Met up with Sanjay my guide by contacting Sanjib through email and then Whatsapp. They emailed me a rough plan and from there I customised some parts to fit my Itinerary and goals. Transferred the initial deposit and paid the rest in cash when we met up on the first day.
Not done any serious multi day hike so this was a first. Definitely need a certain level of fitness to climb up and down the mountains but more importantly mental strength and perseverance to get through the hundreds and thousands of steps. Nevertheless anyone with a strong determination should go for this as it is a lifetime experience.
With the guidance and help of Sanjay, I’ve never felt safer or in any situation lost confidence that we won’t make it. He is literally always right behind me when we are climbing up and occasionally supported me when we had to go down the rocky mountains. He even dragged me up Poonhill at 5am when I was exhausted so that we can catch the Sunrise and panorama view of Annapurna.
As a female traveler I felt totally safe following Sanjay. He is very polite and friendly to everyone around him and do make an effort to hold conversations since I’m not much of a talker.
He is really experienced, knows every footpath and will tell you exactly how far more we have to go pretty accurately.
Sanjay is super passionate and dedicated in making sure I get to witness the best views. Many mornings he will rush to wake me up when there’s a clear view of the mountains.
Do not expect much from the teahouses. They are mostly basic, with shared bathrooms and two beds per room. But most had sitted toilets and even bidet and even hot gas showers. Not the cleanest, many bugs but they had the best view and food from the teahouse cook were yummy. Definitely an adventure and experience.
Advice to fly in and out of pokhara instead of the bus to safe time. They booked Buddha Air for me.
Day usually starts at 7am for breakfast, we leave the guesthouse by 8-8.15 latest. We hike for 2 hours before tea break, another 2-3 hours before lunch and continue another 2 hours to reach our final teahouse by 3-4pm everyday. Managed to cutshort the trip by 2 days as we walked faster as planned and stayed in pokhara to rest and cafehop.
Many cute and friendly dogs, cowpoo to avoid, cute chickens, tons of insects, waterbufffolos if ure into animals.
Would definitely find Sanjay and Nepal Planet Treks and Expeditions again if I’m going back to Nepal 🙂🙂🙂
