How Much Does the Everest Base Camp Trek Cost?

The Everest Base Camp trek can cost under US $500 for shoestringers who walk in from Jiri, then straight in and straight out to Everest Base Camp, unguided, over 24 days or so in low season, or over $10,000 for people who book luxury treks with helicopter transport.

We flew in and out of Lukla, walked at a leisurely pace through Gokyo with a porter-guide who carried the bulk of our gear, staying at cheap lodges and purifying our own water but enjoying the odd beer, pudding and bucket wash: 19 days in the mountains cost us around $1100 per head, including $280 on flights, all food, fees, accommodation, passes and tips.

For more detail and cost breakdowns, see my post How Much Does the Everest Base Camp Trek Cost? Note that for most trekkers food will be the single most expensive item on the trip, followed by flights and travel insurance: most organised budget Western tours exclude food. In 2019, Nepal Airlines Kathmandu-Lukla flights cost 5105NPR each way for Nepalese citizens (around US $45), or $151 each way for international travellers.

How Fit Do I Need to Be to Do the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Children as young as six and adults of over 70 have walked to Everest Base Camp, and the straight-in, straight-out trek is less demanding than you would think, provided you allow yourself the time to acclimatise to altitude that YOUR body needs, and listen to your body when it tells you to stop.

Because of steep ascents and descents, rocky paths, rock steps and some moraine walking, the Everest Base Camp trek isn’t suitable for anyone with knee problems or weak ankles, while people carrying significant extra weight are likely to struggle with this at altitude. Anyone with heart trouble or lung problems should check with their doctor. Be aware that medical facilities on the trail are very, very basic.

Although the days of walking are short enough for even slow walkers to manage them comfortably, provided you are travelling at your own pace, a reasonable level of fitness is required. If you get puffed out climbing a few flights of stairs, then ascending over 3000 vertical metres with lots of ups and downs along the way is not for you. But my twelve-year-old son and I did it (for an account of doing Everest Base Camp with a child, start here), and, though we’ve done some challenging trekking, we’re far from your stereotypical super-fit hikers.

As a rule of thumb, if you are reasonably fit, have some experience of hiking at altitude, have done some mountain or gorge hiking, and have done hikes that last multiple days and involve basic conditions, you’re fit enough to get to Everest Base Camp and should also enjoy it. For many, a porter will be a wise investment: in my experience, carrying 10kg at 5000m is like carrying 30kg at sea level.

Do I Need To Do the Everest Base Camp Trek as Part of an Organised Tour?

I would argue against taking an organised tour to Everest Base Camp. If you do want to do it, be aware that those booked overseas cost, typically, 2-3 times the price of those arranged in-market, and usually exclude food, which is far more expensive than standard teahouse rooms. More importantly, you’re tied into a group schedule, which means that if you have difficulty acclimatising to altitude, or get sick with a tummy bug or a cold, you’ll have to either walk at the pace of the group no matter how rough you feel or drop out altogether.

You are much better off arranging a porter, porter-guide or guide and porters yourself, either independently or with the help of a Nepali agent, who can also coordinate flights and passes. You are far more likely to die of AMS on an organised tour than you are while trekking independently.

The two instances where organised tours make sense are where you require less basic accommodation – the higher-end lodges discount heavily to tour operators and not to independent travellers — and where you want to meet climbers at Everest Base Camp proper or spend the night in the camp. Mountain Madness has tours that include a night camping at Base Camp with their climbers at around the $5000 mark: these run during the March-May climbing season only.

That said, if you’re uncomfortable arranging things for yourself, or want the companionship of a group, GetYourGuide offers tours with prices below US $1000.

Organised camping tours are a mystifyingly popular option. Before booking these, be aware that you will not be wilderness camping, or free camping: almost all of the time you will be in a tent encampment in the middle of a village where everyone else is staying in lodges.

What Is Everest Advanced Base Camp?

When mountaineers climb Everest they set up their base camp on the moraine below the Khumbu Icefall, and proceed up the mountain in a series of different camps. Advanced Base Camp, also known as Camp 1, is on the other side of the Khumbu Ice Fall, the lethally dangerous series of ice slabs where sixteen climbers were killed fixing ropes in 2014: getting there requires mountaineering skills, mountaineering equipment and expedition-level support. The route across the ice fall is set by professional teams of Sherpas during the March-May climbing season each year: to use it, you’ll need to be a mountaineer, or pay top dollar to tag along with a mountaineering expedition.

Don’t confuse this with Everest Advanced Base Camp in Tibet, which is accessed from the Chinese side.

Can I Camp at Everest Base Camp?

Base camp only exists during the climbing season – at other times of year it’s just a moraine with some prayer flags to mark an abstract spot. During climbing season, it’s reserved for expeditions: Mountain Madness, which also runs climbing expeditions, runs treks that include a night camping at Base Camp. Out of climbing season, because of the instability of the moraine – basically heaps of rubble atop a half-decayed glacier – camping is discouraged. Even organised camping tours camp at Gorak Shep, the cluster of lodges an hour or so’s walk from base camp proper.

Is There Mobile Signal on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

The main Everest Base Camp route now has decent cell coverage – although be aware that you will need to pay from 200 to 600 NPR per hour to charge your devices. You can buy a local Ncell SIM with 5gb of data for under $25: do this in Kathmandu or Pokhara, not Lukla!

Will I Get to Hang out with Climbers at Everest Base Camp?

Unfortunately not. Climbers are focused on climbing and, unless you’ve paid top dollar for tours by operators which also arrange climbing expeditions, even if you trek during climbing season (March to early May) you’ll only see the tents, not meet the climbers.

I’ve Never Trekked Before. Can I Do the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Before committing to at least eleven days hiking in (generally) basic conditions, it’s a good idea to establish that you like hiking and don’t mind basic conditions, so that you can actually enjoy the experience when you do it. Bank a two- or, optimally, three-day hike to see how you feel about walking each day and being away from home comforts before you commit.

How Should I Prepare for the Everest Base Camp Trek?

The Everest Base Camp trek is less physically strenuous than some people make out – although not a walk in the park. The main issue is going up and down steep slopes and steps, and so the best preparation is to go up and down lots and lots of stairs with the weight that you’ll be carrying when you trek. The trek starts at Lukla, 2,860m above sealevel, and culminates at Gorak Shep, over 5,160m above sealevel, so it’s worth banking some higher altitude trekking experience before committing to it.

Can I Drink the Water on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Nepalese tap water is not safe to drink. Bring water purifying tablets or a water purifying stick to save money and the environment. Note that at higher elevations during the coldest times of year the water will freeze, so you’ll need to buy boiled water from teahouses. Buy a decent thermos flask or plastic water container in Kathmandu so that you can top up with hot, boiled water at the beginning of the day – starting with hot water will stop it freezing. (For more on the gear you’ll need for Everest Base Camp, click here.)

Can I Do the Everest Base Camp Trek If I’m Scared of Heights?

Yes! I did! Provided you take a guide, or porter-guide, with you, or are travelling in a group, there are actually relatively few scary bits on the straight-in, straight-out Everest Base Camp trek.

A few suspension bridges will take courage to walk across: they’re sturdy and well-guarded, with handrails and wire mesh below the rail, but they are high, and move with the motion of your feet and the feet of anyone else on them.

In most places the path follows steep slopes rather than sheer precipices, and most of these have tree cover too. Where the path does trace a sheer precipice, it is wide enough not to provoke too much panic.

Is the Everest Base Camp Trek Dangerous?

The first rule of trekking Everest Base Camp is to step to the wall side when you meet a yak or mule train, since otherwise you can be knocked off the edge. The straight-in, straight-out route, though, is relatively danger-free: the path has been widened and in many places smoothed for trekkers, especially where it traces a sheer slope.

The main danger for most people doing the straight-in, straight-out route is altitude sickness (AKA Acute Mountain Sickness or AMS). For most people, this can be avoided by sleeping no more than 300 metres higher than you did the night before and taking an acclimatisation day every 1000 metres. Serious AMS is more common in folk doing group tours than in independent trekkers.

Other common injuries are twisted ankles and sprains. Rock falls, moraine and glacier crossings add significant risk to longer treks involving crossing high passes such as the Cho-La. As always, it’s unwise to trek solo in case you fall and can’t extricate yourself: people disappear on this route all the time. Do note, however, that it is not illegal to trek solo: solo climbing of Everest might be banned, but solo trekking to Base Camp is fine.

Will My Travel Insurance Cover Me for the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Check the terms and conditions of your travel insurance very carefully (here’s why) before embarking on the Everest Base Camp trek – the elevations involved are above 5000m, and many companies simply will not cover you at that level. World Nomads offers cover for trekking up to 6000m on recognised routes like Everest Base Camp and the Three Passes to many nationalities.

You should also ensure you are covered for helicopter evacuation from the mountains in emergencies, while mountaineers should arrange cover with their specialist mountaineering association at home before they travel.

Can I Get Cash Out on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Yes, but it will cost you! The bank in Lukla charges a fee of 5%; in Namche, there is a Visa ATM which sometimes works, plus moneychangers who will run Visa, Mastercard and Union Pay cards for a fee of 8%. A few of the more expensive lodges on the main Everest Base Camp route will take Mastercard and Visa cards and, I’d imagine, will run them in emergencies for a fee.

It’s still a good idea to carry all the NPR cash you think you will need for your trek with you (Nabil Bank and Standard Chartered offer withdrawals of 35,000 rupees each time), plus a couple of hundred US dollars in cash in case, for example, you break a limb and need to be transported on a mule down to the nearest helicopter evac point.

Can I Do Everest Base Camp with Kids?

A number of families with children, including us, have done and enjoyed the Everest Base Camp trek (my account of doing the Everest Base Camp Trek with my child starts here): the youngest child I know of was six, which raised some eyebrows at the time.

It is unwise to take a child to Everest Base Camp unless that child is old enough to recognise and communicate the early signs of AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness, previously known altitude sickness) – otherwise, they could die.

It should go without saying that any child who does not understand risk and does not obey its parents is risking life and limb in the high Himalayas. Further, any child that’s averse to exercise, not good with cold climates, fussy about what it eats, where it sleeps or what bathroom facilities it uses is unlikely to enjoy the Everest Base Camp trek.

Points to consider before you go: toilet and washing facilities become progressively more basic the higher you ascend, which may make the trek unbearable for some teen girls. Unless you arrange a custom camping tour with your own menu, or bring your own cooking equipment and ingredients, the food becomes very monotonous. At least one porter will come in handy at altitude unless your children are good to carry all 12-18kg of their own gear.

There is pretty much nothing to do in the evenings at any of the lodges and it can cost as much as 600 Nepali Rupees ($6) per hour to charge electronic devices at higher elevations, and charge is not always an option. Consider bringing lightweight games as well as a lightweight power bank.

The golden rule with kids is to allow for lots of rest and acclimatisation days. But there are plenty of delights in the mountains, from animals and wildlife, through to icicles to shatter, glacier lakes to skate on, rocks to chuck and safe places to climb. Active children should find the trek really fun provided you don’t press the pace.

Horses, mules, yaks and porters provide alternatives to carrying tired children at a price. Chocolate is really expensive at high elevations – as much as $4 for a Snickers bar – so bring all consumable bribes with you from Kathmandu or Pokhara. And – obviously – bring spare sets of gloves, including liners, and hats.

I’m a huge fan of travelling with kids whenever you can, so I’d say do it.

Can I Bring My Laptop on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Yes, though you may regret it if you have to carry it. There is wifi, when it’s working, at many points along the main Everest Base Camp trek, all over Lukla and all over Namche, as well as in Gokyo: there is, theoretically, now 3G signal along the Everest Base Camp route, although I wouldn’t recommend relying on it.

Battery charge costs from 200NPR ($2) to 600NPR ($6) per hour, and is only available where there is solar electricity to spare. Again, you may be able to negotiate a flat rate for this. If you’re trekking in winter, you may find your battery won’t even charge in the low temperatures higher up.

Do I Need a Guide, a Porter, a Porter-Guide or No Guide?

The Everest Base Camp trek is busy and generally well-marked, so you don’t need a guide to find the way, except when navigating the moraine at the end or when visibility is obscured in midwinter or monsoon. In theory, you are legally required to have a guide, but trekkers continue to make the trip independently.

That said, the trip is definitely best enjoyed with someone who speaks Nepali and some Sherpa and understands the local culture, and arguably more pleasant if you’re not carrying much: you’ll have a richer experience and contribute more to Nepal’s economy if you travel with a guide or porter-guide.

A porter’s role is to carry loads. You shouldn’t pay less than 1000 rupees a day to a porter, and shouldn’t give them more than 15kg to carry, as they have their own stuff to carry as well (the legal limit in Nepal is a total of 35kg). It’s your responsibility to see that your porters have the right gear for the elevations they’ll be headed to. They may not know the route and may not speak any English.

A porter-guide will speak some English, carry loads and do some basic guiding – showing the way, explaining the basics of a monastery or a ceremony, helping negotiate rooms at a lodge, or translating conversations with locals. You can’t expect an in-depth history of a specific spot, though. Expect to pay from $20.

Most guides will not carry anything (unless you’re exhausted and they want to get somewhere), but will look after every aspect of your trip, from arranging rooms, meals, flights, or camping gear, through to timing your arrival at a peak for sunrise, knowing the history of that monastery, etcetera. They should speak fluent English and will handle any porters they recruit: expect to pay $40-$60 per day. The larger the team they manage, and the harder the work you are asking them to do, the more a guide will cost.

Because porters, porter-guides and guides pay their own accommodation, you can expect to end up at lodges that offer them good deals. If you want a different lodge, the right thing to do is to cover your porter’s increased costs.

The standard tip is 25%. We found our excellent porter-guide Nir through Narayan Bhandari. All agencies take their cut, but it means the negotiation is done, the upfront payment is delivered, you have someone you can rely on who won’t run off with your gear leaving you stranded, and everything’s clear at the end of the trek.

For more difficult stretches, like crossing the Cho-La pass, most lodges can arrange porters, guides or porter-guides for that particular day.

Is It Worth Bringing My Own Food?

Snacks are expensive on the trail, so they are definitely worth bringing. Lodges charge extra if you bring your own food in, not to mention for hot water, so shoestringers hoping to make a bag of rice last a twelve-day trek will find this a false economy. Fuel is really at a premium in the mountains. Dal bhat, the Nepali lentil stew, is the most economical way to eat: above Namche, the EBC trek is not a gourmet experience.

How Long Does the Everest Base Camp Trek Take?

This depends very much on what route you do. It is possible, and most group tours plan, to walk in from Lukla and back out the same way in twelve days (this one follows the classic schedule), but you should allow extra days in your schedule in case you get sick, need extra acclimatisation or flights are backed up in Lukla either heading in or heading out. I’d recommend planning for twelve days plus a two day detour up to Chhukung to catch some views, then if you get sick or have trouble acclimatising you can drop the detour but still see Everest Base Camp and get the views from Kala Patthar.

The route we took leads up the Gokyo Valley to beautiful Gokyo Ri, over the Cho-La Pass (which isn’t always passable) and then up the Khumbu to Everest and back down to Namche and Lukla. While not a complete loop route, you do avoid the repetition of an in-and-out trek. This took us nineteen days, going at a leisurely pace with multiple rest days. It’s possible to do it in sixteen.

Another alternative, which is physically challenging and involves a lot of altitude, is the Three Passes trek, for which you should allow at least twenty days. This takes you down the Thame Valley, over the Renjo-La to the Gokyo Valley, over the Cho-La to the Khumbu, up to Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar, then down and over the Kongma La to the Imja Khola Valley, and back down to Namche and Lukla. You only repeat the first two days of the trek and get incredible mountain views.

Other variations include the Five Passes Trek, the Seven Passes Trek, and a custom route allowing you to climb some walkable peaks along the way. For these, I’d recommend
National Geographic’s excellent map and probably also Jamie McGuinness’s Trekking in the Everest Region: you can buy both of these on BookDepository.com with free international shipping.

Can I Wear Trainers on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

No, because if it gets cold you could get frostbite. You need decent waterproof boots with a bit of ankle support (not necessarily hiking boots, unless you’re doing a pass that needs crampons or similar), also some sandals or, if you fancy yourself as a mountaineer, down booties for when you take them off in the evening. For more on this see “What Gear Do I Need for the Everest Base Camp Trek?“

What Is the Accommodation Like on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Accommodation on the Everest Base Camp trek is basically available at two price points – 150-600 Nepali rupees ($1.25-$5.50), or $150+ (or, of course, you can do a camping trip). Prices vary via elevation and season: the higher, the higher.

Entry-level accommodation typically buys you a clean, sunlit plywood cell, with two beds, perhaps a table and some hooks on the wall, a window, perhaps with a view, plus a couple of shared squat toilets and a shower room in which you can wash from a bucket of hot water for an extra fee. Only the main shared dining area will be heated and then only at certain times of day, and you will need to purchase everything from boiled water to toilet paper.

At busy times of year there may not be enough quilts, so it’s critical to bring a cold-weather sleeping bag. Toilets are generally not for the squeamish, and the absence of insulation can make lodges hell for light sleepers, especially in peak season.

At lower elevations, 500NPR (less than $5) will buy you a bathroom of your own with a Western toilet, although you’ll almost certainly need to shower elsewhere (and pay extra for the bucket of hot water, typically 300NPR – $3). The pricing assumes you will eat dinner and breakfast in your lodge, rather than elsewhere – lodges double or triple prices if you don’t eat in their restaurant. In peak season, prices for accommodation at Gorak Shep can rise above 1,000 NPR ($11) for a basic room, one reason many organised tours don’t overnight there.

Top-end accommodation features similar rooms, but stone built and slightly larger, with carpeting and en suites and perhaps a desk. In many of these, though, you will need to flush your en suite Western-style toilet from a bucket, and request a bucket of hot water to use under your apparently decorative shower. Most have some form of in-room heating but you will not be lounging in the boudoir in a negligee or dining in shirtsleeves.

At Lobuche and Gorak Shep, where fuel and solar electricity are at a premium, all accommodation is basic. Yes, even if you’ve spent $10,000 on a top-end tour. Sorry!

What Is the Food Like on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Expect to eat a lot of rice and dal, with perhaps some yak, at higher elevations: Namche Bazar, however, has what’s probably the highest Irish pub in the world, complete with canned Guinness and boxed wine.

I’ve Heard Flying into Lukla is Dangerous. Do I Have To?

Yes, Lukla is a dangerous airport, and flying into Lukla is terrifying. And, no, you don’t have to fly. If you have the time, you can walk in from Jiri (technically Sriwalajaya), which is a strenuous six-day trek that goes up and down the sides of valleys, or Phaplu, or other more distant destinations, and walk out to one or the other of those places: Jiri is on a bus route from Kathmandu, while Phaplu is a lengthy and adventurous jeep ride.

What If My Stuff Breaks? Can I Buy a Replacement on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Both Lukla and Namche are full of trekking stores selling things like hiking poles, gloves, windproof jackets, cold-weather sleeping bags, head torches and day packs, as well as books, energy bars, snacks and the usual tourist tat. You are much better off buying everything you need in Kathmandu, where prices are lower, or before you go.

Outside Lukla and Namche, options are much more limited: don’t plan on finding anything more than loo roll, snacks, drinks, batteries and possibly the odd pair of woollen gloves in many villages.

Should I Buy My Gear at Home or in Nepal?

That very much depends on how much use you intend to get out of it. Reasonable quality fake gear is available in Kathmandu and Pokhara for a fraction of the price of the real deal – be aware that standards are lower, so a -30°C rated sleeping bag will only be good for -20°C, a 900 fill down jacket is more likely to be 700 fill, etcetera. You can expect fake sleeping bags and jackets to leak down, and should feel everything you buy for fill before you spend.

Whatever boots you wear need to be broken in before you get to the mountains – unless blisters are part of your trekking plan, buy these outside Nepal, or with enough time left to break them in, and don’t even think about renting boots. Many places in Kathmandu and Pokhara, including Shona’s Alpine on Amrit Marg in Thamel, also rent out down gear and sleeping bags, typically for less than a dollar per item per day, which are the most sensible option if you don’t think you’ll be using them again for a while. More detail here.

Always travel with cold weather gear. In 2014, many trekkers died on Annapurna because they didn’t have the gear to handle the blizzard that came in.

What Is the Best Time of Year to Do the Everest Base Camp Trek?

If you value solitude, the monsoon season (June-August) and midwinter (January-February) can make a great time to do it, depending how well you cope with extreme climate, although if you’re adding in high passes to the route they may become impassable. When trekking during those times, allow space for delays, be aware that trail conditions can be difficult and do not assume that flights will run on time. In monsoon season visibility can be very poor, while during winter blizzards can white out the trail.

The main peak season is late September to early December, but during October and November the trails can become unpleasantly crowded with trekkers and the yak and mule trains that support them, and lodges are often block-booked by tour groups. March to May, when the flowers are out, is increasingly popular – one advantage of trekking in April-May is that there are tents and climbers at Everest Base Camp.

If you only have time to do the basic Everest Base Camp route, I’d opt for early December, early September or March. Generally, as everyone going up and everyone coming down follows the same route, as do all the yak and mule trains bringing in supplies, it’s hideously busy in the spring and autumn peaks. While numbers remain down after the 2015 earthquake and ongoing political instability, you will still be dodging a lot of mule trains.

If you’re fit, I’d recommend you do a longer, more challenging, more interesting loop route, either the Five Passes, the Three Passes or the Gokyo route, rather than the straight in-and-out.

I’d Like to See Everest but I’m Not Sure I Want to Spend Twelve Days There. Are There Alternatives to the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Yes! There are tonnes. And, given you can’t see Everest from Everest Base Camp ANYWAY, a shorter trek to lower altitudes might well make sense, although you’ll miss out on the high mountain experience.

The walk from Lukla to Namche takes two days – some folk walk in to Namche, climb to the top of town to see the spectacular Everest view, complete with jetstream, and then walk back. Others use Namche as a base for shorter treks in the region, divert off into the forest to go wildlife spotting, or pick a valley to explore.

One advantage of staying lower is that conditions are a lot more pleasant than higher up the trail, particularly if you’re staying in luxe lodges. If you’re really lazy, scenic flights with views over Everest run daily from Kathmandu.

What Medical Facilities Are There on the Everest Base Camp Trek?

Medical facilities catering to tourists operate on a seasonal basis – so in peak season there are basic altitude clinics as far afield as Gokyo and Pheriche, and a more sophisticated facility in Namche.

Outside peak season there are pharmacies in Namche and Lukla, and a small hospital in Khumjung, but other than that you’re on your own.

It’s important to bring all medicines you think you might need with you, including treatments for every minor ailment you’ve ever had, all the common stomach bugs and AMS, and to have full medical cover, including helicopter evac, on your travel insurance.

And – whew! — I think that’s that covered. Drop me a comment with any questions, and I’ll edit this post to include the answers.

Looking for more on the Everest Base Camp trek? My story starts here. Trek Around Nepal arranged our flights and introduced us to Nir: they also offer full service Everest Base Camp treks.

The post Everest Base Camp Trek – FAQ appeared first on EscapeArtistes.

He has something to tell me. Or maybe ask me.

“Excuse me, ibu,” he says. “I have just had a baby!”

“Oh! Congratulations,” I say. “How old?”

“Just twenty days,” he says.

“Oh,” I say. “Still little. Much happiness.”

“Yes,” he says.

And pauses.

Sasaks are a bit more tentative about personal questions than the Balinese, though, as all over Indonesia, soon after they get to the “how old are you?” stage they get to the “where is your husband?” stage. But he’s clearly building up to something.

Z has completed 500 words of story, 300 words of blog post and three Mathletics exercises in record time, after receiving a parental rocket about self-discipline and a South Park ban. He is now gaming vigorously while text-chatting on Skype with his father.

“Your son is clever!” he says. “How I can make my son clever like your son?”

“Clever?” I say. “Thank you.”

“Ya!” he says. “He can use a laptop at ten years old. He’s good at maths. What do I need to feed my son to make him clever like yours?”

A’s question throws me, more than a little. This confrontation between the developed West and Lombok, Indonesia, which, for all its burgeoning sophistication is still at heart a simple, rural region of a developing country.

What do I say?

First ensure that your child is born in a wealthy country and has access to technology from birth? That he has access to books, free schooling with small class sizes, university-educated parents, grandparents, carers?

None of this is achievable for A. He’s a young dad. They all are, here.

I’d say he’s 21, probably. 24, maybe, at a push. His son’s future survival, with infant mortality rates here, is still not yet guaranteed.

But I need to answer A’s question in the spirit it is intended.

“First,” I say. “You need to feed him breast, not bottle, for as long as you can.”

“You,” he says. “How long you breastfeed him?”

This opens up another can of worms. We’re not good at breastfeeding in the West, largely because so many women work outside the home and, unlike here, babies and children aren’t welcome in the workplace.

Plus, when you’re paying for childcare by the hour, as I was, the notion of spending a swathe of one’s working day expressing milk is, well, expensive.

I did it. But it didn’t take Z long to work out that the delivery system on a bottle was faster.

“Me?” I say. “Well, only five months. You see, I had to work, so other people looked after him, so he was on the bottle soon. The way you do it here is good.”

At our guesthouse, the lovely little 2-year-old we play with is still firmly breast fed.

“Till one, two years?” he says.

“Exactly,” I say.

The role of dietitian comes easier to me in Lombok since Sasaks are slenderer than many Indonesians, so Z does not look like a scrawny child in need of feeding up here, just tall and on the slim side.

“Then, not too much rice,” I say.

“Rice is bad?” he asks, with a note of horror. Rice is virtually a sacred substance here.

The default Indonesian diet –- unfortunately being replaced by instant noodles packed with salt and MSG –- is a paper packet of rice with a smidgen of meat or fish and spices smeared over the top, or perhaps an egg.

“No,” I say. “Rice isn’t bad. But when you eat too much rice you don’t eat the things that are good for you, that make you clever. You need to feed him lots of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit…”

Vegetables are served here. But they’re sort of a garnish, known by the generic term sayur, rather than a component of the diet. Our fondness for salad has brought us a curious audience in more out of the way places, as we mainline vast quantities of sayur, UNCOOKED!

“So, lots of fish,” he says.

This is achievable, here by the sea. You can buy a big, yummy, pre-cooked reef fish from stands by the roadside for 5000 rupiah, for a fraction of that sum raw in the market.

The daily wage for a builder/cook/restaurant worker is 35,000 rupiah, skilled workers, such as drivers, pull in 50,000 rupiah: a litre of dilute petrol from the streetside stands comes in at 5,000 rupiah. There’s 9,000 rupiah to the dollar.

“Yes,” I say. I want to explain about the fish oils that are supposed to be good for the brain, but my Indonesian’s struggling. “Yes,” I say again. “Lots of fish and vegetables will make him clever.”

He is genuinely happy. Clearly, this has been worrying him.

I recall a similar conversation in Kenya, when Z was five, with a smart, switched on woman who would have gone a long, long way outside the third world.

“You know why African babies don’t cry?” she asked.

“Because they’re with their mothers the whole time?” I say.

“No,” she says. “They have no stimulation. Look at your child. From when he is born, he has toys, he has stimulation. Now he’s reading big books. This is not something we can provide for our children.”

I don’t want to see the array of plastic and wooden crap with which we deluge our infants from long before they can even reach for them, let alone hold them, as essential to development. But she had a point.

And it brings to mind another guy I chatted to in Kenya.

“People think Africans are laid back,” he says. “But we’re not laid back. The reason we lie around like this all day is that our society has massive unemployment. There are no jobs here.”

I tell him about the call centres, then making their way out of Europe to Asia. “I hope they come to Africa,” he says.

They haven’t, yet.

“Me,” A says. “I’m not good at maths.”

“I don’t know,” I say. “Maybe your teacher wasn’t good at teaching?”

This is an alien concept to him, or maybe my Indonesian’s not holding up. “You need a good teacher to be good at maths,” I say. “Make sure your son has a good teacher…” I begin.

As if that is going to be achievable for him, in this tiny village. “A private teacher?” he says. “This is what I need for my son, a private teacher?”

“No,” I say. “Just a good school, with a good teacher.”

It doesn’t make sense to him. The teacher’s authority is not something that is questioned.

A’s innocent question has brought me into full and uncomfortable confrontation with my own privilege. The conversation rattles me.

Because I am not so entirely thoughtless that I cannot see the fundamental global inequities which means we can travel and live well in A’s country for less than it would take me to pay rent or mortgage in my home city.

My son and I can travel, learn, live, eat well, surf, dive, because Lombok is poor. My son’s opportunities exist because A’s son’s opportunities are limited.

I like the freedom of being able to work as I travel, to earn from anywhere in the world, the joy of location independence. And it’s something people who want to write have done for many decades, now — base themselves somewhere where it is cheap to live.

But for a moment the realization that sitting in his bar with our laptops, as I earn in a couple of hours more than A earns in a month of long, long hours, and Z accesses educational opportunities that will remain, most likely, far out of A’s son’s reach, hits me hard with its plain unfairness.

It’s a tough question he’s asked me. Tougher, I think, than either of us realizes.

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