There is actually some merit of hiding in a side alley, at least it will be more quiet, keep yourself a distance from all that noise & dirt along the main streets.
Our room is quite reasonable, but the only thing is the position of the TV set. I knocked my head again the metal platform holding the TV set once. My gosh, it was hard. Luckily I didn't bleed.
Outside the room, they have tables and chairs for you to relax, enjoy a cup of wonderful Nepali tea. The environment is not bad.
Tip #1: Always have your shower before sun down.
Most of the guest houses in Kathmandu or Nepal as a whole use solar power to heat up your shower water. Once the sun is down, the water will become cold. Then they will switch to electricity, which will take quite a number of hours to heat up the whole tank.
At Hotel Blue Horizon, a guy introduced himself as Rambo approached us to offer trekking package for us in the mountains. He seems to be quite professional. The costs he calculated is quite transparent too.
For us, we each paid US$560 for a 11-day trekking package to Annapurna Base Camp. The package includes the air fares for 3 (WJ, our guide, & me) from Kathmandu to Pokhara, return tourist bus ticket for 2 from Pokhara to Kathmandu, trekking permits, food, etc. We figured the air fare itself is US$91 per person, the bus ticket is US$18 per person, and the trekking permit is around Rs2000 per person. His offer is actually not bad.
Rambo also claimed that there would be a strike in Kathmandu 2 days later, it was better for us to get out of Kathmandu before the strike set in. I was a bit sceptical of his words, as I had been cheated of those claimed special days or whatever in Thailand before. Well, we will come to that point again to tell you whether this Rambo was honest.
He arranged everything for us nicely, and called up our guide cum porter to come to the hotel to meet us. Our guide is Abinash, or Abi in short. A very handsome 27-year young man. Around him, there were some interesting stories later in our trekking days.
Ok, so much for the first day. After settling all the important details, we went out for a stroll in Thamel, to have a feel of this backpackers' heaven.
Thamel has no shortage of shops selling all kinds of trekking equipment & gears. You can get almost anything you need here. I was a bit stupid not to spend some time searching for some good trekking gears here before the trek. Then there are plenty of shops selling souvenirs such as some religious artifacts, shops selling Tangka's, shops selling cashmere scarves, etc. Your eyes will be very busy.
The Tangka's are nice looking hanging in the shops or in temples, but I think they look a bit scary if you have them at home. The price is not too high, for Rs1500, you can already get a small one, but then, what am I supposed to do with them?
Well, I will wrap up the first day in Kathmandu here. Tomorrow will be an exciting day.
You can find a complete list of blog entries about my Nepal trip here.
No comments:
Post a Comment