An adventure with Visit Heaven Trek

 An Adventure with Visit Heaven Treks

I have always wanted to visit Nepal and when a couple of my closest girlfriends said they would love to go too we were off. We arrived in Kathmandu in February this year and returned about 4 weeks before the earth quake which really devastated us, we could not make contact with our new Nepalese families. Thankfully they were alive but lost so much like so many. So now they need to rebuild and gets businesses running. This is our adventure to Nepal with Visit heaven treks.

 When we first arrived in Nepal we stayed in the heart of Thamel, Kathmandu and our accommodation was great. The next morning we woke refreshed and ready to explore this beautiful country. First things first being four women we set off straight to the shops that were literally at our door step…YAY!! There was endless beautifully handcrafted treasures and at a great price, I just wished I had a bigger suitcase and the airlines allowed more baggage. So as most women do we pretty much shopped till we dropped...

 The next day I was determined to find a yoga studio, I didn’t have to look far as reception organized it and even walked us there, always willing to help the Nepalese people. Then we shopped again and this is were our adventure really started, we came across a trekking shop called Visit heaven treks…we thought let’s check this out. We were welcomed and offered tea by the owner of the business Saran and his right hand man Badri, two of the kindest gentlemen you will ever meet. The guys organized a tour of local temples around Kathmandu for us and a 4 day trek and visit to Chitawan this included meals, travel and accommodation for such a great price, we could not believe it. Ready for an adventure!

The next day was the temples visit, this was a truly humbling experience, and we saw the goddess Kumari, whose temple survived the quake. A miracle!!!

 

Durbar square before the quake

 Saran meet us at our door step the next morning and took us to the bus stop to travel on to Pokhara, we arrived in the early afternoon. Pokhara is a gorgeous place on the Phewa Lake. We did a bit more shopping and grabbed all the hiking necessities which Saran organized for us.

 

Day one of our Trek to  Ghorepani, Poonhill

We drove about 45 minute to the drop off point with Saran and a lovely young man named Ganesh who was our porter for the trip…. We set off down a gravel path past some shops were we meet some kids on their way to school. After about 3 hrs we stopped for a lunch, but stopped along the way when ever needed and wanted to soak up our surrounding, Saran and Ganesh were very patient and encouraging. Our first night Saran showed as a couple of card games, he is a funny man, this was such a lovely way to end our first day.

Our first nights’ accommodation Chandra guest house...Our brothers Saran and Ganesh is in the blue

 

The food provided on our journey was so accommodating to everyone’s taste, like everywhere in Nepal you have the option for either Nepalese (which is so yummy and highly nutritious) Eastern or Western foods.

Day 2

We set off and tackled a lot of stairs meet some cute little local’s humans and animals

 Adorable locals  

 

                                  

    

            

                                                                  Saran, Ganesh and the girls

 

 The little villages along pebbled paths makes you realize how hard the people work to survive in the hills, the donkeys and farmers that walk theses paths over and over again to get supplies, the children that have to walk so far to get to school and the incredible strong individuals who carry such heavy baskets on their heads for such a long distance. We have such gratitude for the Nepalese people.

 

 

We arrived at our next bed for the night in the afternoon, when we entered our rooms and opened the curtained the view of the mountains totally took us by surprise and took our breath away, within a couple of hours we witnessed the most amazing lighting show I have ever seen …the sky filled with the brightest purple lights …Wow!!

 

 





 

View from our room, this photo does not do it justice

Day 3

We woke to it snowing …yay our first snow shower in Nepal. Unfortunately due to the early morning rain we missed sunrise at poon hill but that’s Mother Nature for you. We rugged up and ventured on through a light cover of snow, this was so exciting, we could not get over the fact we were trekking through snow, so good!!!

 

 

After a short walk through the snow we made it to the rainforest, the diverse landscape is unbelievable, I felt like I was walking through a rainforest in Australia. The moss and trees, so stunning. The silence, the peace, and the beauty… we were on a spiritual journey and felt in a state of complete contentment. We really had four seasons in one day and by lunch time the weather was quite warm. We arrived at the next resting place for the night and sat back with some masala tea and continued on with our card games with Saran and Ganesh.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were starting to realize our journey was coming to an end… we had to soak up this last bit of bliss. The reality that this was going to end hit us hard, not only for the adventure but because we made two new dear friends that will be missed.

 

                                                   Our final nights accommodation
 
Day 4

We woke with heavy hearts and sore legs, this was our last day. The hills (ha-ha, in Oz we call them mountains) was a reminder of how high we had climbed, the fresh air was so revitalising. Along the way we gave out small toys to some of the local children and to see their little faces light up and chocolate, how they love chocolate.

                                         



 

 

As we looked back at the last lot of stairs it reality hit us…our trek was finished and WE MADE IT… Stronger, happier and even more determined to tackle anything... What invigorating adventure!!!

 

 

                                                The bridge we started from

 It was time to say our goodbyes to Ganesh and Saran but we were going to see Saran again in Kathmandu. Next stop Chitawan.

 

Chitawan

We arrived in Chitawan were we spent the holy festival with the local children playing soccer, the girls won, they can play!!

                                                           Holy festival Chitawan style

Chitawan is a traditional little place with  beautiful little mud homes.We saw peacocks, crocodile, deer and even a rhino in the wild. We rode on an elephant and saw them walking down the main street. It is a peaceful quite relaxing place surrounded by nature.

We left Chitawan and headed back to Thamel where Saran was waiting and even know our trekking had finished Saran and Badri continued to help and show as around, we were even invited to local school as special guests to watch the children perform songs and dances... this was such an honour!! Saran did so much for us and asked for nothing in return just for us to be happy so if you are considering going to Nepal and trekking we totally 100 percent recommend Visitheaven treks, Saran will take care of you like you are his family, we cannot thank him and all the people at Visitheaven treks enough for making our time in Nepal truly wonderful…The memories and friends we have made will be with us always and we can’t wait to go back and tackle the Annapurna circuit.