My friend and I hiked the mountains with Chitra as the planner in the background and Bashanta as the guide, accompanying us throughout the journey. Unfortunately to no fault of their, initial domestic flight got delayed due to bad weather, whilst we had some opinions about alternatives being provided, Chitra was fast to scramble a car that would drive us to Pahplu, which is additional 2.5days of hike before we reach Lukla.
Aside from the initial domestic flight set back, everything was well taken care off on the mountains with Bashanta! The food, the timing, the accom, some minor requests here and there. He’s well aware of which accom may run low in availability and pre-books them, which is very important! Never did we run into a place with it fully booked and had to go another location. One time a room was in a less ideal situation and he also helped with room change.
I must say we were very unlucky with porters, to no fault of their own, we were swapped with 3 different porters in total! Medical condition etc, but the good thing is, it never affected us because they always manage to scramble another porter as replacement the next day.
Thus the hike to Everest Base Camp was all in all smooth, we loved the local Nepali songs being played through some of the treks =) the chats and the laughter.
All in all a very enjoyable hike, thanks!
