Some coworkers of mine went to Nepal with the intention of doing some hiking. They arranged everything once they got there.

I was just in Lhasa and met quite a few people who had trekked around Nepal and then gone up to Lhasa.

Everyone I met said they arranged things upon arrival in Nepal, but had done the research for where they wanted to go beforehand. They said the only thing you had to watch out for was the group, Maoists. You should apparently pay them or risk being held at gun point and losing things like your camera/wallet/anything else that is expensive.

Anyway, if Lhasa was any indication you will have no trouble finding people at hostels to travel with. Just post a notice or respond to others. At the Pentoc in Lhasa, groups of 3 jeeps were put together to get to Everest and the Nepali border in 3 days or less.

Make sure you don’t forget about AMS! Especially if you plan on going to Lhasa. It sucks! You need to make sure you drink 3-4 L of water per day, trek high and sleep low, and if you are in a rush take Diamox.

Good Luck!

thx you very much ! very informative i didnt even consider such things as mountain sickness…

im not planning on going to everest just around nepal mountains not 2 high… would i still need some kind of precaution?

and how bad/rampant are the maoists in there?

HACE and HAPE are very serious and fatal illnesses at that altitude. Hydrate yourself plenty and get some pills to deal with the change.  The key is to aclitimize slowly if possible.
 
ANd the rebels won’t bother you, at worst you may have to pay $10 or something for passage, but they don’t kill/rape/torture tourists as far as I know

well at least the rebels are out of the way.

what is “aclitimize”? could’nt find the word.

ty for reply! []

aclitimizing is slowly taking time to adjust to the high altitude, don’t go up too far too fast basically

I don’t know if it is too late to reply to this but I spent 14 days in Nepal this March.
You do not need any guide to take you around Katmandu – do your own readings and get a taxi to take you around Katmandu. Taxi is cheap and safe there.
If you want to hike up Everest, then get your plane tickets when you are in Katmandu. There are many travel agents there that you can shop around for plane tickets to Lukla. Once in Lukla there are many sherpas outside the airport to help you with your trip.
You do not need any special gears to go up to Namcee Bazaar. But do you need to be fit enough to get up there. Once you arrive in Lukla you need to start your hike to Pakding to acclimatize. And the next day will be a longer tougher hike up to Namcee Bazaar.
If you need more information, please email me at macqina@yahoo.com, or sign up to be my contact in macqina.multiply.com. There are loads of photos of my Nepal trip but only viewable if you are my contact.