Trip Itinerary

Kathmandu, Nepal
Pokhara, Nepal
Gandaki, Nepal
Sarangkot Mountain, Nepal

Travel Log

January 10th 2020

We first arrived in Kathmandu late at night. The airport alone gave you a little taste of what's to come. Cars flooded the airport and there were stray dogs hanging around - but it seemed harmless though.

January 13th 2020

Orientation to Pokhara and Nepalese culture

Our first full day in Pokhara, Sonam, Thiley and Tsering (our esteemed guides introduced us to the culture and history of Nepal, learning the language and what to expect over the next few weeks.

January 16th 2020

My First Operation & Nepali School 

Woke up really early this morning for my first operation at Fishtail Hospital. We watched a cholecystectomy is performed. At the time we walked in, the lady was still awake so we greeted her. Some of us struggled with the lack of patient privacy and whether or not she knew who we were as we didn’t understand the language. We watched the anaesthetist prepare the anaesthetic drug and administer it to the lady, he was also in charge of monitoring her vitals during the entire procedure. It was really interesting to watch however, I, unfortunately, couldn’t compare it to Australia as I hadn’t seen it firsthand before.

We then got called for an emergency C-section. The lady seemed to be quite distressed and I think that the nurses and doctors did not cater to her emotional needs - she looked terrified and didn’t seem to understand what was happening to her. She also looked very uncomfortable. They set her back and performed the c-section, not a moment later and a little baby boy came out, he wasn’t awake at the time so the nurses were smacking his back until we heard his first little cry. I cried at this moment too - to be able to experience a birth was so beautiful to witness!

Spent the afternoon at the school with the kids & teaching them about hand hygiene, eating clean, exercise & general wellbeing. These kids were bright, some were shy, others were more extroverted - as kids are. I find that kids have a universal language wherever you go. We had a lot of fun. We had gifts for the kids which included pens, toothbrushes, soap and other items. These kids were young, maybe around 8 years old and were loud! Older girls came in and Rose, Maddie & some others gave a really good presentation.

January 17th 2020

We popped our bags into the back of the bus and set out for Bandipur. The drive there was steep, rocky and busy. There was a heap of cars and buses along the way, but the view of the mountains and lakes were nice. You can tell the vast difference between "city" places like Pokhara to villages in the midst of nowhere. 

January 18th 2020

After breakfast, we set off for the Mega Health Camp. The road there was incredibly steep, bumpy with no bitumen. When we arrived at the day camp it was really muddy. You could tell that the area was remote as there was a less condensed area of houses and restaurants. The camp was held at the local school in the area. Turns out that the principal of the school was one of our classmate's house dads.

January 20th 2020

Big day off up in the air!

Got dressed and ready for the day before we got picked up by a van to head for paragliding. Along the way, we picked up some other tourists. We headed for Sarangkot mountain which was an incredibly steep drive up with many turns.

I'm so glad that we had today off because the weather was just spectacular. The views of the mountain were incredible and unbeatable, just absolutely clear. I actually wish I got up sooner to take a taxi up the mountain to watch the sunrise, maybe I'll do that another day, we'll see!

We arrived at close to the top of the mountain where we set off the track towards the cliff where our paragliders were. This is where I started to become more and more nervous about this experience. I already have a fear of heights and doing this meant that I had no control whatsoever and my life was totally in the hands of someone else. Tabitha was so kind to me and made me feel as comfortable as possible.

My tour guide was amazing as well, I feel bad that I never got his name, but he made me feel so comfortable as well. I got more and more nervous when I had the straps on. My instructor advised me of the controls of the paraglide and what to do to prepare ourselves which only really consisted of running off the side of a cliff. Our paraglide was ready and I did as I was told, ran off a cliff screaming my head off, but once I was up, I never felt this feeling of absolute freedom before. It was amazing! Flying around in circles, enjoying the views, mountain peaks and even the hawks! Oh, the hawks were spectacular. After a while, though of going around in circles I could feel myself getting sick from motion sickness similar to when I watched Leo play Unreal Tournament. We slowly headed down and as we did, I became more and nauseous but! My instructor continued to keep me feeling comfortable and even gave me the reigns of the paraglide where I flew it on my own! It was f-ing amazing being able to control it too. The fly down was pretty scary because I didn't know what to expect, it happened so quickly and I ended up landing on my butt, but it was totally worth it! I ended up getting a postcard and writing about it to my dad! We enjoyed lunch together as a group before going on the zipline - another must do. You can really pick up some speeds here. The other girls did some bungee jumping but…..maybe next time. 

January 21st 2020

I felt like I came here unprepared for everything and that I could've done much more than what I really actually did. By that I mean, I saw schools with kids that had almost nothing, and I worried for them. Simple things like buying books, pens, pencils that could go a very long way for these children and what I had with me, was…not enough. I wanted to give more. I wish I knew beforehand what I would see so that I know what I could've brought. But at the same time, I am grateful that I…and I hope I did, make an impact on these people in one way or another. It reminded me of how important it is and how lucky I am to have the opportunities I have.

Christine has created an amazing video on Facebook of her time in Nepal to help you all see what they got up to (This is best viewed on mobile rather than desktop)

Note: Photo credits for any image marked with ‘Jessica + Chantal’ were taken by Western Sydney International University journalism students Jessica Pabian and Chantal Roberts.