EBC - making the most of it in a month

There are lots of agencies that are very reliable so it is better when you are in kathmandu go to some agencies and and meet the people you might be going to trek with which helps you have better local person then without checking them out.

Yes two weeks is enough for Everest trekking but it is also a pick season so make sure you you have places to stay in places like labouche, goreshep, and if you are doing Cho-La pass then in the places like Zongla.

I would suggest you to have 30-35$ per person during trekking but it also depends upon your spending. Most of your spending can be in liquid because you have to drink plenty. take water purifier it will save your some cash. take a mask also you will need in some of the places.

If you have time visit Bandipur a typical beautiful village on the way to Pokhara. I would suggest you to go for rafting in Bhote koshi or Kaligandaki which is much more thrilling then Trishuli.Do mountain biking around Kathmandu valley such as to Nagarkot-dhulikhel.

Visit Bhakatapur durbar square that has got Old Malla(rulers of the kathmandu valley from 14-17 centuries) Palace Listed in world Heritage sites. You will also see houses surrounded with temples and evening life in this place makes it worth to spend few nights in here.

The Swyambhunath(monkey temple) better to visit in evening. The temple believed to be built 2000 years ago on an island when Kathmandu was a lake.

Kritipur's upper town which is in kathmandu valley.The upper place is unchanged for many years
the people's house and living style are same as that were few hundred years ago.

There are lots of things to see but these are few things that you don't want to miss.

There are also places that are not in tourist guide books which are interesting such as the courtyard with temples and old houses built in 16-17 centuries.

All the best and hope you will find everything what you are looking forward to see in Nepal.
Bhuwan.

Good advice in the post above.
As for water/liquids...
>Most of your spending can be in liquid because you have to drink plenty. take water purifier it will save your some cash.

I didn't buy one single bottle of water on the trek and filled my bottle at lodges, asking the kitchen staff. I didn't think buying water was necessary. The water was fine.
I trekked along with my wife who has sensitive stomach. None of us had any problems. We had purifying tablets with us but never used them, and returned them to the pharmacy at half the price, after the trek.
We also filled up our bottles with water from the streams, on higher elevations where there's nothing that can polute the water. I thought it was much better quality than in my supermarket.

I’m afraid that my own “Advice” is somewhat different from your previous replies.

First of all, I don’t think your budget of $25 ($50 between you) each per day is anything like enough when you add in all your costs
1) Your Lukla flights will be about $240 each = $480
2) Your Porter/Guides Lukla flights about $110
3) Your Porter/guides salary 14 days at about $20 per day $280
4) Your national park entry fee $15 each = $30
5) Your TIMS (Through an agent) About $20 each = $40
6) Your own daily food and accommodation (Middle figure) $30 each = $60 = $840

Grand Total for 14 days =$1540 = $110 per day, so over double your allocated budget

Next – I Certainly wouldn’t recommend drinking untreated water Anywhere in Nepal, IMHO the above poster and his wife have been Very Lucky not to have gone down with any amount of stomach related bugs by taking such a risk – There are plenty of options for safe drinking water including filters, boiled water and treating your own

Be Very Careful when selecting your agent – Yes there are some excellent agents out there – But also some very bad ones too – Maybe PM some regular posters for recommendations but then double check them for adverse feedback by using Google – PM me if you want my own recommendation of the chap I have used since 1994 on 8 visits to Nepal

Lots of other things to see and do, plenty mentioned above, You could also browse the Things to Do tips section in the link in my signature for more ideas

Good Luck and Happy Safe Trekking
Rob

Re drinking (untreated) water.
Of course it's at everyone's own discretion. Not a recommendation, just my own experience, and my own judgement.
Of course, I'd never ever do that in Kathmandu.

Pleased to hear that this wasn’t a recommendation Fieldgate – But I Really do think that both you and your wife were Incredibly Lucky – There is a Lot of information available about the hazards of drinking untreated water on Trek in Nepal including this informative piece by The High Altitude Medicine Guide.

There was also another good thread on Here last year

Be safe – That would be my Best Advice !!
Good Luck and Happy Safe Trekking
Rob

into-thin-air,
From the first link:
>Anywhere that trekkers are able to travel these days, people live or travel higher up; all ground water should be assumed to be contaminated.

I, and my wife too, are a living proof that the statement is wrong on its assumption. I'm curious to know where that theory originates from, if there have been made any tests.
I'm not going to argue with you or the authors of the article on this, however, the statement is wrong, I must say. It's just my opinion based on my own experience.
If it was one glass of water, or two, you could say we were lucky. The trek was 16 days and, as I said, we never bought a single bottle of water. We aren't superhuman, we're like all others who trek in the area.

The only way to make EBC trek at around $25/day/person is to walk in from Jiri, and out, carry your own gear. This would take about 26 days minimum. If you have a month, do it, it would be a great adventure. With careful planning you can keep your pack weight under 12 kg or so.

If you want to fly out, add about $120 each for the flight, and life in KTM is also likely to be more expensive for those four days you thus "saved".

Fieldgate
The Beauty of forums such as this is that different people can express their own views / experiences and this enables people who post / read the treads to make informed decisions.
Any “Advice” that I offer both on here and in my blog is based on my own experiences in Nepal, These Experiences are based on 8 trips to Nepal over 17 years, They are by No Means definitive but I Hope that by sharing them people avoid falling into some of the pitfalls that can easily happen

On a lighter note, On my 1st trip to Nepal I trekked AC, I often ate boiled potatoes and wasn’t overly fussy about removing all the skin before eating them, I didn’t suffer any stomach problems and thought nothing of this. Then on my second trip I trekked, EBC I noticed how locals were very pedantic about removing All the skin before eating boiled potatoes so I asked a lodge owner why this was, He told me that when the potatoes were planted the lodge owners emptied the toilets and set the seed potatoes in the human waste – Needless to say since then I have also Very Pedantic about removing All the skin before eating them !! – Life is a learning curve and we can’t expect to learn everything in one trip, or even 50 trips !!!!!

I have already expressed my opinion on Drinking water, OK it differs from yours, Not a Problem - Others will come along and give theirs and then the OP can make their own Informed decision.

Best Regards
Rob

Hi all,

Thanks so much for your speedy and varied responses.

Petrus - thanks for your support in suggesting a solution rather than pointing our problems...more from you, man!

Fieldgate - I totally understand the desire to drink Himalayan water. We are Londoners with only the Thames as a point of reference. In your shoes, we may chuck ourselves it!

guide_bhuwan - Thanks for the great recommendations. They are now on the list. Particularly loving the sound of mountain biking in Kathmandu valley. You also didn't seem totally shocked by our budget which is really encouraging.

Intothinair - I'll tell you the truth, we lied about out budget ;) We don't intend to be spending a lot on luxuries, we'd rather stay in budget accomodation or homestays so we thought we'd put some feelers out to see just how low we could go. We will probably organise our own permits and TIMs. It sounds relatively easy so I don't see why we wouldn't, which should have a few quid off straight away.

We do however really value having a guide/porter and will be spending out to hire someone. I understand it to be cheaper to hire in Lukla so we would probably save the hundred bucks on a flight for the guide from Kathmandu and chance it on hiring someone from the big hotels. I have seen from your other posts that you prefer to hire a guide in Kathmandu and I do understand the benefits that you have presented but as far as I can see there are no huge drawbacks to doing it this way either. Obviously, please correct me if I'm wrong as I have never done this before and am only going on what I have previously read.

We have a month in Nepal scheduled and although we may extend this by a few days (we are currently booked to fly on Nepali New Years' Eve, whoops!), we will definitely not be doing the Jiri walk-in...this time. ;)

So, the two things that we are fixed on is that we want to hire a porter/guide and we will be doing the 14 day version of the trek so we are able to enjoy some of the other amazing things Nepal has to offer. These are the things we are immovable on. As for the rest, we'd like to keep our trip on a shoe-string but hopefully this will allow us to spread our tourist dollars a little wider rather than just staying in big hotels and using popular tour agencies.

Thanks all!