The River Rafting Expedition.. Doesn't sound like fun haan? Read this..

23rd June 2007:

As the clock struck 5 in the morning, Krishna knocked on our door. It was time to start .. to start to our destination for the day.. the King's Canyon - Zephyr White Water River Rafting expedition. We all gathered at West Covina .. all 11 of us.. infact we were joined by 2 more in some more time.. a little excited, a little nervous and a lot sleepy .. and we had three beauties to carry us.. the bloody red Chevy Uplander 7 seater, the black beauty Pontiac Grand Prix and the red 'Riding Hood' Ford Mustang (the two guys that joined us last).

We started our journey at around 6:15AM.. ya it was late to start as we had to reach our destination before 12PM....... It was a solid 6 hrs drive ..pheeeww.. So the cars were travelling at an average of 85 mph oooohh 136 kmph never felt it was that fast.. Uplander was no where in sight but Pontiac and Mustang were in full competition.. Oh Btw did i tell you that the speed limit is 70 on the interstate but all the cars generally go at a much higher speed so it was very normal but these guys were trying to change lanes occaisionally (no no not like in India tho.. not remotely possible at such high speeds) and thats when a police car chased the Pontiac and we stopped. The Police officer very coolly came to us and said "Hey Guys .. Hows it going??" As if he was there to tender to some service request.hehe.. But then he told us that the Aircraft had paced us and we were doing 85 mph so he would have to give us a Speeding ticket (Believe an aircraft to trace us and pace our speed too.. so cool ..) He also asked if the Mustang was with us as it also would have got a speeding ticket but it got away as he had to stop us. So Mr Robert got a speeding ticket and now he'll probably have to enroll himself into some community service.. :) Oh .. even the Mustang got a speeding ticket at last as the Police car caught up with these guys while they had stopped to have some snacks at mid way.. We even clicked some photos but from far away.. not daring to venture too close..

After about 4 hrs into the journey and innumerous naps, we reached the base of the mountain. Now we had to go another 2 hrs up the mountain to the base of the river rafting site. Needless to say that the view was awesome. We even saw a lake and people water skiing and steamboating in it.. The sun was at its brightest best and hottest best too .. All of us very totally awake except some who preferred to sleep to douse the mountain sickness.. After about 2 hrs of twists and turns (moreso because we lost our way) oooh la la we were there .. at dot 12:00PM.. Ate bread jam, changed to shorts and a t-shirt and took off for some instructions before we finally boarded the Zephyr bus which would take us on a trail where at a time only 1 bus can travel to deep in the forests and high on the mountain .. basically the starting point of the adventure!! We split up into 2 groups one of 6 and other of 7. Me, Vamsi, Kaladhar, Justin, Arun and Subro made up the 6. Oh forgot to tell you about the guides.. we were assigned 2 guides one was Thad (an old guy who looked in command) and the other a cute Josey for the 2 boats.. We decided to go with experience. Hehe u never know .. an adventure has its risks mannn!! After some initial lessons with lifejackets and paddlers we set out. The sun was now at its mast hitting us with its pin needle rays.. But on the other hand the river was just the opposite.. sluggish with its chilled water..

The First intermediate destination was called 'Bump City'. Our raft hit many stones oops i mean rocks and it was a bumpy ride .. we getting instantly wet with the splashing water.. And ya the other boat (with our 7 heroes) got stuck on the rocks .. took Josey a lot of effort and time to get it out ( i still pity Josey :) Needless to say even we got stuck a couple of time but when we chose experience over beauty, we knew we had made the right choice :) :) The ride lasted approx 4 hrs which took us through numerous rapids and obviously twists and turns through the mountains which offered us sights to behold.. we even swam with our life jackets on .. but it was very difficult to pull these huge people on board .. especially Justin hehehe.. And ya the highlight was our teching Thad a little Hindi.. Aage (Forward), Peeche(Backwards) and Ruko (Stop). He was exhilerated when he used 'Ruko' while all were indulging in some water splashing sports and everyone stopped. so he knew that we had taught him the right words.. and ya he was even fond of Indian food .. he could only name 'Naan' though. hehehe

Now after we reached the base, it was already 5:30pm. After some snacks and drinks, we had to decide where to put up our tents for the night. And we had to decide fast coz all the places were already being taken, so after some inquiry, we reached a river side which was ideal for camping. Did anyine ask why?? .. coz Restrooms were very nearby ..heheh.. We put up our tents there (3 in number), installed the stove and took out the eatables n stuff. As it started to get darker, view started to become even more ....aaarghh i never get the right word when i wat to .. so u guys can understand.. We hadn't taken out time till now to savour the view that was right in front but now we were suddenly aware of its magnanimity. Imagine the gushing sounds of the river, the moonlit night, millions of stars sparkling above your head and dense forest right behind.. A moment that holds your breath, one that you cant forget.. aint it ??

24th June 2007:

Neways what happened that night is something very forgetable as we were dead tired and we slept like logs .. i cant imagine we slept on the floors of the Jungle!! (with only one layer of comfortor separating us hehe) . The morning was very sweet as well.. As the sun rode up the hills, we took bath in the cold water of the rivers, played around in the water .. dint last much tho coz it was reallllllly cold!! And then we started our journey back... The journey is such a pain mann... Spoils all the fun aint it .. So 6 more hours and we reached home with 1) so many moments that we would cherish all our lives 2) feelings that make us nostalgic and abets us to take the sinful journey again and 3) a very sore bum too :) :)

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Hyd to LA .. The Journey Begins..

Hey !!

We reached LA y'day at around 4pm.. (LATime)... The journey was not so eventful except the KualaLumpur Airport and the Taipei Airport. KL Airport was amazing.. So big n neat and.. it even has a mono rail passing through it .. It has been the worlds best Airport .. this was wrtten there all over .. must be in some category i suppose but ya it was much better than any other Airport i have seen so far ..better than the LA Aiport as well.

Let me tell you from the very beginning..

Scene : The Indian Airport..Vamsi and I saw the huge Q outside when we were trying to locate her (Our Managers wife.. we had to accompany her).. At last Vamsi recognized her .. i was still skeptic that it was her .. Its always difficult to tell real from a photo... Then we proceeded .. Kala was a lil behind in the line.. we got our baggage weight check done .. Now we were standing in the Q to get our Boarding passes.. Me and Vamsi stood in one line and Kala and M were in other line.. Then the tragedy struck me!! My cabin baggage was a little overweight. around 8 kgs and permissible was 7kgs. So he said either i have to remove luggage from the cabin one or pay fine upto Rs 6000.. I said i would remove the excess but he was trying to scare me that i would have to go back to the check in security again n everything ..finally i said i have only 1000 bucks so he said ok give me that but not at that moment.. he would collect it from me in a moment. so i got my boarding pass and was waitin for vamsi. He asked Vamsi if i was his frend.. Vamsi said yes so he asked vamsi to get money from me in Vamsi's passport. He chupke se took the passport and put money in his pocket.. This was the way i got duped of Rs1000 (25$) even befoe leaving India :)
After the usual hustle bustle of the airport, immigration check and security check .. finally the flight took off to KL and after 4 hrs 20 minutes landed extremely smoothly at KL. Then as we entered the Kl airport, our eyes were met with the first shots glittering airport. It was really awesome.. we wen through the formalitites and the security check and were waiting in the Security hold area when the ladies expressed their urge to go to the Tandas.. ya thats wat they call loo there. :)
Now we were waiting for the ladies to come and they started announcing for us to board the aircraft.. we kept waiting and were getting tensed when finally these ladies came back.. smiled and said "Late ho gaye na" (ofcourse in Telegu). We boarded the plane expecting the flight to take us directly to LA in over 17 hrs but we were in for a surprise.. We were going to land at Taipei and then get back in the same plane to go to LA. Many ppl got off at Taipei, the airport of which was also good!! Now we again went through a line and reached a holding area .. where i almost forgot my passport pouch in a hurry but realized after some time or shud i say within time.. went running back and found it there.
We all had got different seats in the plane and hence were mainly indulging in either sleeping or drinking water/juices.. Kala drank a lot of juices as they were offering juices time and again hehe.. In the 11 hr journey we went over to each one but everytime some one of us was sleeping so dint disturb .. ya just 4hrs from LA, we united and filled our I 94 forms together .. The wind current was so strong that it was a very rough landing..
After we reached LA .. again had to stand in a line for customs clearance.. A lady police officer was wandering with a cute little pup which was actually a sniffer dog.. He was sniffing everyones cabbin luggage.. it was so small that nobody got scared of him or anything. He even sniffed out mangos from an old couple's bag. It was so cool to see it get its reward from the officer when he sniffed out something.. Then we claimed our baggage and ya had a tough time to get our baggage.. Altho i had gift wrapped mine with silk ribbons and probably thats y could locate it easier than usual..
Outside the airport we found the shared services and dropped off Malleswari to Mahesh's place.. and then we carried on in the same shared cab to Guru's/Justin's place..Their appartment is like a prison .. the whole locality has a security system and unless u have a security card u cant enter.. so the taxi driver (oops sorry cab driver) instructed us to use the intercom and went away ..Now wen we tried to use the intercom..it wouldnt work as we dint know how to use it... Me and Vamsi looked at every gate of the Apts which was as secure as the first one.. Kala was meanwhile standing with the Baggage (9 peices of big baggages).. And to top it all we couldnt see ppl around .. However a few ppl came along ..mainly mexicans and Americans who asked us and offered to help but all they could do is tell us to use the intercom or something that we dint understand. We were waiting hopelessly, all excited with our very first adventure in US and yet getting scared as to how to reach Guru/Justin. We dint have a phone and there arent any public booths also in Montebello so just wondering what to do.. thats when Guru came and saved the day for us.. guru had actually called Mahesh to find out if his wife had come and he had told that the cab driver dint have a fone..hence he had come down to see. We were so glad.

This was my first hand experience with USA. Oh forgot to tell u abt the most exciting part .. The bikes and the cars ..Beamers, Audis, mercs, And even amazng bikes all going at 80mil/hr zooming past and that too in one lane.. the best part was everyone sticking to their lane and keeping a distance of atleast 15-20 ft and still calling it as bumper to bumper traffic!! :) heheh they shud see it in India to realize the literal meaning..

Now i am sitting here in the apt trying to savor the weather which is also nice.. around 20 degree C. Altho it gets a little coool in the night which also has its own flavor..
Chalo now i have to get ready and we would go shopping.. Yo !