New members of the Nepal forum, introduce yourselves here - 2018

Hi all!
I'm Hanny, married to a Nepalese man. I'm considering moving to Nepal when I've finished my degree (summer 2019).  I'm just casting about to see what's out there and if anyone had any tips for me! At the moment I'm thinking an English teaching job may be a route of employment which is open to me.  That's it in a nutshell! Chers guys and hope you're all keeping well.
h x

Hi Hanny!
My advice is that you make full use of the time you have in Scotland between now and your graduation next year in 2019 to usefully contact NGO's or other educational entities in your part of the world, to explore any and all job opportunities that might be open to you in the teaching/educational profession, and postulate with them, destination Nepal, with your credentials.  In your place, I would start by contacting both Nepal Trust  - (Glasgow) www.nepaltrust.org  and The Pahar Trust of Nepal ( www.pahar-trust.org ) which you can find on the net. First prepare a full CV, with photo and APPLY to them, with your candidature. No time to waste, start asap! Try to land a job with them before you arrive in Nepal. This is another way of saying that you would do well and better to land in Nepal with a job in hand, in contrast with landing there empty-handed. This way, you can hope to get far better remuneration, perks and benefits, and of course try to get health care/benefits/insurance coverage. Try for a 2-3 year contract. By the way, those two names I found for you in five minutes by surfing on the net but there may be many other entities in teaching field that you can similarly contact. The more the better. Try to also phone them and  of course submit your CV to all of them. Best of luck to you.

I married my wife a Nepali Dr. April of 2016 and we spend on average two months a year there in Nepal as she has several houses etc.

I am a businessman in the US with several businesses one of which is pretty large. I started over about 5 years ago and we think we can cash out in just under 3 years.



We plan on moving to Nepal in 2 years 11 months permanently to work with our charitywww.eternalhopenepal.com and to start some businesses to help the children we are working with and their families get jobs.

Love Nepal and mostly my wife!

A few photos with me in next post.

https://plus.google.com/photos/10117708 … td37zLaLJA

I thought I should maybe prove that I exist as well.





I like traditional clothes!

some like it clickable!

Welcome to the forum, Walran. I'm sure you'll find many people to help in Nepal. It's good to see the laws being enforced to end cruel treatment of lower castes and now the government even provides an education for the poor and even pays for uniforms and a meal. But there's much more that is needed and I know it will take a few generations to get over the millenniums of abuse. Your help is really needed here.

Good what you say. Me two, also hope for end of cruel treatement and inequalitys of our good people in Terai region:  23% of Nepal land area and 48% of our country's population. Fighteeng for dignity and equality still.

Howdy!

I'm Ristri - or simply Rie/Ree whichever you like, from Indonesia.
Moved to Nepal on June 2018 - married with a nice Nepali man, a music teacher/musician, based in Kirtipur, Kathmandu with cool Newari culture and tradition. Is there anyone stayed/ever visit Kirtipur?

I was working as HR Manager in IT company back in Indonesia, but here, since I got Non-Tourist (Marriage) Visa, I'd call myself as Self-employed. I work as freelance guitar teacher at home and in a sponsored school at Martatirtha, Kathmandu. Oh yes, forget to mention that i like music too! Mesmerized by Nepali/Newari music as well!

I would like to start Airbnb business, record and release my new music, selling stuff in online shop, and open music course with musician friends. Is there anyone thinking the same plan as mine? Please share too~

I am also thinking to start funding for getting child/small-size guitars so that I could teach kids to learn playing guitar better/properly in the future. I was visiting schools in Kathmandu who has music subject - guitar, and most of them has adult size guitar, which is uncomfortable to play.

If you are planning to visit Kirtipur, please leave me a message! We can meet up and share stories at my favorite cafe which runs by a nice Nepali and Filipino couple. Their pastries are so tasty, btw!

Thanks!

Welcome to Nepal and to our forum. I also have an online store. It takes a long time to get them going, but we do a little each month selling thangkas and masks. One little problem with your plans might be a bit difficult; AirBnb hosting. Since the earthquake everyone has made a guesthouse or home-stay. I have a 6 room guesthouse in Changunarayan and Booking has only sent us 4 people in a month during high season this year. I would not even bother unless you want it as a hobby. There are way too many guesthouses.

We recently started working on our Youtube channel. It's a lot of fun and I'm helping travelers to have a better time in Nepal. http://bit.ly/2NTzjyM  I've always been trying to help travelers with my blog or my little eBook, online advice, etc.

I see an opportunity in exporting handmade musical instruments that could earn you some money. Hope you enjoy living here. I have been here almost 8 years and I love it more every day. Being as you are from Asia you will adapt just fine, but if you need any help feel free to let me know.

Howdy!
Your project sounds very interesting. For many years, starting way back in 2001, I exported various types of nepali products from our base, which at that time was located in central Kathmandu. In the next 10-12 years that followed, our little 5 or 6 men/women office really developed and prospered and we exported those goods to Europe, USA, and many countries throughout the world.  Although I am now fully retired, out of business and no longer reside full time in Nepal, I thought with the experience I gathered, I would pass on to you the benefit of that experience, in the hope that it will inspire you. You then decide if you want to follow suit or take a different approach.
1. I don't know this Airbnb organization. What I did on day one was altogether different. First, I purchased a good .com name from GoDaddy, then had our own site hosted  in the USA at Eapps.com. With the help of a nepali webmaster in our nepali office, said website was built under my supervision. (Later, we built a larger network of related sites for a number of quality "made in Nepal" handicraft products).
As you say you have IT experience, it's possible you could create your own website solo, without a webmaster? We only did wholesale and large ticket items, but you could do retail/online, or both.
2. In my experience, the products that sold best for us were the following:
- Genuine/high quality Cashmere sweaters, scarves, hats and gloves
- A variety of pure wool products,
- A wide variety of "made in Nepal" handmade incense
- Small copper and bronze statues (Buddhas, Green Tara, and other deities)
- Wax candles and other products.
- Wool/Felt items like slippers, toys, X-mas decorations, etc.
3. In the art field and related, I tried modern art, sold a few but not many
I tried to promote thangkas, but not with a great deal of success. Too specialized a field. OK for the run of the mill $50 variety, but impractical to try and sell large high grade thangkas in the range of say $1,000 to $3,000 to collectors and the like.
4. One products which we did not carry but sold well were fast selling Khukuri knives (Gorkha style). One store owner I know in Thamel was regularly shipping out knives to overseas buyers with good success.  Shipments of several thousand dollars worth per month.
Turning to exporting musical instruments, I am sorry to have to say that I have absolutely no experience in this specialty field so I cannot guide you. Our company never promoted them, never offered them to the public. From reading what you had to say, I can fully understand that this is your great love, hobby, and primary interest. Therefore, please understand that it is not my intention to dissuade you from trying to do just that. But have you done any study or research to try and determine the market potential for made-in-Nepal musical instruments to be shipped either to Indonesia or internationally? I am no authority on the subject, but my gut feeling is that this is a limited market in comparison with some of the other products I've named above - which I know for a fact - sell well worldwide. If you do carry out this project, try to tap in on both the domestic market as well as the international market. - I am not insinuating that you should export all the above, but perhaps you could choose to promote, say, musical instruments and felt decorative items....or musical instruments and incense, or some other other combination of your choice. This way, at the end of 1-2 years, you will will be able to determine for yourself and for sure which product sells better than the other!! Guess all I'm saying is why put all your eggs in one basket?
Best of luck on your project's success.

Wow! Kudos for MadagascarNow and Jl1234! I am so happy to read your reply. It's an insight for me (and now my husband too). I knew market is different nowadays. And lots of supplier already sending stuff abroad by themselves. But doesn't mean I can't start from zero with different approach (yes, i was thinking about domestic market as well). Mostly Nepali in Kathmandu now being consumptive, their buying level and spending capability is increased more than 10 years ago (especially the youngsters for goods such as electronic, clothes, shoes, etc). Also, there lots of online shop are developing (daraz, esewapasal, etc). Could be another way to sell domestically. Well, let's see what will work for me. Anyway, once again, thank you very much! There so much things i need to learn. I wish in no time i could share my experience here.

The only thing I know is that if I were interested to buy a handmade musical instrument, I would go to a local shop to buy it. I can't speak for others, but I would never buy it "blind" over the net, online whatever. I would want to hold the instrument in my hand, listen to it,  and yes play it. How else would I know what it sounds like? How else to test it? Exporting soap, candles, shoes, etc. is one thing, exporting an artful handmade musical instrument is something altogether different.  On the other hand, if you don't want to bother with running a local shop and having to pay high rent in Thamel, nothing is to prevent you from promoting your product with photos, a good description, sales pitch, etc on your website. That way, you can adequately advertise your product in the hope that both foreign (from abroad) and local buyers will come to you in Kirtipur to purchase one or more. In that case scenario, no online/credit card facility required. Easier and less expense.

Like MadagascarNow pointed out here a couple of weeks ago, there may be way out too many guesthouses in Nepal already and I would be inclined to agree with her. This said, the Government just announced it will build 10 more State-owned guesthouses in Pulchowk, Lalitpur this time, or so the HT just wrote in its daily.

Hi,

I invite you to follow this topic on this new thread: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=830210

Thanks!