Father’s Day was last Sunday; what better time to reflect upon my recent travels with my father?
Last October I traveled to Nepal to hike the Annapurna Circuit with my 73-year-old father. We hiked for 21 days with many ups and downs…quite literally. I blogged about each step of that journey here on my website. However, I feel like I put so much into that writing that I wanted to offer it to my readers (or whoever is interested!) in a non-blog format!
My first e-book is here – the Tiger Balm Tales from beginning to end with a few pictures in between.
The book is great for anyone who:
- Will be hiking the Annapurna circuit and wants more info on what to expect
- Enjoys heartwarming stories of family travel
- Have ever considered traveling with their parents
- Loves hiking in general
It’s in PDF format – so you can simply download the file and read it at your leisure on your computer, your iPad, your Kindle, or whatever device you read on these days. Heck – you can even print it off if you like the feel of paper between your fingers!
It’s completely FREE – I simply wanted to provide it to my readers to give something back. However, I would of course appreciate it if you continued to support me and my other online travel ventures by:
- Signing up for my newsletter
- Following Briefcase to Backpack on Facebook
- Checking out Meet, Plan, Go!
At the end, I’ve also added a resource section for those who are looking for information on doing the hike themselves. However, I will also give it an A+ here. The trip wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing planning done by my friend Giri and his company. He organized everything for us and treated us like a part of his family in the end. I can’t say enough good things about our experience using Nepal Tourism Company.
Click here to Download the Tiger Balm Tales
Planning a trip to Nepal? Please consider utilizing Giri’s services:
Giri Gurung
Nepal Tourism
www.nepaltourismtravels.com.np
Kathmandu Office – Nurshing Chowk, Thamel 17
+977-1-426-1114
By Heather on her travels June 27, 2010 - 4:15 am
I loved following the stories of your journey and now here it is to read at leisure – Can’t believe that you’ve gone to this trouble and giving it away free. My daughter’s on a school trop to Nepal next year so hope that she’ll read it too.
By Lovely Traveller June 28, 2010 - 10:04 am
Hai it is really enjoyable reading your article. I plan to make a short trip to Nepal and had written a mail to Mr.Giri but has not gotten any reply yet. Therefore i would like to seek your advice whether will he reply instantly or it will takes more than a day to reply?
By admin June 28, 2010 - 6:15 pm
Giri and most people in Nepal are a bit sporadic about getting back to you. He will get back to you – however it’s dependent on power cuts and other things. However – don’t give up…he’ll return your inquiry. It normally takes a few days.
When you use a locally run company as opposed to one booking travel for Nepal out of your home country, it has the downside of being a little less quick, but the upside of being cheaper!
Let me know if you don’t hear back and I’ll def. help you out!
Also – I’d love to have any feedback you have on the experience.
Thanks so much for reading!
Sherry
By Lovely Traveller June 28, 2010 - 9:49 pm
Thanks Sherry . Thank you so much. Definite will share my experience with you. =)Have a good day.
By DAD June 29, 2010 - 11:44 am
What can I say but THANK YOU. It was so nice and thoughtful of you to document our trip in such a nice way. Reading the “Tiger Balm Tales E-Book” brings back all the memories. I Would not trade it for anything in the world.
DAD
By Lovely Traveller July 1, 2010 - 10:49 am
hi Sherry, i haven’t gotten any feedback from Giri since 26th June, anything you could assist me in getting hold of him?
Thank you very much. =)
L.T
By admin July 1, 2010 - 11:00 am
Ok – I sent Giri an email to see if he received your request and if he could get back to you. I had heard from him 2 days ago on a personal level and know that he is not in Kathmandu so that’s probably what’s slowing things down.
When is your trip? Did you email him via his website or some other way. This will hopefully help me track the correspondence down!
Thanks for letting me know!
Sherry
By Lovely Traveller July 1, 2010 - 7:52 pm
Thank you very much Sherry.=)
i emailed him via my email acc. to his website email address – [email protected].
I planned to have a trip tentatively on 14th-24th July. Will get the air ticket booking done over this weekend.
Million thanks Sherry. Have a good day.=)
L.T
By Yee Li August 6, 2010 - 11:12 pm
(pls ignore previous post as grammer mistakes =p)
Hi Sherry, thanks for your help in order for me to meet up Giri and have a wonderful short trip in Nepal. I would like to share some of my experiences and feelings with you and the readers.
Hospitality of local people seems to be part of their living culture, and it is really impressed me. The way they treat a guest, the way they worry about one’s safety,the way they want to make sure you are all right and fine, the way they want you to be happy in their country……..It makes me embarrased of myself as I never have so much thoughts and feelings to a foreigner in my country, I just treat them as one of the living human on the land. =p
The essential of this trip is being able to reach Puma village as I was looking for a pure, sincere place and people to be and Puma hasn’t dissapointed me.=)
Puma is a beautiful village in the sense of the soft and hardscape context still keep intact with the serrounding, people and atmosphere. I do not have so much cultural shock as my country does share some common living habit as they do. I felt peace and completely relax over there although at time I was serrounded by native with native language, but still, I enjoyed the company. I do not have any problem in term of communication wise as Birendra, who led me up to Puma village offered to stay until the day I left wihtout additional charges.=)
Didi, just like everybody in the village said, hardworking, and work hard for the guest, she does…really…oh ya, she mentioned Sherry you as her good sister , she misses you I guess.=)
Nepal is a beautiful country and I wish it can blooms its happiness and pureness to serrounding and most importantly does not erode by time and the progress of development.
Puma, a place that I will definite go back again, hopefully next time I can be treated as one of them and not a guest.
Many things to share but I think I better stop here before it gets long-winded.
and last, life is beautiful and nothing is more than self-happiness, a smile could change the world.
I realized I never being so curious to my own country, my own culture but i do that to others. =______=
o welllll….. thanks Sherry for your kind sharing. =)
Yee Li from Malaysia,Penang.
By Dale October 20, 2010 - 9:04 am
Just come across your tale of walking the Annapurna Circuit with your Dad, I have found it entertaining and informative.
My own Dad (67) a spring chicken compared to your Dad, has asked me if I wanted to do this with him next year (since retiring he has already done Everest base camp and the Inca trail in Peru), so I have been looking all over the internet on information and peoples experiences.
Yours is one of the odd ones that doesn’t sound like a travel brochure or mainly talk about the negative points, which are usually because they where not expecting things to be so basic or the walkers who have seemed to treat it as a time trial so miss out on all the things to take in.
I have already emailed it on to my Dad as I am sure he will enjoy reading it as much as I did…
Also loved the photos…
By Sherry Ott October 27, 2010 - 11:11 pm
Dale – thanks for your comment! I’m so excited for you and your dad! I do hope the Ebook helps a bit in knowing what to expect. And if my dad can do it – I’m sure yours can too. We did really go much slower than most tourists though – but I really preferred that anyway…I don’t like to race through things – I prefer to dig into a culture and spend some time.
If you need any help or need a great guide who did a great job with my dad – just let me know – I”m really happy to help! Please do keep me updated on your progress – we’ll be cheering for you!
Sherry
By Dale August 18, 2011 - 9:12 am
Thanks for your encouragement.
we made it all the way around, just my Dad, Ratna our guide, Nara the Porter and I. Treating it as 4 friends on a big hike, made it an enjoyable exerience for all 4 of us. Even for an unfit big sod like me.
I tried keeping a log of how it was going but got out the habbit after a few very tiring days.. (shame on me) never figured out how to write up the rest to finish it all off.
https://youtube.com/my_playlists?p=7E8C52ABB2592B5E
By Sherry August 30, 2011 - 3:31 am
Congratulations!!! What an accomplishment! Did your dad enjoy it too?
By Dale September 13, 2011 - 11:58 am
Dad yeah he enjoyed it, he already had trek to Everest Base camp and 2 Inca Trails under his belt since he retired… Spending the inheritance lol.
By gill March 21, 2011 - 5:13 am
Thanks for this Sherry, it was such a lovely and informative read. Great photos too. In planning stages for my adventure next year so voraciously reading.
gill
By Sherry March 24, 2011 - 12:09 am
Thanks for stopping by Gill!
By gill groom May 5, 2012 - 11:05 am
Guess what Sherry, we have recently returned from our trip. AND, we stayed in Puma village for a night with Surya Kumari!! (Didi) !!
By Seema August 8, 2011 - 8:27 am
I loved reading your blog. It makes everything very real. We are planning to go on the abc trek and I was worried about it due to bad knees but knowing that you and your father did the circuit gives me a lot of encouragement
By Dale September 13, 2011 - 12:05 pm
The people who we went through had taken a 70 year old man with a small oxygen bottle, so I wouldnt worry.
Plus I am unfit so and so..and survived. LOL
as long as you take a easy pace and not rush, plus take lots of fluids.
though the steps will make your legs rather sore, it is worth the sense of achievment..