Langtang Helambu Trek – 16 Days

Just returned from a spectacular trekking trip with Earthbound Expeditions. I've always wanted to trek on "top of the world." So after a couple month's search on various websites, reviews, several questions and quick responses especially from Earthbound Expeditions, we settled on Earthbound Expeditions, a local company in the Thamel district of Kathmandu. Choosing Earthbound Expeditions was one of the best decisions we made about our trip for several reasons. It is a local company run by its president Rajan Simkhada, who wants people to see Nepal as he does. Compared to large trekking groups, we had exceptional value. We were led by Apar Datta Pant, Guide and Gopal Neupane, Porter were two of the most exceptional, experienced and English speaking Nepalis we met on the Annapurna trek. Also, Apar was always in the teahouse kitchen watching food preparation so neither of us were sick with the "tourists." Huge plus! Since there were only two of us on the trek our guide was able to make a few modifications which really enhanced the trek. One of the best changes was to trekked out via a another route. A real plus during the busy trekking season. Least favorite part of the trek for me was the body-to-body head lamp hike before sunrise. But suffice to say as the tourism slogan goes "Naturally Nepal once is not enough" and I'd do it again and again with Earthbound Expeditions.

Our Nepal Trip was perfect from our arrival to departure. Thakur was a superb guide and really looked after our group through sickness and in health. He adapted our programme to accommodate everyone’s needs. We were able to have lunch in a local home twice and he always tried to create opportunities for us to meet local people. Our group wanted to get to know the people and the culture of Nepal....not just clock up miles! Besides leading Thakur walks, made sure that our accommodation was good as well as the hygiene standards. We loved dahl bhaat and Thakur told us where and when it would be good. The Helambu Trail was the perfect trek for us as we didn’t waste time at airports and because it was fairly unspoiled and close to Kathmandu. We will use Earthbound again. Apart from the trek, the tour of KTM and the cultural meal at the end were fantastic and wonderful opening and closure to our trip. Buy a steripen-not all those plastic water bottles!