This is a route that takes you away from the chaotic Crowds! Far more docile and calm than the Everest and Annapurna trails, our hike is a discovery of a zone rarely frequented by trekkers. Despite our wavering off-the-beaten trails, this does not deprive us of some gracious views of Everest and the friendly welcoming smiles of the local Sherpa folks…as we hike across flush meadows and sublime monasteries that gives us an upfront experience of what it’s like ‘Mountains and Monasteries Trekking’’.As we head southwards the higher valleys that go near to Mount Everest, we enter the Solu Khumbu district wherein the long-established homeland of the Sherpa People lies. Geographically based at altitudes of somewhere near 2000 and 4000 metres, with jagged ridge and valley surroundings, we behold a lovelier section of Nepal’s vast Himalayan landscapes and this exceptional venture makes up a hiking holiday that’s truly different from others. Our trip commences with a flight to Phaplu, from Kathmandu and on touchdown, we immediately hit the trails into amazing isolated areas where there are little or no trekkers at all. We hike down routes into colorful Sherpa villages where, it seems time refuses to move on, as we come across congenial mountain people who live life their way, seeped in ancient customs as old as these mountains we hike through; Our walking extends on as we go further up to the stunning Pikey Mountains at 4065m as we stop to savor the astonishing panoramas of the nearby peaks of Numbur – 6958m and Karyolung and on the horizons we even see a distinct Mt. Everest and even Makalu…its simply gratifying to behold…
If it’s a sparkling clear sky blue day, we even get to see the Annapurna range far down as our eyes go west of where we are. We then continue to plod our quiet trails to Thupten Monastery where we haul up for some rest, before we continue through pine, oak and rhododendron forests as we hike into the villages of Jabre, Ghorpiteng and Dhap for stops into some interesting monasteries on the way. From here on we culminate back at Phaplu, where we make a celebratory halt for the night before we catch our flight back to kathmandu and a soft warm bed at our hotel, to reminisce on an extraordinary adventurous holiday of ‘Trekking Mountains and Monasteries’’which will have given us a lot of peace and satisfaction of a vacation well enjoyed, right to the hilt…