Kathmandu

In Kathmandu we went to one of the biggest backpacking hostels there. It is a really good starting point for people looking for hiking groups to the Himalaya.

After comparing the options we decided to do the „Three passes three peaks“ trek in the region around Mount Everest. There was a lot of preparing to do and we met a few people who wanted to do the same trek. After seeing the prices for flying to Lukla we quickly decided to take a bus to Jiri and then hike the five days to the higher regions.

Most of our time in Kathmandu was spent shopping and preparing for the hike. Since we did not go with a tour company we had to get a lot of different permits for hiking through the national parks. Also, we took a lot of time comparing the calories-to-g-ratio of different sweets so that we would not have to carry too much. Shopping for medicine also presented a surprise since there was a lot of stuff that would have needed a prescription in Germany. Kathi, one of the travelers who also wanted to do the trek has a doctorate in Biology so she was a big help in buying the right medicine.

We bought some clothing for hiking and even found the label store where they sell the fake labels for the fake brand clothing! Nearly everything you can buy in Kathmandu is branded with North Face or Marmot, but everyone knows that all of it is fake. Of course there is a real North Face store, but shopping there was way too expensive for us.

Of course we also did some sightseeing and played cards with the other travelers at the hostel