Sunday, November 24, 2013

How Much Should I Plan to Spend on Housing While In Nepal? Getting the most from your stay in Nepal


         


You can spend as little as $1 per day for a bed on the low end or you can stay at the Hyatt Regency for well over $100. We all know how to do it the expensive way, but finding decent, affordable housing can be a challenge. Well, necessary not price wise, but ‘grossness factor’ wise.

I did a blog post last year about the airport area and found a very bottom of the barrel room for only 100NRs. The problem was that it was very dirty and probably infested with bedbugs. Surprisingly, there were a few decent places in the area near the airport that were priced well, under $10 for a single room. If you have an early morning flight you will do well to stay closer to the airport due to taxis charging a premium for early morning and late night fares. However, if you are a middle-class traveler you will not be happy with this advice. You would do well to keep your room and pay for the taxi. This advice is more for the couch surfer/gap year traveler.

This is the $1 bed I found by the airport. Scary!
What if you want to stay in the Kathmandu Valley for awhile during your time in Nepal? I wasted a great deal of money by staying in guest houses for a few months. It was quite expensive, considering I was paying 15,000 NRs. or more for the room and then 30,000 NRs. on eating out.

I didn’t know where I wanted to settle and had a Nepali helper that wasn’t helping. Knowing what I know now, I surely would have opted for a short term, furnished apartment, such as the two listed below. My former landlord also has a furnished apartment for short or long term stays, as do many local families.

Although I cannot vouch for either of these properties listed here, I have them here for you to see as a guideline for how much you need to spend and to let you know there are many of these throughout the Kathmandu Valley and in rural Nepal.

There are several websites that allow regular people to rent out their spare rooms or the entire home. Such arrangements can enrich your time in Nepal and save you money. Eating in tourist-friendly restaurants will cost around 1,000 NRs. per day unless you go to local, scary restaurants. Picking a few things up from the market to prepare is usually much less expensive and much healthier. However, aside from budget issues, staying with a local family can be a more enriching experience. As you can see from the postings below, one of the men also has a trekking company. Often the local, Nepali will use such hosting services to get trekking business. Be very careful, as some have been known to price gouge. Just keep it in the back of your mind that he would like more of your money-- somehow.

Here are two posts from a local networking group. Also check AirBnB.com, Bedycasa.com, and a host of other sites. Here are my landlord's and mine: 


Dear Groups,

As you know, I don't have photo shop and photos are difficult for downloading. So, We have three storied house with flat system between Australian Embassy and Bhatbhateni Super Market Maharajgunj. opposite of Shusil Koirala's house. Every flat have three bed rooms, one living and one kitchen. Every flat have one common toilet and one attach toilet. The House is semi furnished. We have water supply good, car parking and many motorbike parking. Area of land is 10 aana. Every flat rental rate is 25000 rupee per month. No landlord will stay there. Location is peace and nearby market and ring road also. The rental period will be only long term. This house is good for NGO, INGO, any offices too. If you will need the whole house then the rental rate will 70000 rupee. If anyone want to buy the house, price is 3 crore Nrs. Thanks to reading the information.

Regards
Gopi Ram- 9841227317
www.travelingtonepal.com


Hello group,
A beautiful house in Bakhundol, Lalitpur in a quite atmosphere has 5 full furnished rooms, some with attach bathroom is available for rent now. (10 minutes walk to the UN office/ closer to Norwegian Embassy and Hotel Grenwich)

The house has one common kitchen and open terrace and some room has
beautiful balcony.

24/7 electricity back-up, hot/ cold water, tv network, internet wifi full equipped common kitchen open terrace/ rooftop/ balcony cleaning service twice a week (extra $20 monthly)

room rents:
single bed: $55 weekly - $175 monthly
double bed: $65 weekly - $215 monthly
double bed attached bath: $75 weekly - $250 monthly

anyone interested could reply on this email <
bhouse1905@gmail.com> and book the room or contact Saroj directly 9851147776

I hope this helps many tourists who are coming to Nepal. I will be writing an article for a contest that will require people to comment. Please do comment on the next post I put up. I really appreciate any feedback I can get, but especially with the contest, it will be even better to read your comments.
Did you know I wrote an eBook filled with tips on getting the most out of your visit to Nepal?



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Thursday, November 14, 2013

How to Avoid Food Poisoning in Nepal?






 

This picture was taken as I passed along a country road. They are preparing a food item for a festival celebration. They were outside. Flies were buzzing around and it looked totally diseased. There is little in the way of government inspections.

I recently had a guest who got a serious bout of food poisoning after countless others who had the lesser stomach issues from contaminated food. It sometimes goes like this: Day one they mention they’ve gotten a stomach problem but it’s much better. Day three or four they are staying in hoping the rumblings aren’t going to turn into anything serious. That is how it usually goes throughout the time they are staying with me, which usually becomes a longer stay due to health concerns. 

If you have a stomach bug that comes back you need to take a stool specimen to a lab. Each time the eggs hatch in your intestines you will get a bowel issue. Some of these critters can cause problems for years and even invade other parts of your body. Many people seem to learn to live with them and consider the problem to be irritable bowel syndrome.  

Most of the hospitals have labs, but you do not have to actually go there. You can give the specimen to your guest house staff along with a tip and he can take it for you. 500 rupees should cover the cost and the tip. There are community hospitals all over Kathmandu. For example, Chhetrapati Community Hospital and Bir Hospital are just at the edges of Thamel. You can have him go back and pick up the results in a couple days. Take that to any pharmacy and purchase the appropriate medication. As I’ve mentioned in another blog post, it’s best to go to pharmacies that are attached to a hospital to avoid counterfeit and low quality medications from China. 

Kathmandu Teaching Hospital in Dhulikhel

How to avoid this problem:
My eBook, Nepal: A Tourist’s Manual, has many suggestions on the types of restaurants to frequent, where not to buy cooked food items and how to order for health. But I will add a few new tips here and elaborate on a few of the tips from the book. 

My worst Delhi Belly experience was when I moved into my apartment that only had an Eastern toilet at the time. I thought I would have samosas for lunch and put a few in the refrigerator for dinner. I learned the value of the Western toilet that night. Never take a ‘doggy bag’ from a Nepali restaurant unless you plan to feed it to a dog. That is rule #1.

The second thing you need to consider is the temperature of the food when it is served to you. If you order a meat dish and it is cold from the core you will have a high likelihood of a serious problem. A lot of the food is prepared ahead of time and actually left uncovered for hours. If it gets heated sufficiently then you are fairly safe, but that doesn’t always happen. There are usually only two burners on the stove in restaurants. 

I seldom eat the raw vegetable garnish, or salad, that comes with many meals. There is a very bad, stubborn bug that grows on the leafy green vegetables, particularly during the monsoon season. The other problem with eating the salad is that it is placed there with bare hands. There is seldom a bar of soap in the toilet, so it doesn’t take much imagination to understand how dangerous that can be. 
They call the carrot/radish garnish a salad

Kachila is one food item that should be avoided. It is actually raw buff meat, as the name in Newari suggests, raw meat, then it is rolled with bare hands. Sekuwa restaurants feature bar-b-que cooking and usually have delicious foods on the menu. Just make sure the meat is cooked and served hot. Tandoori restaurants also serve excellent dishes.

Avoid any buffets. The Newari community typically does buffets, but they are seldom covered properly, nor are they reheated properly. I have many guidelines in the book, including my favorite tip for getting a great budget meal; I suggest looking at the last page of the menu for local bargains. Be sure to point to it on the page so they will charge you the local price. You can usually see the same item listed elsewhere for more money.

One last tip that should be too obvious to mention: Never eat from a street cart! 

I hope these tips, along with the others from the Eating Out chapter, will keep you healthy. There are over 12 pages in that chapter with over 50 other tips on food and eating out in Nepal. Bon Appetite!

Did you know I wrote an eBook filled with tips on getting the most out of your visit to Nepal?


Satisfaction Guaranteed: NO FINE PRINT. If you don't truly love Nepal: A Tourist’s Manual, please send for 100% money back. If you are not completely satisfied just send your purchase information along with a note to: FrugalTravelsNepal@gmail.com

Nepal: A Tourist’s Manual-For more information check out our website. If you enjoy this blog and the website you will enjoy the 299 page eBook. It is a well illustrated, easy read with over 1,000 tips to help you get the most out of Nepal.


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