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Annapurna Base Camp Trek With Best Guide And New Experience Annapurna Base Camp Trek was an amazing trekking experience in Nepal, which comforts you every time life gets busy, even messy back in the city. All because of the breathtaking snow mountains, spectacular views that make you feel humble and small, and more importantly, sweet people on the way not only guide you along the route but also inspire you.
I’m taking Sujan, our trekking guide in Nepal
Annapurna Base Camp Trek started in November 2019; there were five of us, who planned to trek on Annapurna Base Camp Trek for a week. We met Sujan the second day we arrived in Nepal; he was our arranged guide, along with two porters. After we landed in Pokhara, he immediately contacted us and helped us to get our luggage in the crowded waiting room.
My first impression of Sujan was his beard and hospitality; he had a thick beard that looked handsome and a bit stylish as well, without saying too much, he and the other two porters got all of our luggage quickly, led the way to a parking spot where the car has already been waiting. After a long-delayed flight to Pokhara, he knew we needed to recharge by having a big lunch, so first thing first, he asked the driver to stop at a food plaza.
Not a long time later, we found Sujan was also humorous. For instance, if we asked him for a favor: Hey Sujan, can you take a picture for us? He would reply with a serious-looking: Sure, 500 dollars. As soon as we realized he was joking, a big laugh sped among all of us. 500 dollars soon became a haha point and we even named it for our WeChat group. As a tourist, sometimes we were overconfident and naïve, thought we knew enough information online already, and wanted to stick to the plan we first initiated, which was to start trekking after lunch.
Sujan suggested we better wait till the second day as the route was long and we might end up walking in cold and dark, which was difficult and dangerous. We pended his suggestion, though we could trek a little bit as a test try, and later on asked the driver to pick us up halfway, Sujan did not turn down our ideas immediately or tried hard to persuade us, instead, when our car approached a checking point in a small village, as the dawn approached closely and the waiting time for validating our passport was long enough to have a couple of coffee, he again proposed to start our trekking the next day. We realized it was a reasonable suggestion indeed, and he simply let reality speak.
Trekking was actually, tiring and even boring sometimes, Sujan would crack his music, and he and our other two porters would start to sing, we did not understand what they were singing, but they cheered us. Along the way, he also constantly reminded us to make way for other porters when we crossed by, he said: their (porter's) job was hard and they often carried luggage weighing times more than their own weight, we better let them pass by first.
“Almost 30 minutes away to our lunch place/hostel”, Sujan would encourage us timely when we felt exhausted and desperate about those endless uphill steps, finally we arrived at the lunch stop or hostel of the day, and five of us all collapsed on chairs, Sujan would pop up with a menu quickly, taken our orders patiently, and put our dishes on the dining table, constantly checking whether we had enough food or needed anything else after we finished our food, he and porters then would start to have their own lunch/dinner.
Our accommodations during the Annapurna Base Camp Trek were nice and tidy, he told us:“ I always make sure you guys stay at the nicest hostel I could arrange.” And indeed it’s true, he always made the appointment in advance and showed us the room when we arrived, negotiated the terms based on our own needs, and we never needed to worry about it all the way.
During the Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Every night after dinner, he would take out a map, invite us all to sit down, and go through details like how many hours it would take to approach the lunch stop the next day or the conditions of the route, was it all uphill steps or flat road, what a view it would be, etc. Made sure we were all well prepared for what would come the next day.
One day, after we were finally at the hostel, rested in the dining room waiting for dinner, Sujan came to us, looked secretly, lowered his voice, and said: “ Today is one of our porters’ birthday, I was wondering whether we can throw a surprise for him in your names, no need big fusses, just ask the kitchen to make a cake to celebrate, is that ok?”
We immediately agreed and were impressed by his kindness and warmth, his caring for our porters. After dinner, the kitchen staff was bused making cake, from time to time, we secretly went in and took photos, looking forward to seeing the happiness and surprise on our porter’s face who knew absolutely nothing about it.
Finally, the cake was ready, one of us brought the cake out of the kitchen, and our porter looked a bit confused, once he realized we were actually celebrating his own birthday, confusion turned to surprise turned to happiness turned to great touch, Sujan smiled big and we all shouted out “Happy Birthday!”
Other trekkers who were on Annapurna Base Camp Trek, joined the celebration as well, our birthday porter cut the cake slowly and still looked a bit overwhelmed by the surprise. It was a cold night outside the dining room window, yet the atmosphere inside was like a warm glove.
“I care porters who work with me, a good partnership makes a wonderful journey for trekkers,” Sujan said. Indeed, our trekking journey with Sujan and the other two porters was memorable, he is hospitality, humorous, and kind, the best planner, great partner, best friend, and Best photographer.
Bye-bye for now, thanks for the great experience of Annapurna Base Camp Trek, and hope we will encounter life somewhere around this world again.
