Itinerary

 Dec 23rd – Welcome to Nepal! On your first day PEPY Tours staff will be waiting at the airport to meet you with big hugs! Please be sure to arrive by early afternoon on the first day – if you want to arrive the day before we can help you with hotel bookings. At 4pm our program will officially start in Patan in the Kathmandu valley, where we will begin our orientation on the culture of this stunning and complex country.

Dec 24th – Today we will take some time to explore the beautiful historic city of Patan, with its well-known winding backstreets and hidden monuments, as well as begin our discovery of Nepal’s history and its unique blend of Hinduism and Buddhism through visiting Patan’s acclaimed museum. We will also have an introduction to the development themes that we will be exploring on the trip and look at how they play out in an urban environment.

Dec 25th – This morning we will meet with rural development organization PHASE Nepal, which marks the first of our NGO visits on this trip! Here we will talk to the inspiring founder and director Jiban Karki about PHASE’s unique model of community empowerment, learning about how our fundraising donation will be used. In the afternoon we will visit Pashupatinath temple, one of the most important Hindu pilgrimage sites in the world.

Dec 26th – On Day Four we will particularly look at traditional indigenous responses to development needs by visiting some ashrams: religious institutions with a social function, which emphasise the Hindu concept of sewa (service).We will explore Gandhi’s model of development and how it has been put into practice in Nepal, and look at how this differs from the modern concept of development. We even hope to stay overnight in one of the ashrams for a unique insight into how these institutions operate on a daily basis.

Dec 27th – Today is our chance to explore one of the most visited attractions in the Kathmandu valley, the famed Swayambhunath stupa, or ‘monkey temple’. Our guide for the day will be Gita Manandhar, who will talk to us about Newari culture as well as her experience coordinating rural education programs.

Dec 28th – On Day Six we will visit the medieval town and UNESCO World Heritage site of Bhaktapur, particularly looking at the idea of a ‘living culture’ and how the ideas of development and preservation interact and collide. We will also explore the traditional Newari concept of social organization, the guthi system.

Dec 29th – Today will largely be a free day in the city. Together we will make our way to Hanuman Dhoka in the centre of Kathmandu, and then everyone is free to roam, explore, shop, process, and digest at their own pace. This will be our last day in the city before departing to rural areas so this is also your chance to pick up any last items that you will need!

Dec 30th – Now beings the rural portion of our tour. As it will still be monsoon season we will have to be flexible with our schedule and plans because communication and logistics become much more difficult due to the heavy rains. However, the following is a good idea of the activities and sights we are planning to see:

We will first travel by bus to Timbu village, which is a village low down near the base of the sacred valley of Helambu and the start of the Helambu Trekking circuit. We will arrive around midday, and, time permitting, we will be able to meet a group of girls participating in an empowerment program called Her Turn. The group of girls now runs a support committee for women and girls in their community, and with the help of other NGOs implement small school projects.

Dec 31st – Today we will have around five to six hours of trekking uphill to the village of Tarkhegyang, which is known for being one of the oldest settlements in the region and hence home to some of the oldest Buddhist monasteries. Depending on when we arrive in the village we will have several different options for activities, one of which will be to meet with a local community representative, Kami Lama, who is in charge of representing the village and helping decide how to allocate some development funds the region has just received.

We will also have time to explore the village monasteries and possibly be able to meet with local religious leaders to discuss the region's history and cultural traditions. For the next couple of days we will be staying at a locally run guesthouse or possibly in some local village homes depending on their availability during the monsoon season.

Jan 1st – Depending on the weather, either today or tomorrow we will take a pilgrimage trek from Tarkhegyang to the peak of Ama Yangri, on top of which sits a very old stupa that has tremendous local religious significance for the region and the religious beliefs there. The trek will take all day and we will most likely spend a couple hours at the top if the weather is good enough. The peak is around 3,800 meters elevation and the village we depart from is around 2,700 meters. If the weather is clear, we will be able to see the Tibetan plateau from the top as well as the entire Langtang mountain range.

Jan 2nd – The day we do not trek to Ama Yangri is open to several options. There are a number of other significant religious monuments, caves and monasteries to visit with the possibility of talking to more religious leaders about various development issues, local history and culture, and the region's growing religious significance. An alternative is to experience the slow pace of rural life and to spend the day living alongside the people of our host community. Depending on how much people feel like walking and the weather, we will decide as a group how we’d best like to spend today.

Jan 3rd – On our last full day in Helambu, we will trek down from Tarkhegyang and into the village of Nakotegaon, where we will be able to meet with some members of the school's community board. Nakotegaon is one of the newest English medium government schools in the region and is also a new community-based government school – a trend becoming popular in education in many parts of rural Nepal. It has been supported by several NGOs including The Helambu Project, and there will be a chance here to discuss their educational programs. From there we will walk down the valley, stopping to visit meditation caves used by the Buddhist Saint Milarepa, before returning to Timbu.

Jan 4th – Today will be a bus day back to Kathmandu. We will spend the rest of the day readjusting to the city and getting back into the faster pace of life. We plan to stay in a secret location in the valley – somewhere which is by all accounts pretty spectacular…

Jan 5th – Our last full day in Kathmandu will be open for participants to do the things they didn't get a chance to do and finish their shopping! We will also plan optional activities for anyone who wants to do more exploring on their last day. Our last afternoon will be one of reflection and thinking about how to apply what we have learned in Nepal to our daily lives back home. The program will end with a traditional Nepali feast in the evening.

Jan 6th – It’s the day to say goodbye and head off in different directions, no doubt for more adventures!

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