imagine doing your first flight and you turn around and there is a vulture following you!



We got a lift down in a van. It was a hairy ride on rough tracks. When I got out at the bottom I realised I had left my hat in the van. I walked about four kilometres to recover it from the van at the glider landing spot.

At the office of the place that does the hang gliding I weighed myself on their scales. I had hoped to lose weight in Nepal but thought I had put it on....or at best stayed about level. Surprize.....down to below 110 kilos.