Arrival at the airport
- Visa formalities went very smooth the two times I arrived at Tribhuvan international.
- There is a bank before you get to luggage retrieval.
- I didn’t find a left luggage in the airport.
-
Once you get out of the airport building, there’s a small bureau where
you can buy a ticket for a taxi. Prices are pretty steep and depend on
which hotel you’re going to. Also make sure you have Rupees with you,
because they’ll give you a lousy rate for your dollars or Euros.
-
If you have a domestic flight to Pokhara or elsewhere to catch, that’s
more difficult. The building for domestic flights is completely
separated from the international building. You’ll have to walk for
about 300 meters before you get there.
Accommodation
- Katmandu Guesthouse is a popular place, mainly
because of its location in the center of Thamel and its courtyard where
people can sit, eat and drink. They also organize some activities, and
a number of agencies are situated on their premises. However, it is not
really cheap. They have rooms ranging from 10 to 60 $, always add 12,2%
tax. I had a room for 17$ which was OK, rather small, no TV or fridge,
rather noisy both at night and in the morning as this is a big hotel,
so there’s always someone making noise.
- Paradise Plaza
is located at 5 minutes walk from Thamel, in a more quiet area. Rooms
are a bit bigger, have TV and hot shower, and look about 20 years old.
Personnel is friendly, price for a double is 22 $ but they give
discounts up to 35% in lower season and for online reservation. They
have a site at www.yomari.net/paradise.
- If you’re looking for something special, then the 7 rooms in the Via Via travelers café
might be something for you. It is situated in Paknajol, right next to
Thamel. They charge 200 Rp per night for large rooms with shared
bathrooms. Book well ahead as it is usually fully booked by expats
working for NGO’s. The management is mixed Belgian-Nepalese. They also
have a very cozy bar where they serve drinks and food. The waiters and
kitchenhelpers are streetchildren who first get a training, then they
work here for 4 months. They also have a website at www.viaviacafe.com/noflash/kathman.htm
- Soaltee Crowne Plaza
is together with the Yak & Yeti one of the top hotels in KTM. They
are located way out of town, but they have a shuttle every 2 hours. A
taxi costs between 100 and 150 Rp. The hotel itself lies in beautiful
gardens, and rooms have everything you can expect: good bathroom,
fridge, TV etc… They also have a good Indian restaurant and buffet
breakfast. They have a site at www.soaltee.crowneplaza.com.
Food
Thamel has plenty of restaurants to offer. These are some I tried:
- Yin Yang restaurant
is an excellent Thai restaurant. The food is not too spicy. Prices
between 200 and 300 for a full course. They also have a nice courtyard
to sit for lunch, a quiet haven amidst bustling Thamel!
- Koto Japanese restaurant
(Thamel, there's also one on Durbar Marg) is really recommended. The
food is excellent, and prices are OK. I had a set menu for 400 Rp, this
is a bargain compared to what Japanese restaurants in Belgium charge.
Recommended.
- La Dolce Vita serves good Italian food at reasonable prices.
-
For Indian food in style, go to the Indian restaurants in Soaltee
Crowne Plaza (out of town) or else in Hotel de l’Annapurna on Durbar
Marg.
- The Via Via café in Paknajol also serves food in a good atmosphere.
- As for desserts,
I am always disappointed with the chocolate cakes, black forest cakes
etc, not only in KTM but everywhere in Nepal. The problem is that they
look fantastic, but in fact it’s all fake: the whipped cream, the
chocolate, it’s all fake so it tastes like nothing. The reason is that
real chocolate is simply too expensive so they use some Nepalese
substitute. There’s a Movenpick ice cream parlor on Durbar Marg at
Western prices. The "La Dolce Vita" does a good imitation of Tiramisu.
What to do
There are plenty of things to do, and you can easily spend a week
discovering KTM and KTM valley. KTM valley is discussed on another
page, I’ll list here just a few things of KTM.
Pashaputinath
-
This Hindu temple is an extra-ordinary place which you shouldn’t miss.
I went in the afternoon, but for the best light for photographs, maybe
it’s better to go early morning. The temple itself is off-limits for
non-Hindus, but you can get a glimpse of it through the door and from
the hill opposite the river. There are plenty of other places which you
can visit like a home for people of older
age, a temple where people mourn for 13 days when a parent has died,
places where different kinds of Sadhus live, and of course the places
next to the river where cremations take place. The Sadhus are an
interesting story. These people believe they can stop the circle of
reincarnation by leading a special life. There is f.i. the "milk sadhu"
who eats nothing and drinks only milk for 22 years already. There’s
also a house where the pilgrim Sadhus from India sleep.
- I saw al
this with a local guide who just introduced himself. With the first
guide I went around to see the buildings for an hour, but I only saw
few Sadhus. Then I left my first guide and was approached by a second
who apparently was much more knowledgeable about the Sadhus and he
showed me around in their house and places. They don’t mind you taking
their picture, as long as you make a donation. Entrance fee to
Pashaputinath is 250 Rp, a taxi from Thamel should cost 80 to 100 Rp.
Boudnath
Boudnath
is also very interesting. It’s a massive stupa surrounded by souvenir
shops for Buddhists, restaurants etc. This is also the best place to
find Buddhist music. A taxi from Thamel is 100 Rp, from Pashaputinath
50 Rp should be enough.
Swayambunath
Swayambunath
is also worth a visit. Taxi on the meter costs 60 from Thamel. It’s a
long climb up via the eastern stairway, the western stairway is much
shorter. There is now a ticket booth on the eastern stairway as well
(didn’t see the one on the western stairway) where you have to pay 50
Rp (3/2003). There are plenty of temples with worshippers and monkeys.
Worth a visit.
Durbar Square
Durbar Square
was a disappointment to me. They say they are restoring the place, but
I think the only good way to restore it is to prohibit traffic in
between the temples just like in Patan and Bakhtapur. There is an
entrance fee of 200 Rp. One of the side streets is the famous Freak
street, but this is really nothing since tourist business has moved to
Thamel.
Activities around KTM
For activities like mountain biking, rafting and visiting Patan and Bakhtapur, I refer to the Kathmandu valley page.
Shopping
- KTM and especially Thamel is a shoppers paradise.
-
First of all you have plenty of shops selling fake camping gear,
usually from the North Face, sometimes Patagonia or Jack Wolfskin.
Again, this is fake, so don’t get fooled. If you want real stuff from
the North Face, they have a shop on Durbar Marg. Mind you, you can get
fined at customs when you try to get into your country with these fake
things.
- Secondly there are plenty of bookshops selling books,
postcards, marvelous maps on most parts of Nepal, and also Bhutan and
Tibet. The best bookshop with an enormous choice is right next to the
KTM Guesthouse. It's called Pilgrims book house, and it's easy to miss
since they're not so aggressive or flashy as other bookshops.
-
Thirdly there are the shops selling embroidery. I had a T-shirt made
with the logo of this site, and it looks great, an exact copy. Price
for the first T-shirt is around 500 Rp, thereafter, the price drops.
- Then there are the many CD shops selling copied CD’s of popular Western artists. There’s also some local music.
-
Then there are the internet cafes which always seem to be full. Price
in KTM is much lower then in Pokhara, so do your surfing here. Price is
now 20 to 30 rupees per hour, everything less then an hour is 1 Rp per
minute. There is a difference in speed, so I suggest you take a place
where they have broadband like the "Cybernet café" at the back of a
department store.
Getting out of KTM
- For short distances like Patan or Bakhtapur, you can as well take a
taxi as they are pretty cheap. Buses and biking are also options.
-
For trips to Pokhara, you can either take a flight or a bus. Take into
account that flights can be cancelled due to bad weather, and bus trips
can become a nightmare when a landslide blocks the road. This often
happens during monsoon, but also in March we were blocked for 2 hours.
Fellow travelers who had left 1 day after us got stuck for 12 hours and
eventually arrived at 3 am !! There’s a part of the road 10 km east of
Mugling which is especially prone to this. The newspaper said that this
was the 6th landslide since monsoon 2002.
- A flight to Pokhara will
cost 67$ + 2 $ "11th September tax" for foreigners. Locals pay around
1600 Rp. There are numerous flights, so you can book seats 1 day on
beforehand as long as you are flexible concerning time and company. I
suggest booking ahead and taking a morning flight if possible.
- A tourists bus costs 8 to 10 $ and they leave in the morning 7 or 8 am.
- Flights and buses to Chitwan are also available.
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