Taking the road with Govinda isn’t just about traveling from point A to point B. It’s also something initiatory, philosophical. It’s going to meet new horizons, and so many opportunities to marvel, to wonder, to wonder. It’s having the assurance of not being the same between departure and arrival, after crossing an incalculable number of hyper-coloured trucks, loaded as you can’t imagine and always ready to pose for the photo in greeting us with a friendly honk of the horn.

Traveling with Govinda means taking breaks and learning a little more each time about the habits of the Nepalese.

It is certainly to cross all the colors of the Buddha…

… and let yourself be lulled by the prayers broadcast in the valleys and on the mountains by the multitudes of Tibetan flags floating in the light breeze.

It’s having the chance to taste a delicious Dhal Bhat in a magical place, perched above the meanders of a proud river.

It’s stopping regularly to discover small paths that invite you to go on an adventure, here up to a suspension bridge…

…above the river…

A bridge that dances under our hesitant and joyful steps!

Come on, let’s go… who goes first?

We take the opportunity to take a break!

Small smile…

… and a laughing look from the star of the day!

It’s sharing good times, very simple, but enough to bring us small bits of true and deep happiness.

Riding with Govinda means being invited to react differently to everyday events: a lesson in life skills and good manners along the way.

This is an opportunity to learn patience, to learn to taste another rhythm, slower, but fuller. It’s learning that there is no wasted time and that you shouldn’t worry about the passage of time.

It is knowing how to be in ecstasy when the Machapuchare appears.

Above all, it is realizing that Govinda, who is seeing it for the thousandth time, shares our joy with the same intensity as if he were discovering it for the first time.

Traveling with Govinda means getting up at dawn to enjoy breathtaking views of the Annapurna range.

It is to feel an almost sacred emotion, which leaves us speechless, and brings tears to our eyes.

What power !

Wonderful Machapuchare which is revealed as the day dawns.

…and which makes us happy from the first hours of the day… for two…

… for three…

foursome with Dipak which we will talk about in a future article…

Here we are under the spell… We are amazed together by discovering the first clouds which rise above the mountains, under the caress of the first rays of the sun.

We no longer know where to look so there is majestic beauty in front of us. Mother Nature deploys an extraordinary talent there.

Sacred Machapuchare… or Sacred Machapuchare… mountain forever virgin, abode of the gods on which no mountaineer’s foot has ever set foot.

We marvel at the slow and majestic flight of an eagle that has eternity before it…

We are just happy to be there, amazed by an extraordinary moment.

We are also a little nervous discovering the valley in which we are going to trek the next day. We try to find benchmarks. We learn to name the mountains as we learn the first names of new friends with whom we can’t wait to get to know each other.

To go on an adventure with Govinda is to enter into a great inner calm…

… is to smile at life.

It is to let oneself be filled with an intense and serene joy, it is to enter into a vibration in unison with nature. It’s making every morning the first morning in the world.

Going on an adventure with Govinda means taking advantage of time to share, to reflect on the meaning of life, to share one’s projects, one’s experience of Nepalese life.

Going on an adventure with Govinda means learning a little more about Nepal, a world both so different and so similar to ours.

It is to collect images that we will keep for the moments of meditation.

Going on an adventure with Govinda means letting yourself be led with complete confidence to the foot of the first step… and finding it at the foot of the last, at the end of the trek, at that moment when you say to yourself that ‘extra effort is impossible, where every muscle in our body reminds us. But here is Govinda, and with a smile, all is forgotten, except the chanted mantra to find the strength to carry on: « Go, Go, Govinda! »

Traveling with Govinda also means meeting authentic and friendly people who teach us more about the meaning of life than all the articles we have read about Nepal.

It’s like repeating that there is nothing better in life than sharing a good diet of small bananas with friends.

It is the guarantee of good times shared with ease, because it is by this yardstick that the quality of a good trip is measured.

Thank you, friend, for having made us discover with passion and gentleness the roads of your beautiful country and its inhabitants.

Thanks for making us laugh.

Thank you for reminding us that humanity is fortunate when it does not allow itself to be carried away by violence and fury…

Thank you for awakening our optimism.

Thank you for reminding us that it is in meeting the other that we learn the most beautiful stories and that we become fully human because we come back different.

By Nathalie et Jean-Yves