In December 2009 I made in Nepal a fortnight trek in the valley of Langtang and its surroundings with Babu as my guide.For your information: I am 60 years old, I’ve made many walking tours in my life, in Norway, Maroc, the Pyrenees, and Scotland. This trek in Nepal was the best. I remember the snow peaks in the Himalaya, the jungle-like woods up to 3000m, the mystery and the gentle people in the hamlets and the teahouses, of course the challenge of ascending up to 5000m. All that you’ll experience during this trek and of course, there is Babu.For me it was the first time. I walked with a private guide. Besides the luxury of not worrying about the shelter of the evening, most important for me was the access to the culture and people, thanks to Babu. He is a nice person and Intelligent. He has the natural gift of hanging around with the local people. So he got the information for making a detour, as a difference from the originally planned trail.
These last four days of the trek in the mountains outside of the valley of Langtang showed the agricultural way of life of perhaps 2000 years ago. It was as fascinating, as the snow peaks. We went to Bridim, to the Taruche Peak (3700m) where you have a magnificent view on some villages in Tibet, and to the natural hot springs of Tatopani where I sat in the warm basin in the middle of the night amidst praying people beneath a sky full of stars. In combination with the valley trek these four days in the mountains has given me a good view in some part of Nepal. And I am sure, next year I’ll go to Nepal for trekking in another part preferably with the same guide.
Henk van Hooijdonk from Holland