To me, 11 or 12 no difference as I work on Saturday morning. But others may prefer departing on Saturday then they dont need to apply for leave for the next coming Monday. Actually u may consider visit BKK after the Nepal trip, I might be able to join u for a few days (say 2~3 days).
Nepal trip: Anyone interested?
- Thread starter tomshen
- Start date
- Status
U can voice your suggestion during the meet up.
I have no specified agent to deal with on the ticket. My advice is to call Thai Airway office to make a reservation, then u can go on to your preferred agent to buy the ticket with the given reference no from Thai Airway reservation center.
I've just called Muhibbah Trave-Tours. The fare quoted is S$635 (excluding taxes of S$57), so the total fare is S$692.
However, this is the current price and is subjected to be changed.
This is confirmed by Thai Airway sales office, where Oct is peak season for Nepal travelling.
$692 is indeed the lowest quote I had after enquiries with more than 7 travel agents.
I think we better meet up sooner or later , for those who is confirmed, we can buy the ticket and lock up the good price.
FYI, www.zuji.com.sg is quoting for $850(exclude tax+insurance) for the same period to Nepal.
However, this is the current price and is subjected to be changed.
This is confirmed by Thai Airway sales office, where Oct is peak season for Nepal travelling.
$692 is indeed the lowest quote I had after enquiries with more than 7 travel agents.
I think we better meet up sooner or later , for those who is confirmed, we can buy the ticket and lock up the good price.
FYI, www.zuji.com.sg is quoting for $850(exclude tax+insurance) for the same period to Nepal.
I understand. I'm just trying to see if there is some room to adjust to each other's needs. Either way before or after the current itinerary will not allow a week end in BKK. The week end market is interesting so I thought it is easier if can squeeze in just before. Also prefer to go to BKK before Nepal. Had wanted a pure trekking itinerary to Annapurna region but willing to join the itinerary arranged by Wong Se - more leisurely n restricted around Kathmandu. Now just have to see if can match dates.
When is next SEED?
wow, detailed research man :thumbsup:
for food, I think the most expensive dinner I had in a restaurant was 260-300NR.... :wink:
try the hot lemon tea there, very nice!
yeah, change your NR in town, not really black market lah, just lots of small outfits for money changing, IDD calls, internet servce etc
in Thamel, lots of outdoor gear stuff! Northface jackets, gore-tex stuff etc
also, good idea to get cashmere stuff there; just find out how much isit in singapore and when u get there.... :rbounce:
do your bargaining of course...
even if u got odd number, try to negotiate for triple sharing lor
makes me wanna go back there again.....
..NuTs..
for food, I think the most expensive dinner I had in a restaurant was 260-300NR.... :wink:
try the hot lemon tea there, very nice!
yeah, change your NR in town, not really black market lah, just lots of small outfits for money changing, IDD calls, internet servce etc
in Thamel, lots of outdoor gear stuff! Northface jackets, gore-tex stuff etc
also, good idea to get cashmere stuff there; just find out how much isit in singapore and when u get there.... :rbounce:
do your bargaining of course...
even if u got odd number, try to negotiate for triple sharing lor
makes me wanna go back there again.....
..NuTs..
it will be better if we meet on separate day...
cos .. it will be easier to discuss....
i am okie with the schedule which wong se proposed... might as well stick to one schedule ... if there are 10 ppl .. there will be 10 different ideas ... i think the schedule is well balanced ... and it caters to every need (photography, travel, adventure etc).
I appreciate your effort wong se
Warm regards
cos .. it will be easier to discuss....
i am okie with the schedule which wong se proposed... might as well stick to one schedule ... if there are 10 ppl .. there will be 10 different ideas ... i think the schedule is well balanced ... and it caters to every need (photography, travel, adventure etc).
I appreciate your effort wong se
Warm regards
Reading this thread has excited me. I want to go but i don't really know all of you. Please keep me posted on your meeting so that i can meet all of you and put down my name. I am ok with the final itinery. Just keep me posted when you guys meet up. Much appreciated.
david
90013335
dlock@pacific.net.sg
david
90013335
dlock@pacific.net.sg
A
alexellinghausen
Guest
i think u guys might be paying too much for this trip. you guys should just get an air-ticket to kathmandu and make arrangements there. Trust me, you won't have difficulty finding tour guides/agencies etc, especially in thamel. In fact, i can guarantee that they'll come find you instead of you finding them.
and hotel vaishili is over-the-top. it sticks out like a sore thumb in thamel, the only 'modern' looking building among the older looking ones surrounding it. i feel even kathmandu guest house is too expensive compared to the rest of the much-cheaper guesthouses in thamel which also have clean sheets, etc. stayed in KGH for one night but found it too expensive and changed guesthouse the next day...plus the fact that so many old people and european/american retirees were staying there i felt i was in a retirement home.
plus the issue of inconsistent power supply in thamel, yeah thats true but during my stay there, it didnt matter whether u stayed in a 4-star hotel or some cheap guesthouse, a power blackout usually affected the whole district, at night u could literally see the whole city suddenly turning dark...though some hotels will tell you things like they have their own back-up generator.
US$250 seems way too expensive for a 10D tour and the area covered is so limited. i lasted on SGD$500 for 30 days and this included visa, trekking, white-water rafting, boat rides, transportation and even loads of souvenirs. it even covered a trip to the casino in kathmandu(great place to go for budget travellers who want free food and pretend to gamble a bit). the area covered had the usual favorites like what you have planned in the itinerary plus pokhara which is only a 6 hour ride away from kathmandu, sarangkot and lumbini which is south nepal near indian border at sonauli. Heard this was the birth-place of buddha.
by the way, heard bad reviews from other travellers about river trisuli. heard its pretty boring. if i'm not wrong its a class 2 or 3 river. plus its loaded with rubbish too. Did the bhote kosi river when i was there which was supposed to be one of the more happening rivers but felt that was pretty so-so as well...
and hotel vaishili is over-the-top. it sticks out like a sore thumb in thamel, the only 'modern' looking building among the older looking ones surrounding it. i feel even kathmandu guest house is too expensive compared to the rest of the much-cheaper guesthouses in thamel which also have clean sheets, etc. stayed in KGH for one night but found it too expensive and changed guesthouse the next day...plus the fact that so many old people and european/american retirees were staying there i felt i was in a retirement home.
plus the issue of inconsistent power supply in thamel, yeah thats true but during my stay there, it didnt matter whether u stayed in a 4-star hotel or some cheap guesthouse, a power blackout usually affected the whole district, at night u could literally see the whole city suddenly turning dark...though some hotels will tell you things like they have their own back-up generator.
US$250 seems way too expensive for a 10D tour and the area covered is so limited. i lasted on SGD$500 for 30 days and this included visa, trekking, white-water rafting, boat rides, transportation and even loads of souvenirs. it even covered a trip to the casino in kathmandu(great place to go for budget travellers who want free food and pretend to gamble a bit). the area covered had the usual favorites like what you have planned in the itinerary plus pokhara which is only a 6 hour ride away from kathmandu, sarangkot and lumbini which is south nepal near indian border at sonauli. Heard this was the birth-place of buddha.
by the way, heard bad reviews from other travellers about river trisuli. heard its pretty boring. if i'm not wrong its a class 2 or 3 river. plus its loaded with rubbish too. Did the bhote kosi river when i was there which was supposed to be one of the more happening rivers but felt that was pretty so-so as well...
my personal opinion is: budget is not the top-most priority for me. comfort and security is.
Let's meet next week at SEED then. If it's too noisy, we can adjourn to Spinelli's across the street.
There is another possiblity: I go with u from 9-10 Oct to capture the weekend market in Thailand. Later we meet the rest on 11 Oct at noon. So we could have up to 2.5 days in Thailand and warm up. In that case I'll pray my shutter won't fail coz I figure out that I may easily get more than 3000 pictures from this trip (say 300 shots a day).
May be u can consider joining tomshen to BKK after Nepal ?
Of course if we have odd number going, I will try to negotiate with the agent for triple sharing for the hotel rooms if u could convince the 2 other mates who are willing to share the room among 3 of u. It may be a bit toilet-chaos in the early morning.
U are welcomed, and pls join us. In fact, I dun think anyone here know me as well. At least we have the basic foundation to form a friendship, we have similiar interest & destination - touring Nepal + photographing. I am sure we will get to know each other more after the trip.
There are 3 ways to arrange a travel agent.
Expensive - Book with a Singapore travel agent
Moderate - Book with Nepalese Agent over internet
Cheap - Book with Nepalese Agent with arriving
Who do we want ? Discuss during meet up.
I know, it is a very good hotel. According to Lonely Planet for lodging in Nepal,
Budget: US$3-10
Mid-range: US$10-50
Top-end: US$50 and upwards
Hotel Vaishili is classified 4 star and above , it is almost near top end. We can discuss during the meet up whether we should have a lower grade hotel or motel or backpack inn.
Beyond our control, pointless to discuss. The best we can do is to voice our concern to Nepal government.
Yes, River Trisuli is for beginner. Some may find it boring, some may find it fun and SAFE. It is depend on individual preference. Switching from Trisuli to Bhote Kosi (Class 4 - 5 )won;t make major changes on our route (as per itinerary) from Dhulikhel to Chitwan National Park. Pls click on the address for more info on Rafting at Nepal http://www.raftnepal.com/short_rafting_trip.htm
Some may take USD100,000 to travel around the world, but some may only need USD10,000. It is depent on the standard. I believe that staying at Hotel Vaishili has pushed the cost up, but I am not sure whether others who is willing to stay at budget hotel. And I am even in dount that a developed-country Singaporean is there to take advantage on free food provided by third-world-country Nepal Casino as to travel less costly.
I have considered Pokhara as well, however it is at the North West of Kathmandu. Travel to Pohkara will need one more day extended.
Hi alexellinghausen, your budget SGD500 for 30days seem to be much cheaper and interesting. Could u pls share your itinerary, experience, contact of agent, etc with us in more detailed ? Thanks for sharing your experience and suggestion. We will take in for consideration.
I am sure there are lots of issue to be discussed and I'm looking forward to meet u up. Regret that I am not free on next Wednesday. Can we make it on next Thursday ?
A
alexellinghausen
Guest
actually, i didn't spend all 30 days in Nepal. I was in Northern India as well. When i went for this trip last year, i planned to have a similar itinerary to you guys, taking a thai airways flight to kathmandu, etc etc. However, me and my friend could only go in December as it was our school holiday. we didn't book early so we didn't manage to get any Thai Airway tickets and our only option left was incredibly expensive SIA tickets which we couldn't afford. So we did the next best thing and bought a ticket to Delhi, India. from there we went to the northern parts in Himachal Pradesh to places like Shimla, Dharamsala, McLeod Ganj (Home of the exiled Dalai lama) and other places in that region, just a little further north was Kashmir. Me and my friend were pretty bent on going Nepal so we took 800rupee (SGD$24) bus ride to Kathmandu which took 41 hours and covered i think approx. 500-600km. It was a killer bus ride but had great fun on it.
It wasn't a tourist bus (hence it was so cheap) and all the other passengers were Nepali, Tibetan or Indian. And customs at the Sonauli border are pretty strict, they don't allow the people to bring a lot of the same item. Eg. In nepal, leather jackets are expensive, but dirt cheap in India, so Nepalis would buy a whole bag of 30-40 jackets and bring it back to Nepal to sell them. anyway the customs officers wanted bribes to allow such 'importing' of goods but the people on the bus either didnt have money to pay or just didnt want to, so just before the border, the guy smuggling leather jackets to everyone on the bus and ask them to wear one. The hat lady would do the same and pass everyone a hat, etc etc. And when the customs officers asked, we had to say it was our own clothes. When we got off the bus, all of us looked like we were wearing uniforms, all had the same leather jackets, hats, shoes, etc. It was pretty hilarious but the customs officers couldnt do anything. And after we crossed the border we would have to pass them back to their respective smuggler.
and anyway, the casino free food idea was just a suggestion, i'm a student travelling there on a strict budget and it provided a really good meal for me and my friend. By the way, the one that introduced this trick to me were a couple of backpackers from britain who were staying at the same guesthouse as me. I'm sure you guys probably wouldnt have to resort to this anyway, considering you pretty much got it covered plus if you're staying at Hotel Vaishili, you're probably not on a strict budget anyway.
For the itinerary, i pretty much went to everywhere that you guys planned except for the Chitwan jungle safari. but i still think its cheaper to make arrangements for this safari over in thamel. between kathmandu, pokhara and lumbini, i definitely felt Pokhara was the most enjoyable. its very laid back, very relaxing and great scenery. me and my friend rented motorbikes and actually rode all the way up to sarangkot instead of hiking up and it was really great man. Renting a mountain bike was 800 nepali rupees (SGD$16) and motorbike was only 500 nepali rupees, felt it was more worth it for the motorbike. you don't even need a licence there to ride one. can even get a car too i think.
A
alexellinghausen
Guest
one more thing, i didn't have any travel agent or any prior arrangement before i went. saw this company in singapore organzing tours at ridiculously expensive prices so me and my friend just bought air-tickets there and made arrangements from there. even if u wanna stay in Vaishili, its prob. even cheaper to make arrangements there. everything there can be bargained for.
are there any who would like a budget alternative which alexellinghausen described in his posts?
It seemed to be more adventurous, cheaper and localised.. not so touristy.
It seemed to be more adventurous, cheaper and localised.. not so touristy.
Originally posted by tomshen
There is another possiblity: I go with u from 9-10 Oct to capture the weekend market in Thailand. Later we meet the rest on 11 Oct at noon.
Weekend market opens only on weekends ie Sat and Sun. 9-10 is Thurs and Fri. And going and meeting the others in the airport on 11 Oct noon doesn't allow a visit to the weekend market on the 11 itself. We can discuss during meet up. If I can't string this, I may go on the trekking trip starting from Pokhara and stay a few days in Kathmandu to do the UNESCO heritage sites. I'll give Chitwan a miss.
I had considered Pokhara as well, but since it is on the west of Kathmandu, travelling there will need 1 more day extended. I have the itinerary with me, it will be 10D9N.
Will distribute the 2 itineraries (9D w/o Pokhara, 10D with Pohara) and let the group to decide.
If we decide on 10D9N, I will try to bargain with the travel agent that travel cost to be remained at USD280, and we could sacrify for a lower grade hotel, may be 3 star grade, during the stay in Kathmandu.
Meet up ??? No idea, let me be the first one to suggest.
Next Tuesday, dinner time 7.00pm at Peninzula Plaza.
Will distribute the 2 itineraries (9D w/o Pokhara, 10D with Pohara) and let the group to decide.
If we decide on 10D9N, I will try to bargain with the travel agent that travel cost to be remained at USD280, and we could sacrify for a lower grade hotel, may be 3 star grade, during the stay in Kathmandu.
Meet up ??? No idea, let me be the first one to suggest.
Next Tuesday, dinner time 7.00pm at Peninzula Plaza.
ah .. that will be good ..
cos i won't be able to make it if it is a weds... cos one of my client's is having an event on weds that i have to attend.
tues is good for me...
thanks
Regards
cos i won't be able to make it if it is a weds... cos one of my client's is having an event on weds that i have to attend.
tues is good for me...
thanks
Regards
- Status
Similar threads
