As promised here is part one of my TR, hopefully over Tishrey I'll have time to write about the actual trek
Disclaimer: This TR is being done from memory and happened a few years ago so no guarantees about the accuracy of the info.
Part 1
Kathmandu
I spent about 2 weeks in Kathmandu before and after the trek, so before I get into the actual trek TR will just give some info about Kathmandu, in no particular order.
Arriving at the airport: You don’t need a visa in advance. Though it is advisable to bring passport pictures with you otherwise there is a photo booth that charges an arm and a leg. The visa fees need to be paid in Nepalese rupees and as you can imagine, the change place at the airport is not the best rates so don’t exchange more than what you need for the visa.
As soon as you get out of the airport you will get attacked by an army of taxi drivers. They will usually offer to bring you to the best hotel in Nepal; they each have agreements with different guesthouses and are trying to make a commission off you. Your best shot is to ask them to take you to the Beis Chabad (most of them know where it is), over there you can speak to the Chevreh and find out information about the different guesthouses available.
Thamel: The Thamel is the tourist area of the city, that’s where the Beit Chabad and all the guesthouses r and you’ll probably be spending most of your time in Kathmandu there.
Currency: At the time I was there, the exchange rate for the Nepalese Rupee was around 70-80Rs to a USD. In my mind spending 100Rs was about the same as spending 1$ in the US. Keep that in mind when discussing prices later and you’ll see how dirt cheap everything is.
Guesthouses: The cheaper guesthouses go for about 2-3 USD a night. I paid a little more (about 6 USD a night), and in return got the luxury of having hot water even when the sun went down (the cheaper ones have a solar heater so there’s no hot water at night, it’s an interesting scene at the Beit Chabad when everyone is hanging out and all of the sudden at Shkia everyone runs off, the Chabad Bochurim run to catch Minchah and the Israelis run to catch a shower).
Food: The only Kosher food is obviously in the Beit Chabad. The Beit Chabad runs a restaurant called Glatmandu, the food is regular Israeli food with a few Nepalee dishes thrown in. In the 2 weeks I’ve been there I sampled pretty much everything on the menu and it was all surprisingly good. The prices are on par with the local non-kosher restaurants (a.k.a dirt cheap), Rabbi Lifshitz told me he does that on purpose so that the less religious Israelis don’t have an excuse to go to the Treif places (although reasonably he could have charged as much as Avraham Avinu in his Eshel and gotten away with it).
The food is for the most part produced locally; the chickens are Shechted by Rabbi Lifsitz (I was there one night when he Shechted and Koshered over 200 chickens, nothing like eating a Schnitzel that was clucking 3 hours ago
). Fruits and vegetables are obviously bought there and checked for bugs (and believe me there ARE bugs) by the Bochurim and in my month in Nepal I haven’t been Milchig once (once in a while guests bring some frozen milk or cheese, but I can sympathize with the Lifshitz family for keeping them for themselves).
Beit Chabad: is basically the hub for all the Israeli backpackers, and the best place to go to for current information on everything you need, from guesthouses and Laundromats to internet cafes to trekking information and supplies. It is run by the Lifshitz family who are just amazing and by Bochurim that they bring down to help them in running the Beit Chabad day to day. The atmosphere is very laid back and all the Israelis, even the totally not religious ones come there to hang out and eat a “Schnitzel Im Cheeps (Israeli accent)”.
Internet: Try as I might I couldn’t find wi-fi anywhere, you need to go to an internet café, the prices ranged from 30Rs an hour to 100Rs an hour. The cafes closer to the Beit Chabad were in the 30-50Rs range and that was fine for casual surfing. For skype calls and video chats you might want to walk a bit further and find one of the pricier ones (remember even that is about $1.25).
Shopping: The streets of the Thamel are full of vendors selling Tchatchkes, and you can have a lot of fun bargaining with them. I admit in the beginning it felt weird haggling over 30Rs (about 25 cents), but keep in mind that its part of Nepalee culture (in fact if you buy something at the asking price, the guy will get offended as if you’re implying that he grossly underpriced the item), and as long as the haggling is done in good spirit and respectfully all sides will enjoy it. The general rule: once a vendor offers an asking price, feign shock and say you can’t pay more than a quarter of that, at which point he will feign shock and say “no possible” then the haggling begins. Eventually you settle anywhere between a quarter and third of the asking price and Shalom Al Yisroel.
Activities in and around Kathmandu: there’s not much to see and do in Kathmandu. Most people just use it as a stepping stone for the rest of Nepal. There’s the royal palace which is overrated. Then there’s a place called The Monkey Temple. It’s a temple on a hill overlooking the city. To get there you have to climb about a million steps (I chalked it up as training for the trek). The view from the top is pretty nice, I was there at sunset and although the views obviously can’t compare to the ones I saw on the trek, but it was pretty nice, and yes there are monkeys up there.
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