Trekking Life

Variables such as the type of trek, the size of the party, and the area visited all affect the way you organize you daily trekking activities. Those on an organized camping trek follow a personalized daily routine, usually with hot tea served in your tent before you get up. Breakfast follows, then you hike till around midday, eat lunch prepared by an advance cook team, then continue till the evening stop. Those traveling in areas where there are plenty of trekker oriented hotels can structure the day much as they wish. Trekkers employing Nepali assistants are advised to adhere to a schedule compatible with their employees. Trekkers traveling in areas where there are few foreigners and who wish to eat local food must also adhere to the local schedules.

Though local schedules vary depending on the area and the village, the following general outline gives you some idea of what to expect. In the hills, Nepali people get up around sunrise, sometimes have a brief snack then work until the mid-morning meals around 10:00 A.M. Work then continues until the late afternoon, and is followed by the second meals of the day. A snack immediately preceding this meal is not uncommon. Since activities coincide with period of daylight, people tend to go to sleep soon after sunset. In the mountains, people wait until it warms up a little before engaging in much activity. They generally eat three meals a day.

En route to Khumbu and in Khumbu, Langtang, Helambu, Gosaikunda and North of Pokhara many establishments cater specially to trekkers. They often sell foods carried in from big towns and bazaars, and hoteliers will generally cook for you at other then the usual Nepali times. Popular places often have hired cooks from Kathmandu. These places have signs. A variety of non- Nepali meals are available, depending on local supplies. Often a book is available for you to write in what you have ordered and received, in order to account for it later on the honor system. This is not gourmet cooking, and the local people do not eat it.

Seek out less popular lodges, and private homes or Bhatti rather than patronizing the most frequented places. This distribution of income will have a significant overall economic impact in the area. It is not uncommon to go through a popular trekking stop and find everyone trying to stay at one facility, not necessarily because it is the best but because everyone else is there. Avoid this hard mentality.