Kokatat Ambassadors span the paddlesports genres from whitewater to sea kayaking, kayak fishing, stand-up paddleboard (SUP), adventure racing, and sailing. Please check out the redesigned page here (click for link) after reading part one of Ambassadors Chris and Sharyn Jones recent Himalayan Odyssey…

Well…after three months of teaching, guiding and traveling across the Himalayas we’ve found a few days to totally chill out in the peaceful capital of Bhutan: Thimphu. We’ve been on the road far too much lately. Our travels began almost 3 months ago in Chengdu, China where we spent 7 days teaching 30 young Tibetan tour guides sustainable tourism development concepts. I’ve been contracted to Columbia University’s Tibet Ecotourism Project now for four years and it’s a fascinating job – writing tourism curriculum, training Tibet University teachers and delivering workshops to young Tibetan guides.

Leaving the crowds and smog of Chengdu behind, it was a relief to fly to Yunnan province to teach more workshops and work with young guides and business owners to develop their tourism products. We took some days out to explore the environs of the Yangtse and vowed to return with kayaks in the near future! Sadly many of the great runs in Yunnan have either been flooded by dams or are threatened by hydro development.

We then flew up to Lhasa, Tibet to check in our young Tibetan river guides. They had finished running their first rafting season unsupervised and we were excited to hear their stories and see the pride in their eyes from finally running their own trips safely and professionally. OK….so they’re only running class 2/3 water but this is a big step for a group of young Tibetans who 6 years ago couldn’t even swim!

November on the Tibetan Plateau is beginning to get rather cold and some of the high altitude rivers are beginning to freeze so we didn’t hang around – we piled into a landcruiser for the spectacular drive overland to Kathmandu. I’ve done this journey many times but it never fails to blow my mind as we approach the wild west town of Shegar and Mt Everest looms on the horizon. We then wound down through crazy gorges and welcomed the humid air and chaotic assault on our senses as we crossed the border into Nepal with the raging Bhotse Kosi (River) roaring under the bridge at the border and drivers, porters and touts selling who knows what hassling us for business. Arriving in Nepal is always a welcome change after the dry, cold Tibetan Plateau and the ever-present authoritarian Chinese government.

Kathmandu in October/November is like a huge eddy for international river dirt-bags. On any night in Kathmandu it’s easy to find old boating friends in the bars and restaurants. Strangely there is nowhere near the amount of expedition boaters out and about in the Himalayas that there used to be. It seems that it is the same old crew still pushing the boundaries of river exploration – where are the young punks?

Check back Friday for part two of Chris and Sharyn’s Himalayan Odyssey…