Arriving in Kathmandu had us both feeling incredibly overwhelmed. I don't think anything could have prepared us for that first day, and it's not like this was our first time outside of Canada or in a developing country either. After something like 36 hours of planes and customs lineups, we exited the Kathmandu airport to find that our pre-arranged taxi was not there. We kept our cool as one of the airport workers pushed us into this massive crowd of Nepalis who were all trying to get us into their cabs. We spent 20 minutes crammed into a car with a tout breathing down our necks and chatting our ears off about trekking, national park trips, volunteering at orphanages and great hotels until he ran out of breath and realized we weren't biting.
We basically got into town, had something to eat and crashed. The next morning we woke up and started chipping away at our to-do list of renting gear for the trek, buying bus and flight tickets, and so on. We had a woman chasing us down the street begging for milk for her baby, saw a dog that had died and was thrown into a heap of trash. And then we saw a man sitting in a pile of garbage on the side of the road eating what was leftover after the dogs and cows had had their fill. 2:30 came around before we remembered it was my birthday. After those first 24 hours I think we were both wondering what the hell we had gotten ourselves into for the next 3 months!"
We arrived back to our hotel and I checked my facebook to find this
My incredible co-teachers at Kids Club had put this together to surprise me on Facebook for my birthday. I was so stunned, I mean how amazing is this?? These are all my past and present kindergarteners. And I thought they'd forgotten about me already haha.
Anyways, we had time to take a deep breath and got ready for the trek and things started looking up. If someone had told me that first day that I could actually fall in love with Kathmandu I probably would have started rolling on the floor in laughter (more maybe tears?). However Kathmandu turned out to be a really great place that we really enjoyed in the end and we had a really hard time leaving.
Kathmandu Guide
Highlight
Laundry service: Having my bra washed after something like 23 days of hiking. Warm showers.
Sleeping
We liked Hotel Nepalaya for a cheap nicer hotel. We had to leave eventually as the 15/night price was a bit steep for our budget. We checked out some of the places other people were staying and ended up with a sweet deal. The room was fairly itchy (about a 7/10) but allowed for a larger food and drink budget. We didn't even have to haggle for the price as they just asked how much our friend was paying and we paid the same.
Eating
We spent many a meal at OR2K. Grab a friend and have the falafel platter and you will keel over in bliss. We were also fans of the Everest Steak House. The Mexican steak we had was both massive and awesome. Eating was very affordable and we went all out with cocktails and beers, still managing to not break the bank. We frequented all the bakeries every morning for cappucinos andlemon cheesecake croissants.
Money
We brought travellers' cheques and cash as well as an ATM card. We had to cash nearly all our travellers' cheques in one go because we could only get so much out of the bank machine at once and needed enough money for nearly a month. TD Bank had made it sound like nobody would take any travellers' cheques but I would say they were very easy to deal with.
Etc
Shona's was our favorite shop for sorting out gear. They've got some incredible staff who wont rip you off. The outfit running the place are some of the sweetest people I've met. They were very knowledgeble about our route and helpful as we went through the list of things we needed. There were many times that they just told me I straight out didn't need something, rather than getting me to spend more money.
We didn't use a travel agent for anything in Nepal. We bought our own bus tickets to Jiri, as well as our Lukla flight. We took a public bus to Chitwan and organized things when we got there, and then took another bus to Pokhara on our own as well. Unless you're planning on hiring guides and porters you can easily DIY most things in Kathmandu and it saved us a pantload of money rather than handing out commissions to everyone.
We basically got into town, had something to eat and crashed. The next morning we woke up and started chipping away at our to-do list of renting gear for the trek, buying bus and flight tickets, and so on. We had a woman chasing us down the street begging for milk for her baby, saw a dog that had died and was thrown into a heap of trash. And then we saw a man sitting in a pile of garbage on the side of the road eating what was leftover after the dogs and cows had had their fill. 2:30 came around before we remembered it was my birthday. After those first 24 hours I think we were both wondering what the hell we had gotten ourselves into for the next 3 months!"
We arrived back to our hotel and I checked my facebook to find this
My incredible co-teachers at Kids Club had put this together to surprise me on Facebook for my birthday. I was so stunned, I mean how amazing is this?? These are all my past and present kindergarteners. And I thought they'd forgotten about me already haha.
Anyways, we had time to take a deep breath and got ready for the trek and things started looking up. If someone had told me that first day that I could actually fall in love with Kathmandu I probably would have started rolling on the floor in laughter (more maybe tears?). However Kathmandu turned out to be a really great place that we really enjoyed in the end and we had a really hard time leaving.
Kathmandu Guide
Highlight
Laundry service: Having my bra washed after something like 23 days of hiking. Warm showers.
Sleeping
We liked Hotel Nepalaya for a cheap nicer hotel. We had to leave eventually as the 15/night price was a bit steep for our budget. We checked out some of the places other people were staying and ended up with a sweet deal. The room was fairly itchy (about a 7/10) but allowed for a larger food and drink budget. We didn't even have to haggle for the price as they just asked how much our friend was paying and we paid the same.
Eating
We spent many a meal at OR2K. Grab a friend and have the falafel platter and you will keel over in bliss. We were also fans of the Everest Steak House. The Mexican steak we had was both massive and awesome. Eating was very affordable and we went all out with cocktails and beers, still managing to not break the bank. We frequented all the bakeries every morning for cappucinos and
Money
We brought travellers' cheques and cash as well as an ATM card. We had to cash nearly all our travellers' cheques in one go because we could only get so much out of the bank machine at once and needed enough money for nearly a month. TD Bank had made it sound like nobody would take any travellers' cheques but I would say they were very easy to deal with.
Etc
Shona's was our favorite shop for sorting out gear. They've got some incredible staff who wont rip you off. The outfit running the place are some of the sweetest people I've met. They were very knowledgeble about our route and helpful as we went through the list of things we needed. There were many times that they just told me I straight out didn't need something, rather than getting me to spend more money.
We didn't use a travel agent for anything in Nepal. We bought our own bus tickets to Jiri, as well as our Lukla flight. We took a public bus to Chitwan and organized things when we got there, and then took another bus to Pokhara on our own as well. Unless you're planning on hiring guides and porters you can easily DIY most things in Kathmandu and it saved us a pantload of money rather than handing out commissions to everyone.
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