Nepal is a horrible mess right now so do not include it in your plans, unless however you enjoy power cuts for 8 hours a day, filfty streets, constant demonstrations and commercial closures. Kathmandu is congested and polluted. The Nepali rupee is pegged to the Indian rupees so the exchange rate is very poor, costing your more money, and thereby getting less value.
stay away
Is this for real? I%26#39;m actually planning to visit in June.
stay away
Hello there,
The message been posted by Johnsnepal is absolutely wrong and he is trying to avoid any one who like to travel nepal.
Infact,yeah I am agree that we do have electricity use to cut off 8 ours a day but it doesn%26#39;t make any different to the traveller because where ever they gone a spend night they will have power and even loadshading for certain hours. Similarly, I don%26#39;t understand what does he mean to say about the exchange rate between indian and nepalese currency because since many years there hasn%26#39;t been changed any things between nepalese and indian currency that%26#39;s why I think he got misunderstand about the currency so please don%26#39;t write any fault message about Nepal okay?
Yeah I know kathmandu is pretty poluted city but not only kathamandu,I don%26#39;t know from where ever you are..most of asian cities are poluted but you can%26#39;t say don%26#39;t travel Nepal....
I don%26#39;t know what the situation is like now, but I heard exactly the same rumours (except it was only electricity for 3 hours a day!) last year.
It was a load of nonsense then.
I%26#39;d like to give my opinion here as well. Like the first reply stated, power outages didn%26#39;t really affect me that much because I was trekking and planning on living fairly rudimentary. I remember one night playing Hearts with about 10 people from all over the world. The power went out, so we played by candlelight. No big deal. Kathmandu was pretty stable (with was in 2004), the rural areas were touch a go with electricity.
The streets of KMD were polluted (they were just starting to implement trash pickup services then), but most people were just used to throwing their trash in the streets. Anyone who has traveled to any third world country understands this. They are very much trying to improve the pollution situation. The rural areas are very nice, generally speaking.
I don%26#39;t know what the currency in ';dreamland'; is like, but a quick search on the internet shows $1 USD = 65 Nepalese Rupees = 40 Indian Rupees. 1 EURO = 101 Nepalese Rupees = 63 Indian Rupees. First, we can see that the two currency are independent. The may effect each other greatly, as do any neighboring countries currencies, but the are independent. Also, you can see that regardless, because both rupees are very weak, your dollar or Euro will go a long way there! I paid less than a dollar for most every meal I ate, and rooms were between 50 cents and a dollar a night. Expensive hotels I believe ran about $20-25 dollars.
Finally, to remark about the demonstrations. I%26#39;d suggest following the news coming out of Nepal starting now to get a feel for the political climate. When I was there, the new king was in power and most Nepali believed that he killed the old king (his brother) to seize control. The terrorist acts were done by Maoist in the country that wanted the king deposed. Most people didn%26#39;t agree with the Moaists tactics, but felt they had good reason to defy the king. Most people just kept out of their way. If the terrorist declared a demonstration somewhere, the shops were require to remain closed that day. Anyone who didn%26#39;t got attacked. Most people just complied. Some were accosted for defying the terrorists demands. I was quite concerned, but realized quickly there that I was probably the safest person in Nepal. Everyone, citizen, military, terrorist and king all understood that trekkers are their primary (nearly only) source of money. They understand that if they scare off the trekkers, thing will only get worse. I was never threatened, accosted or even bothered by anyone, though I met a few of the Maoists. The military would stop the buses at checkpoints and make everyone (except the occasional mother with small children and myself) get of the bus. While some soldiers rifled through everyone%26#39;s bags on the side of the road, another soldier or two would search the bus. They never asked to even peek into my bag. They never made me get off the bus with the others. I could tell they wanted me to enjoy my trek and come back with many other trekkers.
I must say that considering all of that, Nepal was a great place to visit, as long as you know you are visiting a third world country. The more visitors they get, the better they can make the country. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for some adventure.
to jeremyin nepal who said:
I paid less than a dollar for most every meal I ate, and rooms were between 50 cents and a dollar a night.
What meds are you on? Please give me a list of these places. Rooms for 50 cents? Where are you staying in some tibetan tent on a remote plateau???
also you don%26#39;t understand about what i said about currency. The nepal rupee is pegged to the indian rupee. So the indian rupee is now strong so the nepal rupee adjusts strong with it, but its not real value. The hard currency value compared to the nepal rupee this past year has decline almost 20%. So you money in nepal this year is worth 20% less than last year.
my warning was to the general tourist. Only hearty people like you, trekkers i suppose, only comprise 12% of the travellers there (this is nepal tourist board stats). So you have 88% of the tourists who do not trek and are not into this rugged tourism. Not many people in this group would enjoy the present conditions in nepal. It%26#39;s that simple.
Nepal is third world, dirty yes..............and exotic at the same time. 3 years ago the USD was 72 to on NPR, so 65 is not much of a drop. First trip, I think 3 times we lost power for now more that 2 hours at one time. Polluted, yes. Spring, air quality is terrible, fall it is much better. Bandths/Strikes, yes, but never caused me a problem, was still able to get around the country.
If I could afford the airfare from here now, I%26#39;d be in nepal in a minute!!
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