Annapurna circuit

Kristin and Erik Jones
Portland, Oregon, USA

Our views on the guide

In October 2001 we had the pleasure of spending 21 days walking the Annapurna Circuit with Lila Bista. We interviewed four other prospective guides in Kathmandu before meeting Lila and realized right away that he was the person with whom we wished to spend the next three weeks trekking. His cheerful and welcoming personality, attention to detail and genuine interest in safety were all readily apparent and quickly set him apart from the other guides we'd considered.
Lila is extremely intelligent, possesses a sly sense of humour and, whether he was personally supervising the cooking of our meals or else nurturing one of us through a minor case of altitude sickness, he constantly went out of his way to look out for our well being.

During the day's walk, Lila would quiz us until we could name all of the mountains on the horizon and, wherever we were, was always happy to take us into a temple or give us a short lesson on local culture and customs. In the evenings, we spent many pleasurable hours sitting and drinking tea together, going over the trek's next segment on the map, playing chess or discussing current events. It was not uncommon for other trekkers to be drawn to our conversations as well and quite often, we were told how lucky we were to have Lila as our guide.
Finally, it must be mentioned that Lila was extremely supportive of our burgeoning love for Nepali pickle and always made sure that we received a heaping portion of it with our dal bhat. He even took us into his home after the completion of our trek and gave us a much-appreciated lesson in how to cook it ourselves.
For all of these reasons and more, Lila Bista was a wonderful guide, an excellent travelling companion and a friend. We would not hesitate to recommend his services to anyone visiting Nepal.

Everest base camp 21 day trek - 1998
Tom
Nationality - Irish

My Views on the guide

I had the pleasure of Hari's company on a 21 day trek to Everest base camp/Kala Patter in sept/oct. 1998. Having set off travelling doing a mini
world tour by myself I decided to start my trip in Nepal-the best decision I ever made. Anyone who I meet whose thinking about going to Nepal I say to them definitely go there it's a brilliant trip.
An American girl,Teri, and I met Hari through a trekking agency in Kathmandu and he agreed to be our guide for the next 21 days. From the very beginning Hari was very helpful and flexible right throughout the trip -stopping when we wanted to stop, getting us tea (che) when we wanted (and sometimes something stronger when he felt we needed a boost).
He was always conscious of when we were getting tired and was always aware not to overdo things. He was also very good at sourcing clean drinking water when we needed it. His local knowledge along the way was great always relating stories about this fellow or that fellow which we may have met
along the way and telling us of local traditions and customs. He could point out people who had climbed Everest and this just left us fascinated.
When the trek ended he even extended his hospitality so much that he took us back to his sister's house for a meal.

Above all, throughout the trek he was great 'craic' as we say in Ireland. I could not speak highly enough about him as a guide.

Annapurna Sanctuary

Dawn & Paul Gretton

As this was our first real venture out of the comfort zone of our country we were a bit taken aback to be introduced to a "cool young dude" in a Bon Jovi t/shirt and shades and be told he was to be our guide. However we very soon came to rely on and trust Hari completely. As we were in our late forties Hari felt it would be disrespectful to call us by our Christian names and we were very happy to have him call us Mum and Dad, and we were proud to call him "miro chora".

Hari led us in a quiet confident manner, displaying excellent local knowledge and giving unobtrusive personal attention. At all times he was considerate of our needs, our health and safety. We could not fault his technical ability.

We would be happy to travel with Hari again and would have no hesitation in recommending him as a guide and as a person.

Philip and Alistair - UK 2002

Hari guided us through a thirteen day leisurely trek that started in Naya Pul and finished at Phedi on the outskirts of Pokhara. Even though the initial couple of days were ascending 1750m, the remainder of the walk was a steady climb, culminating in a tremendous day at the Annapurna base camp. Where we were absorbed by the magnificence of the surrounding peaks, deep glacial gorges and massive ice forms.