During the Dashain festival, myself and Travis took 18 boys from the Annapurna and Machhapuchere houses for a two-day trek between the cities of Panauti, Namo Buddha and Dhulikhel.

After an hour and a half bus ride out of Kathmandu, we were able to visit the culturally rich city of Panauti. Panauti is one of the oldest cities in Nepal, famous for its temples, particularly the Indreshwor Temple. During 5 hours of walking we observed the rice harvest, with various techniques (manual and mechanical). We arrived at the top of the last mountain, at the monastery of Namo Buddha which we visited, and watched the sun set on our day. The 360 degree view of the valley was beautiful!

We spent the night in the village of Namo Buddha, where the prince Ngingdui Tshempo donated his body to a hungry mother tiger and her children before he was re-born as Gotam Buddha. When we woke up the next morning, we observed the towering mountains of the Langtang range, Manaslu, and Ganesh before resuming our walk for 4 hours among the mountains to reach Dhulikhel, the last step of our trek.

This trek, rich in images and cultural aspects was greatly appreciated by children and it was a great way to celebrate the festival of Dashain.

Ludo and Travis