Founder & Trek Leader, Green Compass Treks
Bishow has been organising treks, peak climbs, and tours across Nepal for over a decade, from the teahouse trails of Annapurna and Everest to the restricted valleys of Mustang, Manaslu, and Dolpo. He writes the guides on this site from the trail itself — the permit desks, the lodge dining rooms, the pass crossings, and the questions guests actually ask before they book.
Every article here is written to answer a real planning question: when to go, what it costs, how hard it is, and which route fits the time you have. If something on the site is out of date or you need advice on a specific itinerary, get in touch — the team replies within 24 hours.
Showing 25–36 of 257 articles
Dashain is a family festival, so where a visitor stands decides how much of it they see. Nine places where the festival is public, particular or easy to join — from the parade ground in Kathmandu and the masked dancers of Bhaktapur to a Gurung homestay and the one village that does not celebrate it at all.
Two places on the road between Kathmandu and Pokhara belong to Dashain more than any others: the hilltop palace at Gorkha, from which the royal Phulpati is carried to the capital, and Manakamana, the wish-fulfilling temple reached by cable car. What each is, and what to expect during the festival.
On the tenth day of Dashain, elders press a paste of red rice onto the foreheads of the younger generation and give them a blessing. Visitors are often invited to receive one. What the tika is, what happens, what to wear and say, and the handful of things not to do.
Dashain is the feast of the Nepali year: goat in half a dozen forms, beaten rice, pickles, fried rice-flour bread and home-made spirit. What the dishes are, what the Newar feast adds, where a visitor can eat them, how vegetarians fare, and how to avoid the stomach trouble that follows the festival.
Two things tell you Dashain has arrived before a single ritual has taken place: bamboo swings rising in the village fields and kites over the rooftops. How the swings are built and why everyone must leave the ground once a year, the kite fights of Kathmandu, and where a visitor can find both.
In Bhaktapur, Dashain is Mohani: nine dawns of visiting the goddess shrines that ring the city, a night of sacrifice, and on the tenth day the first appearance of the Navadurga — masked dancers who are treated as living gods. The most distinctive Dashain in Nepal, and how to see it.
On the eighth and ninth days of Dashain, goats, buffalo and birds are sacrificed at temples and in household yards across Nepal. It is central to the festival, public, and avoidable. What happens and why, where you will and will not see it, the debate within Nepal, and how to behave if you choose to watch.
Dashain gives a photographer bamboo swings at sunset, kite fights over brick rooftops, masked dancers, a military parade and the best light of the year. It also happens largely inside people's homes. A shot list by day, where to stand, what to carry, and when the camera should stay in the bag.
Forgot something, or need a doctor before or after your trek? What you can and cannot buy in Nepal, how pharmacies in Thamel and Lakeside work, the local names worth knowing, where the travel clinics are, and what medical help exists on the trail.
Fear of altitude, the Lukla flight, suspension bridges, being far from help — trek anxiety is common and manageable. How to tell anxiety from altitude sickness, four techniques that work in the moment, and how we plan a trek around a nervous trekker.
Most post-trek tiredness is just tiredness. A few symptoms are not. Why illness can appear days or weeks after you get home, the one rule about fever, what persistent stomach and chest symptoms mean, and exactly what to tell your doctor.
If you have a week to spare after a trek, a retreat is the deepest way to use it. Ten-day Vipassana, courses at Kopan, intensive practice at Lumbini and shorter yoga retreats compared — with what each really involves and how to plan the dates.