| | ||
Click Here to consider Asian Itineraries’ 3 levels of travel packages
Having recently returned from a 10 day trek in the Annapurna Range, in Nepal, I thought I could offer some quick, simple advice on how fit you need to be, and what to do to get yourself in the right shape! Read the rest of this entry »
Click Here to consider Asian Itineraries’ 3 levels of travel packages
It always staggers me, when I see the cost of the escorted treks, advertised by our major “adventure” travel companies, for treks in Nepal. It is unreal they can ask for and get 2-3 thousand dollars, for a 10- 12 day trek, when you could organise the same thing, on the ground in Nepal, for only a few hundred dollars!
Click Here to consider Asian Itineraries’ 3 levels of travel packages
Click Here to consider Asian Itineraries’ 3 levels of travel packagesYou Can’t!!
Nepal is a wonderful place, full of friendly people, the most spectacular mountain ranges in the world, and wonderful history everywhere. It is a tourist mecca, with a booming tourist precinct in Kathmandu, as well as several other towns that travellers from all over the world flock to.
However, a thing to keep in mind, is that the Nepalese Rupee is not such a wonderful thing! Within Nepal it does a reasonable job. In-fact, you can buy them cheap, and dont need to use too many to buy all kinds of interesting things, from a Tibetan meal, to a locally brewed Everest Lager, as well as all many of clothes and hiking gear (all branded North Face, but definitely not original!).
However, if you take any of these little devils out of the country, nobody, anywhere, will change them into anything more useful in their country! We left Nepal after a Visa card disaster, and took a fair bit of Nepalese Rupee with us, thinking we could continue our travels for a few weeks, while we waited for new Visa cards.
First place we tried to change some was at Kathmandu airport, thinking we would turn them into Indian Rupee, at a rate of 5 to 8, as per the fixed conversion rate. No chance, they only currency exchange booth was busy changing Indian rupee to Nepalese, as well as Indian to US dollar, but would not take Nepalese Rupee! We weren’t to worries, and didn’t have much time, so we figured we would leave it till we got to Delhi.
Wrong again - first exchange booth in Delhi International airport just laughed! Nobody at airport could exchange Nepalese rupee, maybe a bank in the city?
We were only passing through Delhi, so we couldn’t go to the city centre, instead, we though we would try a bank branch in Goa.
No again! No bank in Goa, or for that matter later at Kuala Lumpur airport would change them. Back in Australia, we figured we would be OK. Well, guess what……we still have them…….even Australian Banks will not exchange!
Only thing I dont really understand is why? The currency is fixed against the Indian Rupee at a rate of 5 to 8, and has been for some time. Banks anywhere will happily exchange Indian rupee??
Anyway, I still have 16,410 Nepalese rupee, is anyone is interested in discounted rate????
At current rates they are worth-
256 Australian Dollars, 212 US Dollars, 149 Euro, 128 GB Pounds or 20,221 Japanese Yen
(or 10,200 Indian rupee, 263 Libyan Dinars, 621 Polish Zloty or 1310 Norwegian Krone!!!)
ANY OFFERS???
Two types of “regular” visas are available for potential tourist travellers to India, being Transit visas and Tourist Visas and both of these are available from the Indian Embassy, in Kathmandu, Nepal.
The main differences between the two visas are as follows-
However, we recently took the transit visa option, primarily as it was going to be considerable quicker, and although limited to 15 days, obviously we travelled and did sight seeing, beaching etc! They did however, require to see a onward flight booking (not that that could not have been changed).
Nepal is a popular place for travellers who have not made arrangements in their home country, but are attempting to get a Visa to enter India. Unlike many countries, India requires all foreign visitors to get a visa, and does not offer visa on arrival to any nationals of any country.
In Nepal, the Indian Embassy is located in Kathmandu, at 336 Kapurdhara Marg. This is in the suburb of Lazimpat, known as the Embassy district, and is located off the southern end of the popular travellers area of Thamel, only a kilometer of so from the Royal Palace. Not difficult to walk to, or any taxi driver will get you there for next to no cost.
Getting to the Indian Embassy is the easy bit, actually getting an Indian visa is the more challenging part! As the embassy is busy and they only issue a limited amount of visa’s per day, it is important to get there early, so as to not miss out and have to go through the process again the following day.
In point form the process is as follows ;
The process varies depending on if you require a tourist visa (valid for 6 months), or a transit visa (valid for 15 days), and I will detail the requirements and differences in another blog shortly. However, in either case you need to allow a full, frustrating day of waiting in queues! General opinion is that this is a fair introduction to Indian officialdom, and all prospective travellers to India should get used to it!!
Anyone from Australia interested in buying about 16,000 Nepalese Rupee??
Let me know, as I have come back from my recent trip with way too much money left, and no way to exchange it back into anything useful!! We tried to change our Rupee to Indian at Kathmandu airport, and they weren’t interested. We didn’t think it would be a huge issue, as we figured we could change it in India!! WRONG!!!
Obviously, Australian banks also are not interested in Nepalese Rupee!.
But, for anyone going to Nepal in the near future, it would very very useful to have a few hundred dollars worth of the local currency in hand, before having to seek an exchange service or ATM. Think about getting out of the airport, and getting a taxi to Thamel, as well as getting some food and drinks on your first night!!
Seriously, I have 16 x 1000 rupee notes, as well as some 100s, 50s, 20s, 10s and 5s. total of 16,410!! OFFERS?????ANYONE??????
Having recently started to upload my latest itinerary on Thailand, I thought it was a good time to start letting people know a few details on the other Itinerary I will be adding soon (relatively!).
I have taken the trip already, and will now need to compile all the relevant information. Anyhow, the details please!! As per the blog title, I will be adding a Nepalese Itinerary - Kathmandu to Annapurna Base Camp, and back.
This itinerary will cover some detail on Kathmandu airport and arriving in Kathmandu, the tourist areas of the city, and where to stay, heading to Pokhara, the departure point for a trek, independent trekking, finding guides and porters, and 10 days walking in the Annapurna Range.
I loved it, and I cant wait to pass it on! However, as all previous work on http://www.asianitineraries.com/ has been in South East Asia, it may yet provide some challenges on integrating into the website. Time will tell!