Travel Reminder for Nepal Adventure Tours :
1. Pick up from airport – we will send our guide to pick you up from airport – he will hold a sign “ hktraveler.com”, then you can recognize him. Please bring along your receipt of payment for identification.
2. Visa – you can apply for land visa after you arrived Kathmandu airport, please bring along one photo and fill up a form at airport. For HKSAR passport holder, visa is free.
For BNO or other passport holders, US$30 for visa fee.
3. Cash and Currency – please bring along US$ cash for your travel expenses. ( US$ have better rate than HK$ ). So, it is better to bring along US$. You can easily change US$ into local currency Rupees in tourist area currency exchange counters. They open from Monday to Sunday. The rate at airport counter may be lower, so I don’t recommend you to change money there. Our guide will bring you to tourist area Thamel upon your check in hotel, so you can change money there. For tips of your tour US$80, we would like you to pay us in US$ and we will collect this amount from you in Kathmandu by the end of the tour. Cash expenses- Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu and Pokhara is not included in your tour. It will cost you around US$7 to US$8 for a nice meal at restaurants in tourist area. How much cash you should bring along depends on your shopping needs. For a piece of 28 inches good quality pashmina shawl( 70 % pashmina & 30% silk), cost around HK$ 300. For the best quality 100% pashmina scarf cost around HK$450. For silver jewelry, it will cost you from few US$ to US$20 for a piece of pendant or earrings. Nepalese knife cost you from small one US$5 to big one around US$20. US $ cash is easiest. Some of the shops accept credit card but they will charge you 4% hanlding charge.
4. Battery and Electricity – It is 220 volt in Nepal and for socket , 2 round legs. You can easily find this socket in supermarket in tourist area Thamel. They y charge you around HK$6. In Kathmandu and Pokhara, you can recharge battery for your camera but on the trek, electricity supply is not stable. We are not sure whether you get chance to charge electricity , thus it is advised to bring backup battery for your camera.
5. Trek – a) guest house - on trek is quite basic. They will provide you double room but toilet is outside the room. For hot shower, they usually provide Solar system, but as weather in winter in very cold and this kind of system usually doesn’t work. We can try to request the guest house to boil a bucket of hot water. But it is not sure.
b) water and food – you can easily buy mineral water to drink on the trek, there are many different small shops or guest house that you can buy water easily. They only charge you few HK$ per liter bottle. It is advised to drink mineral water throughout your whole tour in Nepal as you are not used to the local water and you may get sick after drinking local water. It is advised to avoid salad and cold food during your tour. Cold desserts on trek should be avoided. Hot soup, fried rice, fried noodle are available on trek. For drinks, hot lemon, hot tea and hot coffee are safe to drink.
c) Sleeping bag – you can rent sleeping bags from trekking equipment shops from Pokhara, they only charge you few US$ for your 4 days trek. Quality is good and clean.
So, if you don’t have sleeping bags or you don’t feel to bring along, you can just rent here. Most of the trekkers do this here.
d) Trekking boots or comfortable shoes – it is advised to wear trekking boots as it will give you more comfort on the trek, if you don’t have it, then please wear comfortable
sport shoes.
e) Weather and clothing – It is cold in the mountain, it may fall down to minus in midnight. Jan and Feb is very cold, once a while there may be snow fall in the mountain, thus you need down jacket, warm hat, gloves, sunglasses and warm trousers. The morning go up to Poonhill ( 3120m) can be very cold. So if you have gortex gear, that it good. It is water and wind proof. During the day on trek, you should be fine. In Kathmandu and Pokhara is warmer, it will go up to around 15 degree during the day and night time it may fall down to few degrees.
f) Fire place – some of the guest house on trek may provide fireplace for you to keep warm
g) Boiled water – if you have water boiler, , you can bring along, then you can have hot drinking water available easily
h) Packing – it is advised to bring along at least one backpack for your group of 2 pax. Suitcase is not suitable for trek. We will provide you one porter to serve your group of 2 pax. They will carry your packpack and you only need to carry your own small bag of
camera , wallet and small personal belongings. You can pack your luggage into the packpack for your 4 days trek and you can leave remaining luggage that you don’t need for your trek in your hotel ( you will stay same hotel when you back from the trek)
i) Photo – please bring along one photo for application for trek permit, ( ie.you need 2 photos, one for visa and one for trek permit)
6. Free time in Kathmandu the first afternoon upon arrival – our guide will take you to tourist area and you can walk around, there are many trekking equipment shops and you will get cheap gloves, hats….etc. Down jacket is cheap here but design is so so, it only cost you around HK$250 to HK$350. It is cheap but design is not so nice compared to what are available in Hong Kong. For gloves and hats are fine as they are cheap.
7. Adventure activities – paragliding, small mountain flight is available in Pokhara, it is worth to try. Besides, horseriding, mountain bike, boating, canoeing…..
8. Contact telephone number in Kathmandu – Bonnie Ng- Director of Boomerang Travel( Mobile – 977- 98510 32879 ) When Bonnie is out of town, you can reach tour coordinator Mr Asta through this telephone number.