EBC TREK REVIEW
My husband and I thought long and hard about how to leave this review. I hope our experience and thoroughness of these comments are found to be helpful. The EBC Trek we experienced was the most challenging and rewarding accomplishment weve had to date. The beauty of the mountains was indescribable; we left the country with an increased appreciation for our beautiful world and a stronger relationship with each other. We have zero regrets and are left with incredible memories, photos, and bragging rights.
Let me begin with THE PROs:
The owner of the company, Surya, communicated via email with my husband for months. He was friendly and knowledgeable, and patiently responded to DOZENS of questions we had prior to even booking. He greeted us at our Kathmandu hotel upon arrival, checked on us through our guides cell phone during the trek, took us out for a fabulous traditional dinner after the trek was completed, and escorted us to the airport for our return trip home. We have zero issues with him and found his customer service to be exceptional.
Our guide, Ramish, was there to pick us up from the Kathmandu airport at the start of the trip. He took care of park entries/permits, transportation in and out of the Lukla airport, selecting a porter, and checking in to each tea house as required. He safely and successfully escorted us to Everest Base Camp and back.
Our satisfaction with our guide did not go beyond that.
THE CONs:
We discovered quickly that our guide knew VERY little English, despite being promised an English-speaking guide. We had issues with communication from the very beginning, when we were startled by his allowing of strangers to handle our belongings between the airport to the taxi so they could then demand tipping. We were unable to ask many questions about Kathmandu and on the entire duration of the trek because he so rarely understood us. We would have loved to learn about the history, culture, mountain ranges, running of the tea houses, etc, as you would hope to learn from a local that youd spend 12 straight days with, but this wasnt possible. We were given no say in our lodgings and meals, as it became apparent that we were only being taken to tea houses owned by his friends and family. This meant that for the same cost to us, we often were staying in less clean and/or comfortable tea houses in each village. We had no false expectations of a luxurious trek, we had thoroughly researched what to expect and quickly learned quickly to treasure even the smallest amenities provided; but in chatting with fellow hikers we learned that they often had been provided better accommodations. We found ourselves envying other groups with fun, joking guides who played games and told stories and chatted with them in the evenings on what to expect the following day.
We were informed by the owner later on that he hires guides from a rotating list, and that Ramish was not a private employee of this individual booking company. Our trip was not ruined by our dissatisfaction with our guide, however we knew it could have been better, more social, and more informational. I think 4 out of 5 times the guides for this trek would have been excellent, we just happened to receive an average one. In summary, we would rate this trekking company five stars for the owner, and three stars for the guide that fell under his responsibility, hence our overall rating of four stars.