New members of the Nepal forum, introduce yourself here

Welcome to Expat.com. I also have an NGO in Nepal. We are in Changunarayan and accept volunteers for our village. It seems it's pretty easy to find a volunteer placement that will enrich the volunteer's experience in Nepal.

Some volunteers pay for a placement and the agency does little more than pick them up at the airport. We had one lovely woman who was just abandoned by the agency and was not able to deal with the Nepali style housing and food. Not only was that an issue, but they placed her in a school that was on vacation and then when she did get to work it was teaching health to 5 year olds in a single classroom.

I'd love to have a good placement agency to work with. Can you elaborate on how your placements and programs work? Like most NGOs in Nepal, we only charge for food. We are fortunate to have a newly built guest house for our volunteers so we can give our volunteers a nice room, western food, WIFI, 24 hours of electricity and hot water. Our agency is Kay Garnay for Nepal.

Hello, me Mr. S Shrestha live in Lalitpur where surrounded by expat community. I have business that relate to expats. I enjoy coffee / beer talk in the evening and sometime hiking on weekend. Hey, give a shout to me for a drink or two. Cheers!

Namaste and Tashi Delek!

A few questions for you seasoned pravsi-haru from a 70 year old lady and her 70 year old male partner.

I was an "adventure travel guide" in the 1980s, lived 10 years in Nepal and worked all over the world (trek, climb, raft, jungle). I lived in several places--Thamel, Baluwataar, and in house in a गल्ली gulli behind the Yak and Yeti near the hattii sahaar.

Coming back to Nepal in the spring of 2018  (April or May) after all these many years, hoping to stay for about a year. I am a seasoned traveler but my partner is not so much so and I am taking him first for a tour of the standard spots--Mexico then Thailand and Bali.

I don't know how hard it is to do so now, but I managed to squeak 10 years out of an initial 90 day tourist visa, with trips in and out of the country and a couple of lost and replaced passports. How likely is that to happen nowadays? Nothing was computerized back then and it was way before 9/11.

Need some advice on the best place to look for a decent little house or condo in a good area, kinda central because we won't have a car and don't want to always depend upon finding a taxi day or night. I imagine there are a lot of new places to live decently but inexpensively.  We do like air conditioning a lot at our age, so that bumps us up out of the average guesthouse bracket. Anyone have a terrific modern or refurbished hotel or flat complex to recommend checking out?

How much would an Indian or Chinese moped cost these days, and can tourists still register them and get Nepalese drivers' licenses? I found a moped was enough, did not need a 50 cc dirtbike or similar.

I still have friends scattered around the valley and in the hills. I'll be trekking but not a lot. I don't think I need any help on in-country travel logistics,  but would welcome hearing from someone who can summarize how trekking and internal travel logistics (flights, Land Rovers) have changed since 1990.

Finally, I would love to know what you all think about the best US bank account to have in order to make getting money while in Nepal (and elsewhere, if you have experience with that). I hear a lot about HSBC and Schwab. Any thoughts? Can a tourist still open a bank account in Kathmandu and is that advisable? I had no problem in the olden days, but nowadays, I imagine there are ATMS for international draws of dollars or Rupees. Thoughts on the money issues?

Danyabhad.

hi i am from pokhara, Nepal

Hi, I am an expat in Thailand but plan on visiting Pokhara soon, and hopefully move there with my partner.  Would love to communicate with expats and locals living in Pokhara!
I will appreciate your suggestions especially on living in a local's property by leasing part of their land where we could build a small house. Is this possible? What are the other options?

well come in Nepal.
I believe that you can fulfill your dream. Nepalese people/government policy both are friendly as a Thai so please come and enjoy in Pokhara. You may drops your words ****

you can take house in lease

Surely, I have worked in hotel industry for quite years. Have no job at the moment. I can write you some recommendations. 3 weeks is pretty enough to explore Nepal. Here goes the possible places to explore;

Kathmandu- Pashupatinath, Swoyambhu, Durbar square, Bauddanath Stupa- at most 4 days.
Patan- Durbar square, Fulbari monastry. 1-2 day atmost
Bhaktapur- Durbar square, Nagarkot- 1 day
Pokhara- 4 days (Poon hill trekking,
Nuwakot- 2 days
Lumbini- 3 days ( Birthplace of buddha. You will observe a different side of Nepal in this part, western part of Nepal it is.

3 weeks is plenty enough of time to learn anout Nepal. Tiny country but with diversity.

Hello everyone My name is Julia and I live in uk! I'm currently working as a volunteer in a Pre School! I got married in Nepal last year and my husband is Nepalese!

Born in the Uk but worked global for the past 25+ years. Have been in and out of Nepal for a few years now finally settled in our home in Bansbari after a full year of renovation work. Wife still working abroad so just me and the 2 friendly kids most of the time ( 1x german shepherd and 1x cross street dog)  would like to meet expats in kathmandu or passing through from other areas of Nepal. The kettle is always on or a cold one in the fridge for anyone interested to drop by for a chat.

I am new one here in community from Nepal... Well don't know what to do though... In need of guidance and suggestions...

Hello I am Biren I am planning to start bar buissness in nepal I need investors I have plan I am starting 3 outlets with nepali brands

Respected sir
I just want to work aboard actually I was working in Mozambique more than 2years. So I'll see the fruit picking job in Sweden from some link and they want to Nepali workers. That's why I am interested.

I want to indrudcued my self..i am from central Nepal.its hard to open a bank account as a foreigner..but u can exchange your money by your self if u have a valid visa passport.if u take a citizenship or some more extra paper after that only u can get a driving licenses and bank account..and for living it so cheap in middle part of Nepal its in chitwan near to the national park..here i have a kind of non toursitit place where u can get a cheap room or flat..even i have individuals guest from Europe they normally stay in my house and we dint charge..it only friendship and we work in our agriculture field like a kind of help only and if u are interested to make plan to came here in Nepal ..in USA i have a sister i can give u her number and have contact with her and make a plan to came here it will be more easy..have a good time i see u with a further reply..

Hi I'm new and concerned reading some comments of the new guys and girls who have moved to nepal
I'm from SA and will be working in Pokhara fir a long time on a contract.
Will I survive coming from a western country

How has your days been going in Nepal

Could be better, they have some nice bands playing at certain spots in the evenings....but you guys have a shortage of women in Pokhara and this is very disturbing.
Watching adult men dancing with each other drinking like lovers is a bit unusual for me at this stage 😈

i would say the women of your age are of introvert type..... ..... you better wait for upcoming festive season where you might find yourself being engaged on new things which you might not have experienced till date. Hope you find your wishes in these upcoming days fulfilled . Hope for best

Hi! We are Lori and Alex Souza from Hawaii. Married for thirty years, with three adult daughters and three grandchildren back in the United States, it's our time for something new! We have lived in Vietnam for fourteen months, now, and we love it. However, it's been our heart's desire, for quite a while, to spend time in Nepal.

Here in Vietnam, I (Lori) teach all ages at a local English center, as well as at a nearby university. A lot of what I do is to prepare young people to take their IELTS International English examination. I am interested in continuing this work in Nepal, if I can. My husband and I are also interested in teaching English online.

Looking forward to meeting you soon!

Best regards,
Lori and Alex Souza

I thought we were supposed to introduce ourselves as new members of the group...tell who we are and what are intentions are? Which rule did I break? Certainly not length...others are as long or longer. I have 30 minutes to edit. What do you suggest?

There. Shorter now. Thanks for pointing out the faux pas.

Thanks!! I think it will work for us, for awhile.    We'll take it as it comes. Thanks for the input.

yes please my no. is ****

Hi. My wife and I would like to move to Nepal from Europe. We've lived in India before, so are not strangers to living in different cultures. What is the best area around Kathmandu to live, with good view or on hillside, and, importantly the fastest internet?

Hi! Different people have different tastes and different budgets too, but if you like the hillside and nature, I might suggest your going out and looking for something, beyond Lalitpur/Patan/Ring road, out to Godavari way. Godavari has the only Botanical Garden in the whole country and international ICIMOD (for mountain development) Research Center is not out there by chance.  The hillside and country and nature in general out that way are still not too spoiled, as yet. I don't know if they have reopened the three or four star Godavari Village Resort which is also out there but that was a posh place before the earthquake. They offered a wide choice of facilities, for guests, luncheon/dining etc.
On days when traffic is fluid, you can drive from center of Kathmandu to Godavari in only 40-45 minutes. However, on other days, if you get stuck in traffic in trying to go through Patan area, on your way to Godavari, your journey can take double that time. Anyway, I would urge you to check it out.
As for internet connection, Nepal is not known for its fast internet connectivity, no! Many observers will in fact tell you that it's pretty lousy. I was never impressed with the service I got. On the other hand, I would refer you to the very informative new information provided by JW who as recently as November 21, 2017.
JW explains very well that if you are thinking about securing - and require - a highly reliable internet connection here, you'll have to pay top dollar but still according to him, you can buy what he calls "your own redundancy in internet paths...with access to multiple ISP's, backup configurations" and perhaps more.  Being no expert myself in this field, I would therefore urge you to read his good information on Expat right here, and judge for yourself. He puts the cost at $250 a month or $3,000 a year. As I said, do read his remarks.
I just hope you don't need to FAX anything! I've just lived through a nightmare in the last few days trying to get my people in Ktm to FAX a simple 10 page Annual Report from Kathmandu to Europe. I know that less and less people nowadays rely on faxing, but still....! My people in Ktm tried 15 different cyber cafes in Thamel and not one cyber cafe or hotel was able to send the fax message to my people in Europe. Apparently the difficulty is due to all the tearing up of Thamel streets, and  drainage or canalization work in the capital. We gave up....! Hopeless.
I hope that your experiences in India were better!

Hi,

I invite you to follow this topic on this new thread:
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=751388

Thanks!