Trekking for Treks

Our first priority in Kathmandu was to get the Everest Base Camp trek organised. It's not hard finding someone to book a trek with in Kathmandu. Every third building seems to house some trekking company or other. Finding a trekking organisation we wanted to go with was the hard part.

Unsurprisingly our hostel host knew someone who organised treks – his sister as it turned out. She was the first person we talked to. Her package sounded good and the price was around what we expected. However we weren't going to jump into bed with the first offer (unless that was what she actually wanted). We decided to follow a tout to another trekking company this time, and it was a lot cheaper with this crowd.

I had spotted a Céad Míle Fáilte sign while we were looking for accommodation, so we ventured to the Irish pub next in the hope that someone Irish there could be a valuable source of trekking information. Just before we reached it, another trekking tout approached us. We explained to him that we were going upstairs to the pub first, and that we'd talk to him afterwards. So up we went, to be greeted by a horrible imitation with a Nepalese barman and no-one else inside. To our disbelief, the tout followed us up and sat at the table next to ours. We hadn't come here to be hassled by a bloody tout. So we left.



Thirsty for a drink after that annoyance, around the corner was a Lonely Planet recommended watering hole named Tom & Jerry's. One drink led to more, and the end to any trek searching for that day. We ended up having a great night, properly on the lash for the first time since we had left home.