15 | October | 2013 | Travels with Triplets

by Jemima

If you want to go trekking, you have got to go to Kathmandu first. Here are ten of the most important things you need to know:

1. You sometimes have to be really unkind to people to make them go away when they are trying to sell you things.

2. It’s extremely noisy and it’s likely that the first sound you will hear will be honk honk!

3. When I arrived I could smell hot air but I got used to it. I hope you do.

4. If you want to stay somewhere, I would recommend the Kathmandu Garden House because it’s got comfortable rooms, balconies and a lovely garden bordered by flowers.

5. There are lots of insects so you have got to just not bother about them. The mosquitoes will probably bite you. You can buy a spray called Deet which will keep them away.

6. There is lots of junk on the streets and you will probably get dirty. Try not to bother.

7. Try not to fall in love with pretty things in shops too much like I did because the shop owners will see that and make them really expensive. You have got to bargain by making it look like the thing you want more is the thing you want less.

8. When you are travelling around Kathmandu it is easier to go in a taxi or walk, not go on a bus. The buses are too crowded and sometimes they drive around with the doors open because there are so many people inside.

9. There are street food stalls but I got a very spicy chilli. It made me cry so we got some juice and chocolate! If you want to go to a restaurant, I would recommend the Northfield Cafe.

10. If it’s the festival of Desain, lots of people feel like they shouldn’t be at work so the food in cafes is not as good. But the pizza at the Northfield Cafe is still good!

10.

by Scarlett

We have been in Nepal for nearly a month and by reading this you will find out some of the best places to stay at and visit when trekking.

I would recommend walking to Namche Bazaar in four days with children, two days with an adult and maybe three days with a big group. Good places to stay at would be Tok Tok (with its cozy guesthouse and pretty views of the forest and a river). Chheplung would also be a nice place place to stay. It’s very close to Lukla if you have booked a flight the next day or something like that. In Benkar, there is a waterfall which is great for your children to play in.

Namche itself has a lot of lovely bakeries. I recommend Herman Helmer’s Bakery. It has great apple pie, beautiful pizza but very small sandwiches that aren’t worth the money. The pizza has nak cheese on (it’s nak cheese not yak cheese because yaks are boys and naks are girls). If you want to write a diary or something like that then Herman Helmer’s is often a quiet place to sit. The Everest Bakery is also very nice and it does pasta which Herman’s does not. Apple pie at Everest is more cinnamony that Herman’s.

In Pangboche, they have a Herman’s Bakery (different to Herman Helmer’s Bakery) which does the best chocolate cake I have ever tasted. It was called chocolate trefoil and was proper English chocolate.

At Gokyo, it all quite expensive and I would recommend taking a down jacket which you can hire in Namche Bazaar. You cannot hire children’s down jackets.
Gokyo Ri is nearly always worth the climb to the top except when it is cloudy. The view is undoubtedly the best one I have ever seen. You can see a glacier from above. It’s amazing.

In Tengboche, you can go and see an amazing monastery but you have to be very quiet. In the monastery, you can pay Rs. 25 to light a butter lamp even if you are a child. A butter lamp is a sort of little candle and if you light one, Buddhists believe that Buddha will pray for you. There was a bakery right next to the monastery.

To keep safe, you must always get out of the way of yaks which you often meet on the way to Gokyo. You must also get out of the way of donkeys. If you didn’t, you could get pushed off the edge of a mountain!