Thursday, October 18, 2007

 

NEPAL – Gateway to the Himalaya


We got up at 04:30, just in time for another power outage, and left for one of the local mountains just after 05:15 AM. The goal was to fly right after sunrise and not to be seen by any locals or the many airplanes carrying tourists for scenic flights through the Himalaya; there's Maoists everywhere, we'd been told, and this might land us in serious difficulties.

NOW WHAT'S THIS?!! Believe it or not, at 05 AM ALL Nepal were on their feet! The streets were crowded just like during daytime. How's this possible? We were told this was kind of a morning sport.
Whatever the reason, it meant problems for us. We continued through army checkpoints and finally made it to some high-up viewpoint. It was still dark, and we could easily smuggle the heli (I had completed it during the short night under candlelight conditions) covered with a blanket to the only suitable place for take-off.

About one hour later around 07 AM, the sun came up behind the mountains, and far down to our feet lay a mountain valley, partly covered with clouds. What a look! The bad thing was, a number of other tourists also showed up, and the Himalaya was still hidden in the clouds. We had chosen Pokhara for two reasons: First, you could go there by car (most of the cities in Nepal are not connected by streets), and second, you have a great view of the glowing Himalaya, first and foremost of the famous Machhapuchre mountain. Very distinct shape, and similar to the beautiful Matterhorn in Switzerland (from the South it's even hard to tell the difference).
The bad news was: The clouds were thick, and we had a clear view only for half a minute every now and then. The problem was that after lift-off the time was ticking, and we would have to leave the spot within minutes for reasons of safety. So we finally decided to not lose more time and reveal what's under our blanket. After all, we still had another 6 hours of going back to Kathmandu before us.

The flight was smooth without problems, and the people were much more civilized (or reserved, if you will) than in India. We had brought sweets for the kids, but that wasn't even necessary. We think we have a few worthwhile shots which will look good in the final WSF film. We shot no AFD panorama this time since the location would have made an unusual place to fly, but the magic of the glowing Himalaya was blurred by overcast skies.


Nepal was quite an experience and there's certainly something to it, but we never really felt safe. When returning to Kathmandu it started to rain, and the next day it was just pouring. After all, we think we got the maximum out of Nepal and we were glad to finally board the plane to Bangkok/Thailand. That's where we are right now – and the adventure continues …

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# posted by hg/tuw @ 16:09
Comments:
It appears 2.4g perhaps only works in developed countries :-)

I am glad you are still looking relaxed after your dangerous journeys...

Andrew
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 18, 2007 at 10:36:00 PM GMT+2
 
how was the seenic flights experience in Pokhara,........awesome..

sagunrai.blogspot.com
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : October 26, 2007 at 3:47:00 AM GMT+2
 
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