Clients Reviews

After reading online reviews we contacted Rabin and several other “Trekking companies” inquiring about trekking the Annapurna Circuit. This was our first visit to Nepal so we were a little apprehensive about selecting a guide via web endorsements and email. After receiving several quotes and descriptions of the trek we focused on Adventure Guides. I had done some research on where to stay in Kathmandu and when I asked Rabin where he recommended he suggested The International Guest House. The very same place i was interested in. He met us at the airport and had a vehicle to take us to the hotel. Rabin and porter Suk were great to travel with. They took care of all the tedious details so that we could enjoy Nepal and the trek. It was a fabulous journey and we are planning to come back next year and trek with Rabin. Visited October 2016
Email: rkboston@comcast.net

This is my second trip with Rabin and I am already looking forward to a third trip with him soon. That show how much I value his services, his extensive experiences with the treks, his honesty and of course, the great supporting staffs he have.

I feel safe and well taken care of with Rabin as my guide. He is a man with integrity and deal in a most honest way with us. This is unlike lots of horror stories you read about guides and tea-house owners collaborating to fleece hikers. We pay exactly what we consumed at the tea-houses based on the published menu prices, no more and no less. With Rabin, there is no hidden cost.

With more than 20 years of trekking experiences, he gave good advises on the route and safety measures to take. For example, he insisted that we started off early on a particular day so that we will reach a section with ice-sheet before the ice started to melt and traversing the ice-sheet becomes dangerous and difficult.

We have a large team of porters and assistant guides to take care of our team of 12 hikers and everyone on Rabin's team have been extremely helpful and friendly. My teenage son enjoyed playing Uno and sliding down the ABC icy slope with a teenage porter, a fellow hiker who has walking difficulties was supported all the way by assistant guides and porters and our meals were all ordered in advance so the group don't have to wait long for food to be served.
Email: alex168lim@gmail.com

The trekking was an extraordinary experience. Breathtaking views of Everest and the surrounding 8000s. Rabin always made sure we have a nice accommodation, enough for eating and drinking, warm and comfortable. He is a really caring guide. I would do another trip with him right away. He organised everything so that we could totally focus on the hiking.

I'm so grateful that I finally finished the trekking, and this must be credit to our professional guide, Rabin! He is so nice! He cared us so much, greeted us with his big warming smile during the whole journey! Before this trekking, the highest place I had ever been was only 934 meters, I was so worried about high altitude problem. But In fact, my adaptability was pretty good, cuz Rabin's trekking plan was so suitable for me that I finally reached EBC and Kala Pattar under the snow and strong winds! When we backed to Island Peak Base Camp after summit, he brought hot drinks and biscuits and waited for us on the way, that was so sweet and we were really really exhausted and hungry at that time, he just like an angle showed up to us!

It's a great trekking journey and I really thanks Rabin's guiding and accompany with us! We shared the precious moments on this journey!

My name is Petch from Thailand. Me and my friends have been to Annapurna (4,130m) during Apr 2018. For the long trekking, u need to prepare a lot. your heart your body to get to the top However guide is also really important key to help u reach ur goal. To help u prepare for the flight, staying, estimated walking distance, bag carry and many many things behind the scene and last until u arrived home safely.

During our trip, Rabin Garung has done an excellence job as a guide. He is really professional and well experienced guide in Nepal. He and his team always give us great support when we need. If anyone want to ABC or trekking in Nepal, i would really love to recommend this guys and his team

It was such a hard fight to join this trip. Because I had to work hard to find funding for this training. It is the first summit I attended team NOBAT ( No Boundary Adventurers Association Sabah ) to the Himalayas with AMG (Adventure Mountain Guide Rabin Gurung), I gained a great experience, which Mr. Rabin Gurung very friendly and kind as a mountain guide who experience he made this trip so enjoyable, and build better friendship.

I would like to thank him for giving the best service to us, this is the first time I walk for 21 days hahahaha . In every step he remained faithful to accompany and do not leave us, even though there are 2 person in our group did not succeed, and he sent back with our high camp Lobuche to support the spirit reached the summit Lobuche.

Nice trip and good service such as tents, food and stories you tell about your family, it is good, and I enjoyed the trip because you protected me and my team so much.

Keep up the good work you AMG! I am happy to see and to know you! Good luck! * extra bonus able to speak bahasa melayu! hehe

Stepping off a plane in a foreign country can often be a tedious experience. Our arrival in Kathmandu was no different, until we found ourselves greeted by the smiling face of the individual who would be by our side for the next few weeks as we ascended from smoggy valleys to Nepal’s fortress peaks. I have never been an individual fond of using a guide unless I was climbing up into the altitudes where local assistance was absolutely necessary. After first meeting Rabin, my thoughts began to change. To us, Rabin wasn’t a guide, but a friend who knew the way. His warm disposition, and gentle ways quickly forged a friendship that would last much longer than any trek. His knowledge of the path, from short-cuts, to scenic routes allowed us to cater our trek in exactly the way that we had hoped. My brother and I are not the first people to recognize Rabin’s friendly demeanor. Even the owners of remote guesthouses remember such an individual, and we immediately became adopted by several families along the way, allowing for a cultural interchange that few tour companies could hope to offer.

I have been to Nepal on several occasions, allured by the majestic peaks that no other region on earth can compare with. My brother and I didn’t want to be corralled into a large group or feel trapped by the pace or routine of other individuals. We wanted to travel at our own speed, to stop and bask in the sun by rivers edge when the mountains were illuminated at that magical time of day… or pull up our boots and push over one more pass when the time felt right. Rabin happily accommodated our each and every need, always with a smile.

On several occasions, trekking in different regions of Nepal, I have run into guided individuals being led to one particular guesthouse, or often met with a sigh when they wished to push on. Often individuals have expressed their reluctance with using one company or another. I look back at these times, and then compare them with my own experiences and I can only laugh. Either fate or luck, I can’t think of a better human that I would want by my side when ascending into the unknown, and if you are fortunate enough to be greeted by Rabin’s warm smile, you too will be able to know what I speak of.

After an exhausting effort, mixed with doubts of our own ability, my brother and I climbed upon the summit of Mera Peak on October 23rd at 7:40AM. Roped in, we had to help cut the trail after severe winds prevented climbers from reaching the peak over the previous 36 hours. Atop the mountain, we soaked in several of the world’s highest peaks, including the highest, which seemed so close that one could reach out and touch it. The valleys that fell away below us, and the seemingly endless views now all seem to dreamlike to have been real. From departure to descent, none of it would have been possible without the knowledge and connections that a guide like Rabin has to offer.

I do not write this because anything of it will come to me. I write it because I have met an individual whom I know success will follow. Great things happen to great people, and when one meets such a person, no time in the day is small enough to offer them assistance. I wish not to sell you on any particular trek. This is Nepal. The world is stunning from any mountain ledge you find yourself on in such a place. I’m writing this to let you know that if you’re lucky enough to find yourself on a mountain ledge with a friend like Rabin, that your experience could only lead to a memory that brings a smile.

11 Fieldgate Drive Orangeville ON Canada, L9W 4K7 Canada

Email : dave@thegrimeteam.com

Recently my wife and I visited Nepal for the eighteenth time and enjoyed a wonderful trek, one of the best treks ever, and this was largely due to our guide, Rabin Gurung, with whom we also trekked around Manaslu in 2010.

If you come to Nepal with the idea of doing 'your own trek' with a small party, I highly recommend hiring Rabin. Not only does he have many years of experience but he is very honest and humble, so much so that one woman at a very basic lodge on our recent trek, impressed by the his honesty, told my wife that "this man is very good man, honest man, all other guide-man say lie to customers, say them that price is more high than real price, so they can get more money."

Rabin is always in a good humour and friendly, and gets along well with the local people and the porters too. Furthermore, his varied experience from his earlier years as a porter and cook help to make him a better guide. I can't remember how many times during our treks, when we stopped at a new or very basic lodge, or even at a tea house for lunch, when the owner's cooking skills were at most primitive, Rabin tactfully volunteered to move into the kitchen and some amazingly delicious food would come out, made from the most simple ingredients.

Three years ago, in March of 2010, the Manaslu trek was not what it is now. Along the entire trek from Arughat (where we had to start walking) until we reached to Annapurna circuit route, there was at that time only a single lodge with what could be called a 'menu', and that was the one and only lodge in Sama village at that time. All other villages either had nothing but dal bhat and perhaps chapatis, or nothing to eat and no lodge at all. We had to camp some places, but when we could, we stayed in the simple lodges that existed and he often improved our diet by cooking foods that the proprietor did not know how to cook, sometimes even such a basic menu item as an omelet, to be rolled up inside a chapati for breakfast.

This year, again in March, we decided to return to the same area, with the desire to explore the newly opened valley of Tsum. This is a lovely, beautiful valley populated by some 4000 Tibetan people, who have lived for nearly a thousand years in that inaccessible 'hidden valley', connected by easy passes to Tibet but until not so many decades ago, without any reasonable connection to Nepal through the truly stupendous canyons of the lower section of valley. Indeed, many inhabitants could not speak any Nepali, only Tibetan, which made it difficult at times. We had a double permit, which if you ever want to see Tsum Valley thoroughly, I highly recommend. Most people try to do a quick one-week detour to Tsum Valley as a kind of bonus side trip on the way around Manaslu. They never know what they have missed. Some of the most interesting villages and friendliest people, and some truly awesome scenery, can be visited in Tsum valley if you have time. One week is too little time to see more than a quick glimpse of the Valley.

I and my wife have been trekking in Nepal for years, myself since 1981, and our trek to Manaslu was the first time we had ever used a guide (because it was required on that trek), despite having visited some very remote areas such as crossing the Trashi Labtsa Pass from Khumbu into Rolwaling with friends in 1982. I had doubts about using a guide, I had seen how so many of them control their clients and take commission from lodge owners to fill their pockets, I have seen many guides from Kathmandu who knew less about the local people and places than I did. I say this not to boast but as a word of caution: there are all too few honest, humble, helpful, and experienced guides out there, and many of those who are have moved into the higher levels of trekking management and no longer guide. But from the first days, on our 2010 Manaslu trek, we were impressed by the level of experience Rabin has, and also his sensitivity in allowing us to make our own itinerary day by day. He never was angry, never showed irritation, always explained patiently what was going on, and aways in a good mood. We were a group of five that time, and by the end of the first week we all agreed that if we returned to Nepal for another trek requiring a guide, we would try to get Rabin again.

This is what we did in March 2013 on our visit to Tsum Valley. Using more porters in order to have tents and extra food, we planned to visit the highest area of the upper end of Tsum Valley, and ascend to one of the high passes overlooking Tibet. This year was plagued by poor weather and too much snow in March, however, and we were unable to do that, as were all the people who had set out to trek around Manaslu this March: the deep snow at higher elevations did not allow anyone in the first weeks of March to cross the Larkya La and go around Manaslu. But we had time, and because of the tents and food wehad, we also had more options. The tents and food we used in a wonderful visit to the nunnery at Gumalungdang, up a steep side valley surrounded by the huge peaks of Ganesh Himal. We camped there for two nights, as there is no accommodation yet, and enjoyed incredible sunrise views of the nearby Ganesh Himal and also the distant great Peaks of HImalchuli, Ngadi Chuli, and Manaslu.

Tsum Valley is developing rapidly, as is the Manaslu circuit. However, particularly if you are new to Nepal trekking, don't believe the hype that many agencies will tell you, that the Manaslu trek is the "new Annapurna circuit". The Annapurna trek, over a period of three decades, developed a huge infrastructure for trekkers, with scores and scores of hotels, often equipped with deluxe menus and services, hot showers, laundry service, spring mattresses, etc. I think it will be some time yet before these things appear on the Manaslu trek, and if you find them in some places, don't expect them at the next place. Tsum Valley is one step back in development yet.

One problem to watch out for is this: Tsum Valley's popularity, and this can be said for Manaslu too, is growing much faster than services can be built--maybe largely because the road around Annapurna has grown so quickly and has put people off from that once glorious trek. We were there both times in March, when there are less trekkers than in April or especially the high season in October and November. In Tsum, as of March 2013, there was only one real lodge with rooms, and that was just a bit beyond Lokhpa at the foot of the valley. The other 'lodges' were basically beds in a side room of a local house, the largest such able to sleep ten people but others only four or five. Most villages had only one such place for trekkers to sleep in, some villages had no place. When we reached Mu Gompa, in March all but one of the 80 monks were away from the valley for the winter and furthermore, there was no food available at all. Only because we had our tents and stove and food for going higher up the valley (which we were unable to do because of snow), were we able to stay there e and eat our own food, istead of returning to Nile village the same day. The same goes for Gumbalunddang, where no food was available. if you are going o visit Tsum valley, and perhaps Manaslu too, during the busiest season, think seriously about hiring at least one EXTRA porter and having a tent, stove, and food, in case accommodation is full! It might be worth it! Also think of the porters: we saw many groups of two or three with a guide and a single porter carrying an enormous load, who was trailing far behind the others during the day. Many of them were unhappy with the arrangement.

In conclusion, this time with four people in our group, and with several porters and with Rabin as our guide again, we once more enjoyed what all agreed was one of the best treks we've ever done in the Himalaya, out of a total number of over thirty now, in Nepal and India. Rabin is an excellent choice for a guide. He is honest, will help you save money instead of trying to find ways to squeeze more for himself, he is fun and funny and friendly and all along the trails he makes new friends with the people we meet along the way. He is experienced but doesn't try to tell the customers what to do, he asks what they want to do, and then explains the options. If you are the type of trekker who is truly interested in Nepal, in the places, the culture and religion and people and villages, and like to understand what is happening around you, hire Rabin for your guide, you won't be disappointed. Indeed, like us (except for one, the same group that went around Manaslu with Rabin three years earlier), perhaps you will want to return to Nepal and go on another trek with Rabin Gurung!

Email : jefftckr@s8.dion.ne.jp

This is the second time that we go to Nepal, and both times Rabin has been our guide while trekking. First time we did a 4 day trek in the Annapurna region and the second time a 6 day trek in the Helambu region. We enjoyed both our treks very much and are so happy to have been able to trek with Rabin on both occasions, who is not only a knowledgeable and experienced guide, but also a very nice person and good company. Both of us a re happy to recommend you contacting Rabin if you are planning a trip to Nepal - whether you are going for a short hike or longer trip that needs more planning.

Email : camilla.hedborg@hotmail.com

If you feel tl;dr, please skip to the last line. My name is Patibut Preeyawongsakul. I have been trekking since 2012. I do either individual trekking or going with mountain guide. I was with Rabin on Annapurna Trekking in Dec 2015. Not only on the mountains, but also roaming around in the city. I was with him for totally 15 days. By 4 years of my trekking around Asia (and a little hiking in US), Rabin is the best mountain guide so far. Rabin knows how to take care any kind of trekkers from slow ladies to teenagers. Luckily we didn't need his first aid kit which he always carry it in his backpack. He's expert in almost mountains' information in Nepal (including sometimes Tibet). He can calculate trip's timing very precisely. We could change itinerary on the way we walk without affecting flight schedule (we had one more day on the base camp last time.) Though, His skill still not matches his humbleness and hospitality. I had been seriously discussing with him for 6 months with nothing guarantee I'd go with him, but he happily helped me decide which route to take. He frankly showed the cost breakdown before we make final decision. He welcomed us at the airport, and all of my team had his souvenirs on the day we flew back to our home country. If you want a short review, Hire this guy. 10/10 would go with him again.

Email : padibut@gmail.com

While Rabin is a very knowledgeable and cabable guide it was his kindness, Warm smile, and Constant eagernessto help that made our trip truly memorable. Rabin quickly earned our trust and friendship and would be an exlcellent campanion on any trek ! we would very happily Recommend Rabin to any one who is making a trip in Nepal. He is is a wonderful person, and a good friend.

Email : helen.karrandjas@maclaren.com
Details Address : 191 Millwood Rd, Upper Toronto, ON M4S 1J6 Canada

While Rabin is a very knowledgeable and cabable guide it was his kindness, Warm smile, and Constant eagernessto help that made our trip truly memorable. Rabin quickly earned our trust and friendship and would be an exlcellent campanion on any trek ! we would very happily Recommend Rabin to any one who is making a trip in Nepal. He is is a wonderful person, and a good friend.

Email : saraber@activ8.net.au
4 MOODLE PL ST. KILDA 3182, AUSTRALIA

Sewaktu saya ditugaskan oleh persatuan NOBAT untuk mendapatkan khidmat 'trekking guide' bagi ekspedisi NOBAT Himalaya 2013, saya telah menghubungi beberapa 'trekking agent' di Kathmandu melalui emel. Saya tertarik dengan laman web Rabin Gurung dan 'testimonial' dari beberapa individu yang penat mendapatkan khidmatnya. Rabin memberikan tawaran kos yang paling berpatutan. Dari raut wajahnya saja saya yakin dia adalah orang yang jujur dan'friendly'. Satu kelebihan lain ialah dia boleh berbahasa Malaysia.

Apabila bertemu dengan Rabin buat pertama kalinya di Kathmandu, memang sah bahawa kami telah membuat pilihan yang tepat. Sepanjang trekking, Rabin sangat professional dalam khidmatnya. Beliau flexible dan mudah diajak berunding. Kami tidak lagi menganggapnya sebagai pemandu jalan tetapi sebagai sahabat..kepada sesiapa yang ingin trekking di Himalaya, sila dapatkan khidmat Rabin. Saya percaya anda bakal membuat pilihan yang tepat.
Email: cliffhanger_08@yahoo.com