new Nepal Adventure Travel

Visa requirements

- You can easily get a visa upon arrival at the airport, the cost is 30 US$.
- You don’t necessarily have to pay in $, Euro and pound are also accepted. However, if you ask for the price in Euro they will also say 30 Euro while at the time of writing, the value of the euro was 8% higher then the dollar. It is only when you object, that they will tell you tat they’ll give you a refund of 2 US$.
- If you’re thinking of going to Tibet or Bhutan, it used to be worth considering buying a double entry visa. This no longer exists and was changed into a "multiple entry visa" which costs 50 $ extra.
- Formalities to get the visa went very smoothly, there was no queue whatsoever (3/2003).

Money matters

Different sorts of money

Rupee: at the time of writing 1 Euro = 83 Rp and 1 US$ = 78 Rp
The Rupee is the official currency of Nepal. For an idea of the exchange rate, go to Oanda's currency converter. Be sure to have enough small notes with you, because often, especially in smaller places, people do not have enough change.

Cash
In most places, they will readily accept any convertible currency, including Euro, if you happen not to have enough Rupees on you. Even while trekking in the Annapurna this was no problem, and in some places there are also moneychangers. It’s really useless to first change your Euros. at home into dollars, and then converting them here into Rupees. The rate for the Euro follows the official market.You can either change cash in the bank or at a moneychanger. Rates tend to be the same, but commissions may differ at bit. There’s a bank in the arrival hall at the airport.
Traveler's cheques
Personally, I think the use of TC's is becoming more and more obsolete with ATM's becoming more and more popular. So personally, I don't use them too often anymore, but that's a personal choice. By far the best and most easily changed are American Express, although Thomas Cook, Citibank, and Visa are usually fairly easy to change in the major cities. To facilitate replacement in case of theft, keep a record of cheque numbers and the original bill of sale in a safe place. Also, before leaving, make sure you have the address of the place where you can report the theft and have a replacement. Even with proper records, replacement may not always be as quick as the companies promise. I read on the LP thorn tree that India is well known for the problem of not refunding stolen TC's. Then what's the point of having them?

In Nepal you will find that the exchange rate for travelers' cheques is slightly higher than for cash. At places in Thamel where they charge no commission, the rate is the same. But you have to add a usually lower exchange rate for the US dollar in your home country, you have to exchange twice (once from Euro to US $ and then from US$ to Sol, unless you're American), and thirdly you have to pay for them in advance, so you're giving American Express a free loan for a month or so. It's also known that some of these cheques never get cashed in anyway, so that's another profit for the bank issuing them. So all in all, it's not such a cheap method.

ATM
This is of course a very handy system, which is spreading fast around the world. Most bankcards belong to the Maestro/Cirrus system nowadays, which allows you to withdraw money directly from your bank account. Exchange rates are usually good, but you have to pay a certain amount of money, which depends on your bank for each transaction. This is in the order of 2 or 3 Euros. Sometimes the local bank announces they also add some costs.
There are some ATM’s available in Katmandu f.i. in Thamel and in Pokhara. I don’t know about other places.

Credit cards
Visa is the most accepted card, but the other 3 are also valid. In the smaller places, they will usually add a percentage of surcharge, usually 3,5%. In the more expensive places, this is usually included in the price.

Where to change

- Banks are the safest place to go, but it'll take more time. The bank at the airport gives reasonable exchange rates
- The money exchangers change money at comparable rates. The only problem is that they don’t give you a receipt, so you cannot reconvert your rupees into Euro when you leave home.

Transportation

By plane

1) There are numerous Nepalese companies. Apart from the ones I’ve mentioned below, there is still Shangrila, Skyline air, Mountain air and Flight care air. Some of them have a website.
Note that Nepalese fly much cheaper then foreigners. For instance the flight from KTM to Pokhara costs for them 1600 Rp, for us 5500 Rp.

Otherwise prices from the different companies are the same, except for Royal Nepal who are 15% cheaper.
Airport taxes are:
- 1100 Rp for international flights to non-SAARC countries
- 650 Rp for SAARC countries
- 165 Rp for domestic flights

2) When booking a flight, always take into account weather conditions. This means that it is best to book a flight early in the morning, as chances of having good weather are highest then. As soon as it starts raining, all smaller airports are shut down since they don’t have radars. This can sometimes take all day till the weather clears up again.

Also take into account that crashes do occur once every 2 years or so. This is usually during monsoon season when visibility is bad and planes fly into mountains.

Another important remark is to never count on a flight to catch your international flight out of KTM. Allow at the very least 1 day, but better even 2 or 3 days between your arrival in KTM and your return flight home.

Royal Nepal Airlines
I’ve spoken to both Nepalese and foreigners working there, and all of them say that this is the least reliable airline of all. Their prices are usually 15% lower and they have the biggest network. Their website is at www.royalnepal.com

Buddha Air
This looks like a reliable company. We flew with them once. The second time the flight was cancelled and they readily granted us a refund (although we had to do this through the travel agent where we bought it).

They have a decent website at www.buddhaair.com

Cosmic air
I don’t know if this is a decent company. They flew us to Jomsom with a 2 hour delay. I’m not sure why, but there was a large group of Germans, so maybe they overbooked. They fly to many places and have a decent website at www.cosmicair.com

Necon
I can’t comment on this company except that they have a website at www.neconair.com and they also have some Northern Indian destinations.

Ghorka
No comment.

BUS

You either have the option of taking the Nepalese buses or the tourist buses.

As for the Nepalese, they tend to be very cheap, but also rather slow as they have frequent stops.

As for the tourist buses like Greenline, they only do the touristic routes to KTM, Pokhara and Chitwan. They are usually faster, but also more expensive. Pokhara – KTM f.i. costs 8 to 10 $ depending on which comfort you’d like. Pokhara – Chitwan is 6 to 8 $ (3/2003). They all leave in the morning at 7 or 8 am.

Taxis

Taxis in KTM have meters, but it’s very rare they will put them on, so you’ll have to negotiate a price on beforehand. If they do agree to put on the meter, make sure they don’t put in on "EXTRA" as this is the night tariff.

You can also charter a taxi for longer distances. A trip from Pokhara to KTM will cost 4000 Rp (3/2003).

Guidebooks

Nepal Footprint Handbook
- Price 17.99 $
- Published 1999
- I like Footprint guides a lot, as they usually go deeper into a country. On the other hand you need more time to get a good idea about the country while reading them, and the Nepal guidebook needs an update as it is from 1999.

Order the Footprint Nepal now for on

ly 17.99 US$

Nepal: a travel survival kit Lonely Planet
- Published in august 2001
- Price 19.99
- This is of course the classical book of every backpacker. Their maps are especially good. A good point is that they have a map with highlights, so you immediately see which places you should visit, and in about 1 day you can design your holiday.
- Don't forget to go to their fantastic website where they have the "Thorn Tree". You can add your posting with practical questions about your trip: http://www.lonelyplanet.com
- They also publish an update of this book on their site at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/upgrades/index.html, you need Acrobat Reader for this.

Order the Lonely Planet Nepal now for only 13.99 US$

The Rough Guide
- Price 19.95 $
- Published 2003
- The Rough guide had a new Nepal guide just before I left. From what I could see it looked really excellent. The lay out and maps could be a bit better though, but for info I think it’s better then LP

Order the Rough Guide Nepal now for only 13.27 US$

Safety

- I think Nepal is a very safe country. I never felt unsafe or had anything stolen from me. I was always very careful with my stuff and camera, not only towards Nepalese, but also towards fellow travelers. Around Gorepani, there have been robberies reported.
- Nepalese tourism has of course gotten a serious setback due to the problems with the Maoists. This is really a pity, since I think that until now, they have physically threatened not 1 tourist, and they’ve always stated they don’t want to harm tourists. What CAN happen though in certain areas is that they stop you, and they demand a "contribution" of 100 $. I know this from first hand from a colleague of mine. They then give you a receipt to avoid you have to pay twice.
- At the time of writing, there was a peace treaty between government and Maoists, and everybody hopes it will last of course.
- Also check out what foreign embassies are saying. At the time of writing, they didn’t change their rules after the peace treaty, and this was what they said:
- Trekking should be done with a guide
- Always report to your embassy so they know where you are
- Trekking is safe around Annapurna and North of Lukla

Costs

- Costs for basic things like transportation, food and accommodation are really very cheap, unless of course you want a Chateaubriand with a bottle of French wine.
- Even costs for pure tourist activities are still very cheap. While trekking, you’ll have a very hard time spending more then 1000 Rp on accommodation and food. Rafting and mountain biking on the other hand are more expensive.
- Here are some examples (all prices 3/03) :
- Trekking guide 10 – 12 $ per day porter 6-8 $ per day including food and lodging
- Annapurna conservation fee 2000 Rp
- Rafting Bhote Kosi 2 days 50-80 $
- Mountain biking 1 day: 25-50$

Medical matters

Altitude sickness
- This is a problem, which a lot of tourists will experience. It consists of shortness of breath, headache, heart beating etc. once you descend above 3000 m too rapidly (it has been described at lower altitudes as well). If taken lightly, it can progress to more dangerous forms like HAPO (high altitude pulmonary edema) and HACO (high altitude cerebral edema). It is a potentially lethal disease, and statistics from CDC show that people traveling in-group have a higher mortality, probably because they are less eager to split from the group to descend.
- The classical situation is when people do the Annapurna trek and simply rush on the Thorung La (5400 m) without allowing for an acclimatization day. Our guide told us this happens most to Israelis coming from the army and "young macho Australians".
- To avoid getting altitude sickness, I use the following prophylactic technique which is a combination of CDC guidelines and personal ideas:

First of all follow the rules of acclimatization as written in guidebooks. For Annapurna, this means spending 1 extra day in Manang, doing a hike higher up and return to Manang for the night (walk high, sleep low).

If you follow these rules well, I don’t think it’ll be necessary to take Diamox, but note that Diamox and Dexamethasone are the only 2 drugs which were scientifically proven to help in altitude sickness. Diamox works after 24 hours, so start taking Diamox 2 x 250 mg a day the day before going to a higher altitude. Diamox is a diuretic, so take a lot of fluid but avoid alcohol and sleeping pills because they depress your breathing system.

When you still get symptoms, start taking Dexamethasone 2 x 4 mg. Note that this will take away some of your symptoms, but it does not help in avoiding HAPO.

When things get worse, descend!!

Malaria
Where to take what
There's no malaria in Nepal except in the lower areas bordering India (WHO area A).

Hepatitis A
- If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of traveling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks.
- There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.

Hepatitis B
- You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated.
- Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.

Typhoid fever
There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.

Travelers diarrhea
We always have antibiotics at hand in case of severe diarrhea. We take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tablets, one tablet every 12 hours.

Polio
This is a disease which is often overlooked. Most Westerners were vaccinated after birth, but since the disease doesn't exist anymore in Western countries, antibodies have fallen to a very low level at adulthood. Therefore it's best to get a boost every 10 year before going to developing countries. The injection costs 3 to 4 Euros. I saw statistics on Nepal, and apparently they had 2 to 4 cases in 1999 and 2000, but no cases in 2001 and 2002.

Outdoor activities

Nepal is a fantastic country to do some outdoor activities like hiking, mountain biking and rafting. In fact, this is the main reason most people come here. When planning to do this, you must consider several things:

The weather is not always predictable, and certainly in rainy season you can expect problems.

Make sure you are acclimatized before embarking on a serious outdoor activity.

See Annapurna and Katmandu Valley section for more info on these activities.

When to go

- Traditionally, it is said that the best period is October to November, especially if you plan to do some outdoor activities as it doesn’t rain a lot, and views in the mountains are clear. Also most rafting rivers are at their best after monsoon.
- Another good period is March-April. I went in March, and this was indeed a good period, although not really excellent. Views were often obscured, I did have rain in the afternoon now and then, and it did get cold at higher altitude (I even had snow in Marpha at 2500 m).
- I would definitely avoid monsoon (June till August) for several reasons. Of course it’s not fun to have rain during your trek, but also flights can be cancelled, planes crash (not uncommon in Nepal!) mostly occur during this season, landslides on the roads often happen causing very long delays etc…

Go to "Trekking"

Article Comments:

03/16/2006
Alicica (5)
Nepal adventure travel was the most amazing trip I've had. Did a 3 week trek through the annapurna range and spent time in kathmandu, pokhara, and chitwan national park.. its incredible to be submersed into such an unique culture. the trek was a life changing expierence for me.. it really gave me time to look within myself and reevaluate things.. i cant wait to go back..