Flying Over Pokhara
I've been on roller coasters, big drops at amusement parks, and have even jumped out of a perfectly good airplane to go skydiving just outside of Chicago, but I had never been paragliding, until today. Paragliding here in Pokhara is apparently a common thing tourists do, and it was easily one of the most surreal things I've ever experienced.
The morning started with a bumpy, 20-minute jeep ride up to the takeoff spot at 5,800 feet. Looking down from the ridge at the colorful gliders already in the air was a bit nerve-wracking, but my pilot was incredibly chilld and professional, and walked me through a quick safety briefing.
When it was time to go, there was no 'jumping' off a cliff. Instead we just had to run together down a grassy slope until the wind caught the wing and suddenly, my feet were dangling in the air.
The silence up there is what surprised me the most: just the whistling of the wind and the occasional flap of the wing. We spiraled up into the thermals, and the view opened up into a patchwork of terraced fields and green valleys.
For the finale, my pilot asked if I wanted to do some 'tricks', or a series of exhilarating high-speed spirals and wingovers. I said sure but right away motion sickness hit me hard and we had to cut the 'fun' part short before a surprisingly gentle landing right on the shores of the lake at Khapaudi.