Ghorepani - Poon Hill 5 Day Trek with Leija, Felipe & Their Guide Gobinda :)

Felipe & I did a 5 day trek around the Annapurna region of Nepal. Here's some of the footage from our trek.

To the people who may want to do this at some point, you could always buy a package through some travel company, which is what we did. Our package comprised of a 5 day trek throughout the mountains, which includes food/ accommodations, transportation costs, our guide Gobinda, 2 days at the Chitwan safari & a 3 hr rafting ride.

Overall, the package was a pretty good deal, however if you're simply interested in doing the trek, without dishing out money for the other stuff, you could avoid travel companies and simply contact Gobinda directly via email to work something out. His email address is gobinda_dhakal2003@yahoo.com

Gobinda charges $20 USD/ day/ person. He is a fantastic guide, very nice, trustworthy, accommodating & experienced. He's worked as a porter & guide for the last 10 years, and learned all the English he knows through the tourists. Communication with him was pretty good throughout the trek. As long as we didn't speak too fast & used simple language, he could understand us no problem & vice versa. He offered to carry our bags many times, which was nice of him, yet we declined because we didn't want to wimp out...lol. We recommend him for sure! :) Felipe & I originally thought, "Oh, we don't need a guide" yet were convinced otherwise by the locals. Boy were we glad we had Gobinda there! :) There were many forks along the way, and if we didn't have him there, we could have gotten lost easily.

The place we stayed at the first night was in an area called "Ulleri". The vibe there was amazing & our room was only $2/ night. We only stayed there for one night because we had already arranged to do the 5 day trek, meaning we're in a new location every night. If we had known beforehand what the place was like, we would have arranged to stay there for a couple days, just because its so nice! We also loved the place we stayed at the second night, and the following morning, the views of the Annapurna from Poon Hill. This is another place we wish we could have stayed at for at least another day to soak it all up. Thought I'd throw that out there for all of you potential trekkers. :)

Overall, we highly recommend this trek! The mountain village people were all very friendly & accommodating. It was really interesting & inspiring getting a glimpse of their way of life! :) The nature was nourishing! The mountains were breathtaking! :) The actual trekking... whoa, definitely a great work-out! I mean, you are trekking UP a mountain....lol. After day 5, we were feeling sore, yet satisfied! =D

The only thing that you won't have as much selection with is the food up there. If you are a hard-core raw foodist, it will be difficult to meet your needs in the mountains. You'll have to either bring your food up with you (which would probably be too much to carry considering you need to bring a backpack with your clothing & such) or you could make some exceptions for the trek. Even down in the cities, it was tough to find what we needed. Felipe & I brought an organic green drink powder up there with us (that we brought from Canada) which helped, but were still feeling the lack of raw foods up there...yet we made do. :) Since everything offered at the hotel/ lodge restaurants is either grown on the land, or carried up by foot/ donkey, the food is a little more limited & expensive than down in the cities, yet it's still a fraction of the price you'd pay in somewhere like Canada or the US. Example of the kind of food offered- Dal bhat (which is the staple in Nepal- consists of curried veggies, lentils, rice, etc), tomato & onion salads, sandwiches & pizza, apple pies, veg fried noodles, fried rice, momos, porridge, rice pudding, etc. Pretty good food, yet mostly cooked.

***IMPORTANT*** To all the people interested in doing this trek- Something else you should know is that if you fly to Kathmandu, like most people do, you'll have to either get a flight out to Pokhara, or you'll have to take a bus there. The bus rides were very nerve-racking & risky in my opinion. It's like you have to sit through 10 hrs of terror to get to the serenity.

Watch this video to get an idea of what to expect- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbYkHOcSepk

Note that the two in the video went during monsoon season. You want to visit during dry season (tourist season) because it's the best time to go. There will be less landslides, yet 50 times as many vehicles zooming by you. BTW, the Nepalese people drive way too close to the opposing traffic. Most of the vehicles that passed us were literally only INCHES away from us while we were on the edge of steep mountain cliffs.

In no way am I attempting to dissuade you from visiting Nepal, however I think it's really important for you to know what to expect. I share this information with you because I care. :)

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• trekking
• nepal
• ghorepani
• poon
• hill
• day
• trek
• ulleri
• gorgeous
• beautiful
• peaceful
• annapurna
• himalayan
• mountain
• views
• nature
• sheep
• goat
• herds
• kathmandu
• tibet
• friendly
• nepalese
• people
• pokhara
• tea
• house
• leijaturunen
• felipesparx29

[zero021one]

So glad you had this wonderful experience. All I can say is: This is the Nepal I remember from 45 years ago. Thank the goddess it still remains... <3

[LeijaTurunen]

@zero021one :)) Oh yeah, when I was up in those mountains, I definitely got that "This place probably hasn't changed much in centuries" feeling. Truly incredible! :)

[vapada]

Tears came at about 6:30. It's just so beautiful. I can't imagine what you must have felt.

[LeijaTurunen]

@vapada It was completely overwhelming... I cried a little too! :)

[justtony789]

WOW!!!feeling sooo connected just by watching THIS!!!thank you so much for sharing Leija!!!*******HERE'S A THEORY*****....Leija,i've always had this intuitive feeling that whenever i would travel around the world it was MORE than just traveling and leisure,i've felt like i was ''called'' there to contribute with some energy work too,just by putting my intentions and frequencies HIGH enough as a blessing...and gotta tell YA!!!I THINK YOU & FELIPE DID THE SAME,did u feel that way at all,i'm SOOO

[LeijaTurunen]

@justtony789 I feel that too! :) I also feel that my soul was calling me to Nepal so Nepal could contribute some of its energy to me! :) Nepal has already taught me so much & I will be forever grateful for my time here! :)

[fleetfooted]

"Holy shnikies"? Haha. Thinking of doing this trek - did you guys find it strenuous or did you come away thinking you could've done a bit more?

[egyptiansioux]

great place ! what time of year was that ?! and did you notice more birds and wild animals beside the buffalo and the yellow bird who was singing there ?

[leraginasian]

so awesome. nice editing!

[starsofday]

This looks so fun! :) This world is endless in experiences! <3

[FunTFrankie]

We had Gobinda as a guide too! He was fantastic and showed us the Gosa Kund trek with views of Langtang Mountain. Really knowledgeable guide! We considered not taking a guide at first, but I really recommend it. We would never have managed to pack so much in to the 5 days we had. Do contact him directly! His email is: gobinda_dhakal2003@yahoo.com +9771 9841129883.

[nature10879]

Just reminds me of Kenya where I was raised! People full of natural Life. Love It. I had similar lifestyle till I was 18 yrs old, We even used to play soccer barefoot when I was a teen. Man, I miss those moments.

[BurnKilluminati]

this is like my dream place to live, you guys are soo lucky!

[ZenfulSoul]

wow, the places is so beautiful! Looks like you guys had so much fun.

[OdeToNecrophilia]

Loved watching this! thanks for sharing with us folks who are stuck at home lol

[zira255]

Beautiful!