Namaste Sonam,
We have just returned from Nepal having had the most wonderful trip! Whilst its still fresh in our minds we wanted to contact you to provide some feedback as requested by Chirring.
We cannot commend highly enough Tenzing and Pemba for the wonderful service, companionship and care they provide over the 3 week period. Tenzing proved to be a very attentive guide and was particularly mindful of our safety and comfort as well as finding us a nice place to stay each evening and ensuring we would get a good meal. Sometimes this involved him helping out with or supervising the cooking -Pemba also contributed to this on more than one occasion. Pemba was a great porter and we also felt very cared for and looked after by him; even though he struggled with communicating in English we really felt he was looking out for us and was there to help whenever we needed it. As a team they worked really well together and struck a good balance between looking after us and ensuring we had some space to ourselves from time to time.
We were impressed by the way our permits and transport were organised so effectively by Chirring and her partner in Kathmandu and everything went smoothly and according to plan within the tight timeframe, so many thanks for that.
We have no criticism or problems we want to draw to your attention but Chirring was eager to get feedback so the service could be improved. The following are some suggestions you may wish to explore:
- At times we felt the plan for the day was vague, in particular we were not sure when we would next get a chance to eat. We feel this could be avoided by having a discussion at the start of each day about options for stopping/eating along the way.
- Whilst we were generally happy with Tenzings choice of accommodation each night (which mostly were good Tibetan guest/teahouses) some clients may appreciate choice; we noticed some of the other trekkers guides let it up to the clients to choose/select the accommodation.
- Both Tenzing and Pemba were a bit under-prepared with clothing for the higher altitudes and whilst we were happy to give them some of our extra clothing, thermals/gloves/fleece etc other trekkers may not have surplus gear to share with them on future trips. If it is the responsibility of the trekkers to ensure guide and porter are fully attired/equipped for the trip it would be useful for this to be pointed out to them in advance by you or Chirring, so they can check all this with guide and porter in Kathmandu prior to departure.
I hope the above will not create the impression we were not satisfied with the services of Pemba and Tenzing, on the contrary we were more than satisfied with them as stated above and would not hesitate to recommend their services to
others. Please feel free to pass on our details to others seeking recommendations on Tsumvalley homestay services.
We were particularly delighted with our stay in Tsum valley. We are really interested in exploring with you how we may be able to help raise awareness of the Tsum valley and issues/problems we may be able to help with (by raising funding and awareness).
Many thanks for helping us plan this trip, which we will remember foreverand hopefully we will return there again soon!
Kindest regards,
- Michelle and Gerry