May 21, 2025 • 26 mins
In episode 55 of the Global Travel Planning Podcast, Tracy sits down with Abigail from Aotearoa Adventures and her husband Isaac, sharing an insider’s guide to Kathmandu, Nepal.
Isaac, who spent his childhood in Kathmandu, joins Abigail to showcase their favourite temples, markets, festivals, and authentic experiences in Nepal’s bustling capital.
Together, they recount fond personal stories, offer cultural insights, and deliver practical recommendations for both first-time and seasoned travellers.
Listeners will discover the must-see highlights from UNESCO heritage sites to vibrant local neighborhoods teeming with artisans, explore the city’s dynamic food scene—hello, momos!—and hear essential tips for navigating transport, understanding local customs, and maximising time in Kathmandu.
The episode also covers festival timing, the best neighbourhoods to wander, and little-known traveler mistakes to avoid. Whether you’re planning a trek or a laid-back cultural immersion, this is your blueprint for an unforgettable Kathmandu adventure.
Guest - Abigail Hannah of Aotearoa Adventures and her husband Isaac
Show notes - Episode 55
🎧 Listen to next
- Episode #50 - Tips for first time visitors to Nepal
- Episode #16 - Exploring New Zealand with Abigail Hannah
- Episode #3 - South Island New Zealand Itinerary
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Visiting Kathmandu and wondering what you
absolutely can't miss, whichtemples, markets and cultural
experiences should be at the topof your list, and what insider
tips will help you make the mostof your time in Nepal's capital
.
This is episode 55 of theGlobal Travel Planning Podcast,
where we're sharing the top fivemust-do experiences in
Kathmandu.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 55 of the Global Travel
(00:49):
Planning Podcast.
And this week I have once againgot Abigail from Aotearoa
Adventures onto the podcast totalk about, well, nepal, but
specifically Kathmandu with herhusband, isaac, who is from
Kathmandu.
He was born in Kathmandu, sowho best to talk to about
Kathmandu?
With her husband, isaac, who isfrom Kathmandu he was born in
Kathmandu, so who best to talkto about Kathmandu than Isaac?
So thank you so much, abigail,for suggesting that Isaac come
(01:12):
on the episode.
Would you guys like tointroduce yourselves, before we
go into all things Kathmandu,and tell us a little bit about
what you do and where you areand just a general introduction
would be great.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So I'm Abigail and Isaac's here too.
We live in New Zealand, but weactually I grew up in India and
Isaac grew up in Nepal.
We met at high school.
We're high school sweethearts.
For some reason, isaac flewaround the world to be with me,
and now we've been in NewZealand for nine years and
that's our life.
But I'll let you introduceyourself too.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, so I wasn't actually born in Kathmandu, but
I moved there when I was twomonths old, so pretty much.
So I spent the first, yeah, 14years of my life growing up in
Kathmandu, went to a localschool there and, yeah, that was
my life.
And then moved to India and metAbby in high school and then
moved to New Zealand after that,but it's still a place that's
(02:02):
really dear to my heart and myparents are still living there.
I've still got a family home,so I said that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I mean being there at two months old.
It just about qualifies you forbeing born there, doesn't it
really taken there as a small?
Babe so tell me, what was itlike growing up in Kathmandu?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
yeah, I mean for me, it was normal, I didn't really
know anything else.
Um, yeah, but I loved it.
It was a.
It was normal, I didn't reallyknow anything else.
Yeah, but I loved it.
It was a real fun place to growup as a kid.
I mean pretty much from when Icould ride a bike, I could go
wherever I wanted.
It was like, yeah, my parentswould just take me back by
dinner time and I'd be outriding around.
Yeah, it was a really awesomeplace.
It's a place where people arereally friendly and welcoming
(02:41):
and quite an easy place to growup as a kid um, for context, um,
when we were back there twomonths ago.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We're just walking down the street near isaac's
house and the shopkeeper's like,oh, hello, isaac, and they've
been the same shopkeeper that'sseen him growing up from like I
don't know, two years old,coming to the shop to buy his
candy or whatever yeah um, andthey recognize him and it's,
it's there's such a strongcommunity feel.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Every time I go back and I'm just like oh, everyone
knows you, yeah, um yeah that'sso lovely, and the fact I'm
gonna be really nosy and ask umwhy your parents moved to
katmandu.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, of all places.
Um so they both work aslinguists.
Um working with some of thelike smaller tribal languages in
nepal.
Um so my dad, especially, isinvolved in a lot of adult
literacy, teaching, like adults,how to read and write and like
developing curriculums andresources for people in their
own languages, as opposed toEnglish or the national language
(03:37):
.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah so they've been there for 30 years.
I think it's just home for themnow.
They don't want to.
They keep telling us thatthey're going to leave and
retire somewhere else.
But we'll believe it when wesee them yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, I mean after 30 years, it's a big thing to move
a place where you're settledand you've brought your kids up
and you know it's home.
It would be really difficult tochoose somewhere to move to.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I mean, we're not complaining because we love
visiting them and we get to staywith them whenever we're in
Kathmandu yeah, it's fine by usexactly.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
You get to visit all the time, so what?
What makes Kathmandu so special?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think it's just such a yeah, it's a friendly and
welcoming place and it's areally easy place to go to.
As somebody who maybe has neverbeen to Nepal before or even
not traveled around Asia, muchEnglish is pretty widely spoken
everywhere.
It's kind of one of the mainlanguages of commerce, so you
don't really need to know muchNepali to get around, although
people love it if you do pick upbits and pieces, they always
(04:37):
really appreciate it and there'sjust so much rich history and
culture, I guess all enclosed inone little valley, like it's
not too big of a city really,but there's so much to see and
do and explore and eat.
And, yeah, you can spend solong down all the little back
alleys discovering all sorts ofhidden gems and of course.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I mean.
You grew up there, so you'regoing to know it like the back
of your hand.
So imagine I'm going to visit.
I've never been before.
What would be the experiencesthat you would say that I
shouldn't miss?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, there's a few key ones kind of that are really
popular, and they're popularfor a reason because they're
pretty special, and most of themare either parts of the old
cities that were in the valley,where there's lots of really
historic temples and kind ofalong with that, old buildings
and just a lot of history, andthen the other ones would just
be temple sites.
So comedy is quite aninteresting junction between
(05:32):
Hinduism from the south andIndia and Buddhism coming down
from the north.
You get both of those religionskind of mixing so you can get
to see both sides of that kindof culture and that religion.
So kind of one of the big oneswould be Bauddha Stupa.
It's one of the largest TibetanBuddhist pilgrimage sites in
the world.
So that's quite an amazingplace to see.
You see all the monks kind ofgoing around it doing their
(05:56):
pilgrimages.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And people might have seen this in photos or I don't
don't know magazines before, butit's this giant like white dome
kind of thing with like flagsaround it, like lots of prayer
flags.
You'll know when you see it.
It's very iconic and it's oneof my favorite places to just
sit in Kathmandu and peoplewatch.
Um, so like, surrounding thethe stupa are a whole bunch of
(06:19):
like cafes, so you can like goon onto the second or third
floor and you're looking down onthis and there's all the
pilgrims going around.
And this is actually a reallygood tip you can only go around
the stupa clockwise.
It's very bad karma to goaround anti-clockwise, but just
follow the direction thateveryone else is going yeah,
it's pretty obvious yeah.
(06:41):
So that's probably the mainTibetan Buddhist site.
And then Pashupatinath is Hindu.
It's their burning groundswhere they cremate the bodies of
their dead and their loved ones, and it's a very important
religious site for them, so itcan be quite confronting.
It was my first time ever goingto Burning Guts when we were
(07:01):
there two months ago, and you doliterally see these bodies on
pyres and the holy river, theBhagmati, goes straight through,
and that's why this is such asacred place.
But somewhere like that, Iwould really recommend getting a
guide so that you kind ofunderstand some of these
important cultural rituals andthe significance of what you're
(07:21):
seeing there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah it's, I mean it's totally for Hindus the
river flows all the way downinto the Ganges, so it's quite a
, yeah, quite a significantplace.
But, yeah, like Abby said,definitely having a guide to
kind of explain some of thenuances and the kind of yeah,
symbolism surrounding what'sgoing on is really helpful.
At that place there are a lotof monkeys, so you'd have to be
(07:45):
a bit careful taking, takingfood and drink there.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
um, yeah, there's a few big swarms of monkeys that
kind of hang around so top tipthey're not cute, monkeys aren't
cute I know no well, I, I grewup between africa and europe and
and I I don't like monkeys.
I think we had thatconversation before I do notiyal
.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I do not like them.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
The last time we were in Bali, they were trying to
take photos.
We were having a photo shoot meand Doug and I just kept
freaking out because the monkeyskept coming far too close to me
and it's like nope, thank youvery much.
So, yeah, I know issue in Indiaas well last year, and so it's
good to know that that's alsosomething you need to be aware
of in Nepal, for sure.
So what else should I add intomy itinerary?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, so covered two, I think the next two big ones.
One is called Patan DurbaSquare and the other is called
Bhaktapur, and these are boththe centres of kind of these
ancient cities.
So Kathmandu Valley used tokind of have three different
kingdoms and three differentrulers and these were the
(08:47):
centers of these cities and now,of course, like with
urbanization, it's Kathmandu'sjust all melted into one another
, so these are more likeneighborhoods, but Bhaktapur was
actually a really cool place tovisit.
It's a UNESCO World HeritageSite but it's run entirely by
the people of Bhaktapur and theyhave like you'll have your
family name and that's what youdo, like that is your, your
(09:08):
trade, your art, and it is thecenter of art.
we met painters, we met potterypeople, potters yeah, wood
carvers, like yeah wood carvers,metal smiths, like bricklayers
and, like our guide has been apainter in his family for
generations, so he was learningthe art of painting as well.
(09:29):
And it's so cool, like not onlyis this a historic site, but it
is still like living historyand everyone that lives there,
they still live in these samehouses and they visit all these
sites, these temples and othercultural sites that have been
there for ages.
And it was actually Isaac'sfirst time in Bhaktapur, which I
was like you've lived inKathmandu, how have you not been
here?
(09:49):
This is one of the biggesttourist attractions, but I guess
sometimes you forget thetourist attractions when you
live there.
So why don't you share yourimpressions of Bhaktapur?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, it was like Abby said.
It's amazing that it's juststill like this living,
breathing place and all theseartisans practicing art in the
same way that they have for likea thousand years, and these
temples that have been there for, in some cases, 800, a thousand
years.
It's amazing to see thesebuildings and just all the
people that like it's thisamazing UNESCO site but there's
(10:25):
still people going about theirdaily lives and while we were
there, like we had some schoolkids come through and I don't
know, it's just such a anamazing blend of history and
culture and and livelihoods.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, there was something about the fact that
it's still run entirely by thepeople that live there, so it is
a UNESCO site, but I think theyall the tour guides are from
that area and they get to kindof keep that money within their
community as well.
So it's not only is it like agreat place to visit, but you
also know you're supportingthese, these artisans, um the
whole, the whole culture there.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
So it's a really, really cool place yeah, now I
was gonna say is it easy to geta guide to take you around?
Is that the best way to do it?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
yeah.
So we didn't pre-organize aguide, like we just got a taxi.
There's like a main gate, wegot a taxi there and there's
like a like all these guidesnext to the ticket office who
are like the official guides.
So, um, you know, you'regetting someone who like knows
this thing and you're not goingto get ripped off, but you
definitely want to take a wholeday for it.
Like some of the tour companieswill combine that with a few
other things in a day and likeyou're just going to get rushed
through it and not actually getto spend the time there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So it's definitely worth taking a whole day to go
do yeah, so patan derba squareis another one of these centers,
um, and it's got these, allthese like, yeah, similar
temples and stuff.
Um, there's not too much tokind of do in patan, but it's
just fun to wander around thestreets and you'll definitely
notice this when you're in nepalbut it's got the highest
density of temples per capita orsomething.
(11:42):
But like every single streetcorner will have another little
shrine or temple and you're justlike there's another, there's
another there's another sothat's something that's really
interesting.
And again, if you can get like arooftop cafe there and just
people watch, it's so much fun.
And the last place I'llprobably mention is Tamil, and
this is quite close to the thirdcenter, the third historic kind
(12:03):
of city.
But everyone that goes toKathmandu you're probably likely
to stay in Tamil.
It's kind of the center ofwhere, like the center, where
tourists kind of stay.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean it's close to the center of the city
geographically as well, likeit's near downtown and
definitely the tourist hub.
That's where, yeah, you've gotall like hotels and hostels and
every kind of cuisine you couldever want, but yeah, it's a
really fun place.
There's lots of narrow streetswith unlimited shopping, like
you can.
You can spend days justwandering around, but yeah,
that's that's what would I buy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You've mentioned shopping, so I'm now like so so
what sort of things are therefor sale?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
so abigail smiles there's lots of like,
knickknacks and souvenirs thatyou can take home um anything
you can think of.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
There's lots of like handicrafts.
So people are like like handknitted wall jumpers you can buy
, like beautiful silk carpets,lots of like kind of knock off,
like trekking gear.
So it might not be original butit's pretty cheap and normally
pretty good quality.
So a lot of people kind of comeback with a lot of the knockoff
trekking gear.
But, yeah, most of it's prettygood and, yeah, a lot of
(13:09):
knickknacks you can any sort ofsouvenir.
There's all sorts of, yeah, Iguess, a lot of very typically
nepali stuff that you might notfind other places or things that
originated in nepal and thenspread.
Yeah, yeah, but there's amillion little back alleys that
you could spend forever gettinglost in.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, it's lots of fun.
Sounds amazing.
Are there any kind of seasonalevents and things that go on in
Kathmandu that are worth kind ofplanning your itinerary around?
They have some big festivalsthat are really fun.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
It's a pretty itinerary round.
They have some big festivalsthat are really fun.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So yeah, the kind of the.
The autumn season is kind of aseason for the big festivals, so
normally it kind of changes theday off the lunar calendar, so
every year to be slightlydifferent.
But generally kind of BetweenSeptember and November there's
two main festivals there's Tiharand there's Desai, and these
are nationwide huge religiousfestivals.
Tihar is kind of the equivalentto the Indian Diwali, so they
(14:04):
have lots of lights andfireworks and, yeah, it's a
really special time to be in thecity.
There's all sorts of activitiesand dancing and religious sorts
of things.
So those are definitelyhighlights, highlight times of
year to go, and they alsocoincide well with the trekking
season.
So if you're wanting to explorethe rest of Nepal, that's a
great time.
You can spend a while inKathmandu, kind of getting all
(14:25):
the culture and that religionside of it, and then head out
into the mountains when there'sgood weather.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
What's the one with the chariot that they take
through the streets?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
yeah, they have one at the beginning of july and
it's kind of bring in themonsoon and the rains which they
need for their crops.
But they build this giantchariot this will be like 10
stories tall, on these massivewooden wheels and then, like
whole teams of guys, pull itthrough the city on wooden or
like, yeah, on these massivewooden wheels, but they have to
cut all the electrical lines,because it's all the electrical
(14:53):
lines go across the streets.
So you see there's a guy goingahead with like, yeah, scissors
cutting all the electrical linesgo across the streets.
So you see there's a guy goingahead with like, yes, this is
cutting all the electrical linesahead so they can get the
chariot through.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Oh, that's so funny yeah so you kind of know, you
kind of know at that time ofyear you're gonna, you know
you're gonna lose yourelectricity oh yeah, electricity
and internet and phones yeah,it can be can be quite
disruptive so.
So how am I going to get aroundkatmandu?
So?
So I arrive at the airport andum, and I'm going to go to my
hotel.
(15:24):
So how do I get around like thebasic stuff, like yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So from the airport, a lot of hotels will can
organize a pickup, but taxis arekind of the easiest way to get
around.
Taxi drivers are pretty prettygood at knowing the city and, um
, if they don't know exactly,they'll always stop and ask.
But they're pretty affordable.
A more recent development,which I only kind of encountered
our last trip back, was likerideshare apps, kind of like the
Nepali version of Uber, butthey're kind of easy because you
(15:49):
don't have to haggle.
It's a fixed price, kind of,from the app.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You can actually haggle on the app, which I think
is so funny.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's a different conversation.
Well, I think it's easier as atourist because the prices are
kind of set, so you have an ideaof how much it should cost and
you can also schedule them ifyou want to know that your book
has something for tomorrow andyou're not just relying on
trying to find a taxi.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Oh, that's good.
So we talked about food inepisode 50.
And it does sound nice because,yeah, I mean, I have a fairly
high spice tolerance.
So we did talk about the kindof spice level.
But what are your favoritefoods to eat when you're back in
Kathmandu, Isaac?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
cuisine which is quite different.
You don't tend to find it toomuch around the world, but
Kathmandu also just has a greatrestaurant scene.
There's kind of whatever sortof cuisine you're into.
There's an Italian pizza placethat opened in the 1940s or 50s
and it's still been going andit's kind of an icon.
It's right in Tamil where thetourist center is and I think
for a lot of people it's a niceslice of home for them.
When they're sick of eatingnepali food they can have some
(16:55):
normal like pizza and pasta and,yeah, feel a bit at home.
I think there's just so muchchoice.
Like you, yeah, whatever,whatever floats your boat, you
can find um, which is quite nicein katmandu at least, because a
lot of the times if you, if yougo out trekking or other places
, it's quite limited the cuisinethat you can find.
So it's nice to have a bit ofvariety um.
But I don't know if Abbymentioned this earlier, but
(17:16):
momos are kind of the Nepaliversion of dumplings and they're
definitely a highlight for me.
I'm sure I ate my body weightin momos when we were there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's the aim Every trip.
That's what we aim to do I wasgoing to say.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
There's always you know, when you go back home or
somewhere that you've got astrong connection and ties with,
there's always the first thingyou want to eat when you arrive
that you have when you're like Ican't wait to have.
So it's it sounds like youdefinitely enjoy the, the
dumplings you say they are.
Are they?
Are they filled with something?
Have they got different,different fillings or kind of a
(17:49):
standard filling or yeah, youcan get all sorts of different
fillings.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Typically they'll have, like vegetarian ones,
chicken.
They do buff like, which isbuffalo instead of beef.
Those are kind of the threenormal ones that you'll get, but
then they get prepared in allsorts of different ways.
They're steamed or fried orboiled, or in a soup or like in
with a curry.
So you can.
There's quite a bit of varietytry them all yeah uh, I think I
(18:13):
will.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'll just have to wait until I lose all the the
carb weight that I seem to puton in the winter in in the
northern hemisphere.
I have to say, um, yeah,because it's, yes, it's, it's
not being good that.
That's one thing I actuallyneed to do a little bit of uh,
not trekking, but walking,that's for sure.
Yeah, now, um and uh.
So share some, tell me yourstories, tell me one of your
(18:35):
favorite experiences together asa couple that you've had when
you've been in Kathmandu.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh, I have one that comes to mind yeah, you go ahead
.
When we were at Bhadana Stupawhich is this, yeah, one of the
oldest Buddhist temples in theworld they were actually like
renovating it and we weresitting up at this restaurant
just looking over and it took usa while to figure out what
they're doing.
But they're walking up the sideof this dome and there's these
(19:02):
little steps carved into it andthey're carrying these buckets
of something up and we realizedit was paint and they're just
kind of like throwing this paintonto the stupa.
And then this guy goes up witha whole bunch of prayer flags
flags like all the way to thetop and they're stringing up
these new prayer flags and itwas just like super unique, like
I don't know how many times ayear they do this, and then we
(19:24):
just happen to be right place,right time and we got to watch
them like, yeah, just give alittle bit of a facelift to to
this temple yeah, it was reallyspecial.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I'd never seen it before and I've been heaps of
times.
And yeah, like abby said, it'sjust a fun place to people watch
.
We just sat in the window ofthis cafe for hours and just
watched the world go by and yeahit's, it was real special I
love that it's.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
It's those sort of things that you can't plan,
those things, can you?
You just have to be in theright place at the right time
and it and it happens, which isamazing.
Um, I'm just thinking again of,like, first time visitors.
Are there any mistakes that youthink that people may make when
they visit Kathmandu for thefirst time?
Like maybe not spending toomuch time there.
I'm wondering, because I waskind of thinking like, how much
(20:08):
time do I need to spend there?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
you know it's, it's those sort of things yeah, I
think, yeah, that is one of them.
Lots of people will just haveit as a quick stop before they
go trekking because they've gotlimited time.
But if you do have it in yourtravel like time budget, it's
definitely worth spending it.
Like a week is great, like youcan be busy the whole week,
you're not going to be bored.
If you have a couple of daysyou can kind of hit some of the
places.
(20:29):
But it can also be quite you'redoing to kind of have a couple
days to wind down and yeah, it'sjust a special place like that.
I think one of the big thingsis to do with cash.
I think, like in the westnowadays we're so used to just
(20:49):
using our debit cards foreverything, but nepal's still
very much a cash culture.
Even within within the city,only really big restaurants will
accept cards.
So you'll need cash for themajority.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
What's the ATM that you always use?
The ATM?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
yeah, atm.
Well, I mean, my family alwaysuses the same bank, it's Nabil
Bank.
They have a big green sign.
But ATMs are kind of going tobe the easiest way to take out
money you can if you've broughtforeign currency and there's
plenty of foreign currencyconverters where you can trade
in your pounds or your dollars.
But cash is definitely king andmaking sure you always have
enough, because sometimes,especially outside of the city,
(21:24):
you might be a little ways awayfrom an ATM.
So, just having a good cashreserve on you, especially for
those impromptu purchases thatyou might not expect.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And if you are going trekking and you might be
carrying a lot of cash, if youbook with a tour company, you
probably don't need to but ourrecent trek we kind of had
self-booked Make sure you've gotyour cash in a few different
places or a few different bagsso that you're not losing it all
if it was to go missing or getstolen.
It's just something to kind ofbe mindful of.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yeah.
That's a good idea, and I'mgonna ask this because I know um
, I get that.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Asked this all the time for the uk, but what's the
tipping?
Is there a tipping culture inthe pool?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
yeah, I'd be actually asked me this just before the
interview.
But, um, in some regards, yes,I think lots of restaurants will
have a surcharge added alreadyonto your bill, including like a
10 to 15 percent tip.
So most restaurants and cafesand that sort you don't really
need to add anything extra.
The tipping where I would sayis kind of expected is more
around the tourism activities.
If you've had a tour guide forthe day, it would generally be
(22:27):
expected to tip like not a taxidriver but like a tour guide.
Or if you've been trekking andyou've had porters or guides or
things like that, that's kind ofmore where that tipping would
be expected.
And I think a lot of it is morejust to show your appreciation
and kind of yeah, it's notnecessarily expected from them
they're still going to begetting paid but it's more just
saying thanks for helping us andfor sharing your culture with
(22:49):
us.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah, Great Well, it's useful to know because
around the world, every culturehas a different tip and culture.
And you know you don't want todo the wrong thing, you need to
know exactly what theexpectation is.
I think it's just to becomfortable with it really.
So it's been great to chat withyou guys about Kathmandu.
It's definitely on my bucketlist of destinations.
(23:12):
I certainly will be returningto India and hoping to then add
a trip to Nepal on at the sametime.
So I will be probably chattingwith you again to find out any
more if I need some any moreinformation.
But I think we've covered a lotin episode 50 and 55 about
Nepal and Kathmandu.
So it's been great to chat.
Now I'm going to ask you thethe classic question ask at the
(23:35):
end of every episode.
So I'm going to throw this atyou, isaac, what would be the
one tip that you would sharewith anyone who visits?
Is planning a visit to campmandu for the first time?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
oh, um, one tip.
I think my one tip is just towalk around and explore.
Like there's so much that youcan see from having an unplanned
adventure where you're not on atour group or following a tour
guide.
Like just go wander around, getlost in the streets, you'll
never know what you're going tosee, you'll never know what you
come across.
So, yeah, just just have someof that unstructured time to
just explore and make your own,make your own adventure tracy,
(24:09):
I'm going to slide in with atrip, with a tip as well, and
this is specifically for you.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Um, we did this experience probably eight years
ago, but you can take a scenicflight from the Kathmandu
airport and it flies past so youcan see Mount Everest, and then
it lands back in Kathmandu.
So if you don't want to gotrekking but you still want to
see the mountains and you wantto see Mount Everest, it's a
really cool experience that youcan do.
(24:34):
It takes a couple of hours,hours, and it's just pretty epic
yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Right, that's going on to my itinerary for sure.
Anyway, it's been great to talkto you guys this week, so I'm
so happy that you both agreed tocome on.
It's wonderful to talk tosomebody who grew up in a
destination and obviously,Abigail, you've been so many
times.
You've got so much attachmentand love for kathmandu and nepal
as well.
So thanks so much for coming onand sharing that with us.
(25:01):
Thank you so much thank you forjoining us on this episode of
the global travel planningpodcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobal travel planningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed the,please consider leaving us a
review on your favorite podcastapp, because your feedback helps
us reach more travelenthusiasts, just like you.
Visiting Kathmandu and wondering what you
absolutely can't miss, whichtemples, markets and cultural
experiences should be at the topof your list, and what insider
tips will help you make the mostof your time in Nepal's capital
.
This is episode 55 of theGlobal Travel Planning Podcast,
where we're sharing the top fivemust-do experiences in
Kathmandu.
Hi and welcome to the GlobalTravel Planning Podcast.
(00:22):
I'm your host, tracey Collins,who, with my expert guests, will
take you on a weekly journey todestinations around the globe,
providing travel inspiration,itinerary ideas, practical tips
and more to help you plan yournext travel adventure.
Hi, everybody, and welcome toepisode 55 of the Global Travel
(00:49):
Planning Podcast.
And this week I have once againgot Abigail from Aotearoa
Adventures onto the podcast totalk about, well, nepal, but
specifically Kathmandu with herhusband, isaac, who is from
Kathmandu.
He was born in Kathmandu, sowho best to talk to about
Kathmandu?
With her husband, isaac, who isfrom Kathmandu he was born in
Kathmandu, so who best to talkto about Kathmandu than Isaac?
So thank you so much, abigail,for suggesting that Isaac come
(01:12):
on the episode.
Would you guys like tointroduce yourselves, before we
go into all things Kathmandu,and tell us a little bit about
what you do and where you areand just a general introduction
would be great.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So I'm Abigail and Isaac's here too.
We live in New Zealand, but weactually I grew up in India and
Isaac grew up in Nepal.
We met at high school.
We're high school sweethearts.
For some reason, isaac flewaround the world to be with me,
and now we've been in NewZealand for nine years and
that's our life.
But I'll let you introduceyourself too.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, so I wasn't actually born in Kathmandu, but
I moved there when I was twomonths old, so pretty much.
So I spent the first, yeah, 14years of my life growing up in
Kathmandu, went to a localschool there and, yeah, that was
my life.
And then moved to India and metAbby in high school and then
moved to New Zealand after that,but it's still a place that's
(02:02):
really dear to my heart and myparents are still living there.
I've still got a family home,so I said that's amazing.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
I mean being there at two months old.
It just about qualifies you forbeing born there, doesn't it
really taken there as a small?
Babe so tell me, what was itlike growing up in Kathmandu?
Speaker 3 (02:19):
yeah, I mean for me, it was normal, I didn't really
know anything else.
Um, yeah, but I loved it.
It was a.
It was normal, I didn't reallyknow anything else.
Yeah, but I loved it.
It was a real fun place to growup as a kid.
I mean pretty much from when Icould ride a bike, I could go
wherever I wanted.
It was like, yeah, my parentswould just take me back by
dinner time and I'd be outriding around.
Yeah, it was a really awesomeplace.
It's a place where people arereally friendly and welcoming
(02:41):
and quite an easy place to growup as a kid um, for context, um,
when we were back there twomonths ago.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
We're just walking down the street near isaac's
house and the shopkeeper's like,oh, hello, isaac, and they've
been the same shopkeeper that'sseen him growing up from like I
don't know, two years old,coming to the shop to buy his
candy or whatever yeah um, andthey recognize him and it's,
it's there's such a strongcommunity feel.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Every time I go back and I'm just like oh, everyone
knows you, yeah, um yeah that'sso lovely, and the fact I'm
gonna be really nosy and ask umwhy your parents moved to
katmandu.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, of all places.
Um so they both work aslinguists.
Um working with some of thelike smaller tribal languages in
nepal.
Um so my dad, especially, isinvolved in a lot of adult
literacy, teaching, like adults,how to read and write and like
developing curriculums andresources for people in their
own languages, as opposed toEnglish or the national language
(03:37):
.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah so they've been there for 30 years.
I think it's just home for themnow.
They don't want to.
They keep telling us thatthey're going to leave and
retire somewhere else.
But we'll believe it when wesee them yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Well, I mean after 30 years, it's a big thing to move
a place where you're settledand you've brought your kids up
and you know it's home.
It would be really difficult tochoose somewhere to move to.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I mean, we're not complaining because we love
visiting them and we get to staywith them whenever we're in
Kathmandu yeah, it's fine by usexactly.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
You get to visit all the time, so what?
What makes Kathmandu so special?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
I think it's just such a yeah, it's a friendly and
welcoming place and it's areally easy place to go to.
As somebody who maybe has neverbeen to Nepal before or even
not traveled around Asia, muchEnglish is pretty widely spoken
everywhere.
It's kind of one of the mainlanguages of commerce, so you
don't really need to know muchNepali to get around, although
people love it if you do pick upbits and pieces, they always
(04:37):
really appreciate it and there'sjust so much rich history and
culture, I guess all enclosed inone little valley, like it's
not too big of a city really,but there's so much to see and
do and explore and eat.
And, yeah, you can spend solong down all the little back
alleys discovering all sorts ofhidden gems and of course.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
I mean.
You grew up there, so you'regoing to know it like the back
of your hand.
So imagine I'm going to visit.
I've never been before.
What would be the experiencesthat you would say that I
shouldn't miss?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
Yeah, there's a few key ones kind of that are really
popular, and they're popularfor a reason because they're
pretty special, and most of themare either parts of the old
cities that were in the valley,where there's lots of really
historic temples and kind ofalong with that, old buildings
and just a lot of history, andthen the other ones would just
be temple sites.
So comedy is quite aninteresting junction between
(05:32):
Hinduism from the south andIndia and Buddhism coming down
from the north.
You get both of those religionskind of mixing so you can get
to see both sides of that kindof culture and that religion.
So kind of one of the big oneswould be Bauddha Stupa.
It's one of the largest TibetanBuddhist pilgrimage sites in
the world.
So that's quite an amazingplace to see.
You see all the monks kind ofgoing around it doing their
(05:56):
pilgrimages.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And people might have seen this in photos or I don't
don't know magazines before, butit's this giant like white dome
kind of thing with like flagsaround it, like lots of prayer
flags.
You'll know when you see it.
It's very iconic and it's oneof my favorite places to just
sit in Kathmandu and peoplewatch.
Um, so like, surrounding thethe stupa are a whole bunch of
(06:19):
like cafes, so you can like goon onto the second or third
floor and you're looking down onthis and there's all the
pilgrims going around.
And this is actually a reallygood tip you can only go around
the stupa clockwise.
It's very bad karma to goaround anti-clockwise, but just
follow the direction thateveryone else is going yeah,
it's pretty obvious yeah.
(06:41):
So that's probably the mainTibetan Buddhist site.
And then Pashupatinath is Hindu.
It's their burning groundswhere they cremate the bodies of
their dead and their loved ones, and it's a very important
religious site for them, so itcan be quite confronting.
It was my first time ever goingto Burning Guts when we were
(07:01):
there two months ago, and you doliterally see these bodies on
pyres and the holy river, theBhagmati, goes straight through,
and that's why this is such asacred place.
But somewhere like that, Iwould really recommend getting a
guide so that you kind ofunderstand some of these
important cultural rituals andthe significance of what you're
(07:21):
seeing there.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
Yeah it's, I mean it's totally for Hindus the
river flows all the way downinto the Ganges, so it's quite a
, yeah, quite a significantplace.
But, yeah, like Abby said,definitely having a guide to
kind of explain some of thenuances and the kind of yeah,
symbolism surrounding what'sgoing on is really helpful.
At that place there are a lotof monkeys, so you'd have to be
(07:45):
a bit careful taking, takingfood and drink there.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
um, yeah, there's a few big swarms of monkeys that
kind of hang around so top tipthey're not cute, monkeys aren't
cute I know no well, I, I grewup between africa and europe and
and I I don't like monkeys.
I think we had thatconversation before I do notiyal
.
Speaker 3 (07:59):
I do not like them.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
The last time we were in Bali, they were trying to
take photos.
We were having a photo shoot meand Doug and I just kept
freaking out because the monkeyskept coming far too close to me
and it's like nope, thank youvery much.
So, yeah, I know issue in Indiaas well last year, and so it's
good to know that that's alsosomething you need to be aware
of in Nepal, for sure.
So what else should I add intomy itinerary?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
Yeah, so covered two, I think the next two big ones.
One is called Patan DurbaSquare and the other is called
Bhaktapur, and these are boththe centres of kind of these
ancient cities.
So Kathmandu Valley used tokind of have three different
kingdoms and three differentrulers and these were the
(08:47):
centers of these cities and now,of course, like with
urbanization, it's Kathmandu'sjust all melted into one another
, so these are more likeneighborhoods, but Bhaktapur was
actually a really cool place tovisit.
It's a UNESCO World HeritageSite but it's run entirely by
the people of Bhaktapur and theyhave like you'll have your
family name and that's what youdo, like that is your, your
(09:08):
trade, your art, and it is thecenter of art.
we met painters, we met potterypeople, potters yeah, wood
carvers, like yeah wood carvers,metal smiths, like bricklayers
and, like our guide has been apainter in his family for
generations, so he was learningthe art of painting as well.
(09:29):
And it's so cool, like not onlyis this a historic site, but it
is still like living historyand everyone that lives there,
they still live in these samehouses and they visit all these
sites, these temples and othercultural sites that have been
there for ages.
And it was actually Isaac'sfirst time in Bhaktapur, which I
was like you've lived inKathmandu, how have you not been
here?
(09:49):
This is one of the biggesttourist attractions, but I guess
sometimes you forget thetourist attractions when you
live there.
So why don't you share yourimpressions of Bhaktapur?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, it was like Abby said.
It's amazing that it's juststill like this living,
breathing place and all theseartisans practicing art in the
same way that they have for likea thousand years, and these
temples that have been there for, in some cases, 800, a thousand
years.
It's amazing to see thesebuildings and just all the
people that like it's thisamazing UNESCO site but there's
(10:25):
still people going about theirdaily lives and while we were
there, like we had some schoolkids come through and I don't
know, it's just such a anamazing blend of history and
culture and and livelihoods.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, there was something about the fact that
it's still run entirely by thepeople that live there, so it is
a UNESCO site, but I think theyall the tour guides are from
that area and they get to kindof keep that money within their
community as well.
So it's not only is it like agreat place to visit, but you
also know you're supportingthese, these artisans, um the
whole, the whole culture there.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
So it's a really, really cool place yeah, now I
was gonna say is it easy to geta guide to take you around?
Is that the best way to do it?
Speaker 3 (10:59):
yeah.
So we didn't pre-organize aguide, like we just got a taxi.
There's like a main gate, wegot a taxi there and there's
like a like all these guidesnext to the ticket office who
are like the official guides.
So, um, you know, you'regetting someone who like knows
this thing and you're not goingto get ripped off, but you
definitely want to take a wholeday for it.
Like some of the tour companieswill combine that with a few
other things in a day and likeyou're just going to get rushed
through it and not actually getto spend the time there.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
So it's definitely worth taking a whole day to go
do yeah, so patan derba squareis another one of these centers,
um, and it's got these, allthese like, yeah, similar
temples and stuff.
Um, there's not too much tokind of do in patan, but it's
just fun to wander around thestreets and you'll definitely
notice this when you're in nepalbut it's got the highest
density of temples per capita orsomething.
(11:42):
But like every single streetcorner will have another little
shrine or temple and you're justlike there's another, there's
another there's another sothat's something that's really
interesting.
And again, if you can get like arooftop cafe there and just
people watch, it's so much fun.
And the last place I'llprobably mention is Tamil, and
this is quite close to the thirdcenter, the third historic kind
(12:03):
of city.
But everyone that goes toKathmandu you're probably likely
to stay in Tamil.
It's kind of the center ofwhere, like the center, where
tourists kind of stay.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean it's close to the center of the city
geographically as well, likeit's near downtown and
definitely the tourist hub.
That's where, yeah, you've gotall like hotels and hostels and
every kind of cuisine you couldever want, but yeah, it's a
really fun place.
There's lots of narrow streetswith unlimited shopping, like
you can.
You can spend days justwandering around, but yeah,
that's that's what would I buy.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
You've mentioned shopping, so I'm now like so so
what sort of things are therefor sale?
Speaker 2 (12:39):
so abigail smiles there's lots of like,
knickknacks and souvenirs thatyou can take home um anything
you can think of.
Speaker 3 (12:46):
There's lots of like handicrafts.
So people are like like handknitted wall jumpers you can buy
, like beautiful silk carpets,lots of like kind of knock off,
like trekking gear.
So it might not be original butit's pretty cheap and normally
pretty good quality.
So a lot of people kind of comeback with a lot of the knockoff
trekking gear.
But, yeah, most of it's prettygood and, yeah, a lot of
(13:09):
knickknacks you can any sort ofsouvenir.
There's all sorts of, yeah, Iguess, a lot of very typically
nepali stuff that you might notfind other places or things that
originated in nepal and thenspread.
Yeah, yeah, but there's amillion little back alleys that
you could spend forever gettinglost in.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, it's lots of fun.
Sounds amazing.
Are there any kind of seasonalevents and things that go on in
Kathmandu that are worth kind ofplanning your itinerary around?
They have some big festivalsthat are really fun.
Speaker 2 (13:38):
It's a pretty itinerary round.
They have some big festivalsthat are really fun.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
So yeah, the kind of the.
The autumn season is kind of aseason for the big festivals, so
normally it kind of changes theday off the lunar calendar, so
every year to be slightlydifferent.
But generally kind of BetweenSeptember and November there's
two main festivals there's Tiharand there's Desai, and these
are nationwide huge religiousfestivals.
Tihar is kind of the equivalentto the Indian Diwali, so they
(14:04):
have lots of lights andfireworks and, yeah, it's a
really special time to be in thecity.
There's all sorts of activitiesand dancing and religious sorts
of things.
So those are definitelyhighlights, highlight times of
year to go, and they alsocoincide well with the trekking
season.
So if you're wanting to explorethe rest of Nepal, that's a
great time.
You can spend a while inKathmandu, kind of getting all
(14:25):
the culture and that religionside of it, and then head out
into the mountains when there'sgood weather.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
What's the one with the chariot that they take
through the streets?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
yeah, they have one at the beginning of july and
it's kind of bring in themonsoon and the rains which they
need for their crops.
But they build this giantchariot this will be like 10
stories tall, on these massivewooden wheels and then, like
whole teams of guys, pull itthrough the city on wooden or
like, yeah, on these massivewooden wheels, but they have to
cut all the electrical lines,because it's all the electrical
(14:53):
lines go across the streets.
So you see there's a guy goingahead with like, yeah, scissors
cutting all the electrical linesgo across the streets.
So you see there's a guy goingahead with like, yes, this is
cutting all the electrical linesahead so they can get the
chariot through.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Oh, that's so funny yeah so you kind of know, you
kind of know at that time ofyear you're gonna, you know
you're gonna lose yourelectricity oh yeah, electricity
and internet and phones yeah,it can be can be quite
disruptive so.
So how am I going to get aroundkatmandu?
So?
So I arrive at the airport andum, and I'm going to go to my
hotel.
(15:24):
So how do I get around like thebasic stuff, like yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
So from the airport, a lot of hotels will can
organize a pickup, but taxis arekind of the easiest way to get
around.
Taxi drivers are pretty prettygood at knowing the city and, um
, if they don't know exactly,they'll always stop and ask.
But they're pretty affordable.
A more recent development,which I only kind of encountered
our last trip back, was likerideshare apps, kind of like the
Nepali version of Uber, butthey're kind of easy because you
(15:49):
don't have to haggle.
It's a fixed price, kind of,from the app.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
You can actually haggle on the app, which I think
is so funny.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
That's a different conversation.
Well, I think it's easier as atourist because the prices are
kind of set, so you have an ideaof how much it should cost and
you can also schedule them ifyou want to know that your book
has something for tomorrow andyou're not just relying on
trying to find a taxi.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Oh, that's good.
So we talked about food inepisode 50.
And it does sound nice because,yeah, I mean, I have a fairly
high spice tolerance.
So we did talk about the kindof spice level.
But what are your favoritefoods to eat when you're back in
Kathmandu, Isaac?
Speaker 3 (16:33):
cuisine which is quite different.
You don't tend to find it toomuch around the world, but
Kathmandu also just has a greatrestaurant scene.
There's kind of whatever sortof cuisine you're into.
There's an Italian pizza placethat opened in the 1940s or 50s
and it's still been going andit's kind of an icon.
It's right in Tamil where thetourist center is and I think
for a lot of people it's a niceslice of home for them.
When they're sick of eatingnepali food they can have some
(16:55):
normal like pizza and pasta and,yeah, feel a bit at home.
I think there's just so muchchoice.
Like you, yeah, whatever,whatever floats your boat, you
can find um, which is quite nicein katmandu at least, because a
lot of the times if you, if yougo out trekking or other places
, it's quite limited the cuisinethat you can find.
So it's nice to have a bit ofvariety um.
But I don't know if Abbymentioned this earlier, but
(17:16):
momos are kind of the Nepaliversion of dumplings and they're
definitely a highlight for me.
I'm sure I ate my body weightin momos when we were there.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
That's the aim Every trip.
That's what we aim to do I wasgoing to say.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
There's always you know, when you go back home or
somewhere that you've got astrong connection and ties with,
there's always the first thingyou want to eat when you arrive
that you have when you're like Ican't wait to have.
So it's it sounds like youdefinitely enjoy the, the
dumplings you say they are.
Are they?
Are they filled with something?
Have they got different,different fillings or kind of a
(17:49):
standard filling or yeah, youcan get all sorts of different
fillings.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
Typically they'll have, like vegetarian ones,
chicken.
They do buff like, which isbuffalo instead of beef.
Those are kind of the threenormal ones that you'll get, but
then they get prepared in allsorts of different ways.
They're steamed or fried orboiled, or in a soup or like in
with a curry.
So you can.
There's quite a bit of varietytry them all yeah uh, I think I
(18:13):
will.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
I'll just have to wait until I lose all the the
carb weight that I seem to puton in the winter in in the
northern hemisphere.
I have to say, um, yeah,because it's, yes, it's, it's
not being good that.
That's one thing I actuallyneed to do a little bit of uh,
not trekking, but walking,that's for sure.
Yeah, now, um and uh.
So share some, tell me yourstories, tell me one of your
(18:35):
favorite experiences together asa couple that you've had when
you've been in Kathmandu.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Oh, I have one that comes to mind yeah, you go ahead
.
When we were at Bhadana Stupawhich is this, yeah, one of the
oldest Buddhist temples in theworld they were actually like
renovating it and we weresitting up at this restaurant
just looking over and it took usa while to figure out what
they're doing.
But they're walking up the sideof this dome and there's these
(19:02):
little steps carved into it andthey're carrying these buckets
of something up and we realizedit was paint and they're just
kind of like throwing this paintonto the stupa.
And then this guy goes up witha whole bunch of prayer flags
flags like all the way to thetop and they're stringing up
these new prayer flags and itwas just like super unique, like
I don't know how many times ayear they do this, and then we
(19:24):
just happen to be right place,right time and we got to watch
them like, yeah, just give alittle bit of a facelift to to
this temple yeah, it was reallyspecial.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I'd never seen it before and I've been heaps of
times.
And yeah, like abby said, it'sjust a fun place to people watch
.
We just sat in the window ofthis cafe for hours and just
watched the world go by and yeahit's, it was real special I
love that it's.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
It's those sort of things that you can't plan,
those things, can you?
You just have to be in theright place at the right time
and it and it happens, which isamazing.
Um, I'm just thinking again of,like, first time visitors.
Are there any mistakes that youthink that people may make when
they visit Kathmandu for thefirst time?
Like maybe not spending toomuch time there.
I'm wondering, because I waskind of thinking like, how much
(20:08):
time do I need to spend there?
Speaker 3 (20:09):
you know it's, it's those sort of things yeah, I
think, yeah, that is one of them.
Lots of people will just haveit as a quick stop before they
go trekking because they've gotlimited time.
But if you do have it in yourtravel like time budget, it's
definitely worth spending it.
Like a week is great, like youcan be busy the whole week,
you're not going to be bored.
If you have a couple of daysyou can kind of hit some of the
places.
(20:29):
But it can also be quite you'redoing to kind of have a couple
days to wind down and yeah, it'sjust a special place like that.
I think one of the big thingsis to do with cash.
I think, like in the westnowadays we're so used to just
(20:49):
using our debit cards foreverything, but nepal's still
very much a cash culture.
Even within within the city,only really big restaurants will
accept cards.
So you'll need cash for themajority.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
What's the ATM that you always use?
The ATM?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
yeah, atm.
Well, I mean, my family alwaysuses the same bank, it's Nabil
Bank.
They have a big green sign.
But ATMs are kind of going tobe the easiest way to take out
money you can if you've broughtforeign currency and there's
plenty of foreign currencyconverters where you can trade
in your pounds or your dollars.
But cash is definitely king andmaking sure you always have
enough, because sometimes,especially outside of the city,
(21:24):
you might be a little ways awayfrom an ATM.
So, just having a good cashreserve on you, especially for
those impromptu purchases thatyou might not expect.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
And if you are going trekking and you might be
carrying a lot of cash, if youbook with a tour company, you
probably don't need to but ourrecent trek we kind of had
self-booked Make sure you've gotyour cash in a few different
places or a few different bagsso that you're not losing it all
if it was to go missing or getstolen.
It's just something to kind ofbe mindful of.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
Yeah.
That's a good idea, and I'mgonna ask this because I know um
, I get that.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Asked this all the time for the uk, but what's the
tipping?
Is there a tipping culture inthe pool?
Speaker 3 (22:04):
yeah, I'd be actually asked me this just before the
interview.
But, um, in some regards, yes,I think lots of restaurants will
have a surcharge added alreadyonto your bill, including like a
10 to 15 percent tip.
So most restaurants and cafesand that sort you don't really
need to add anything extra.
The tipping where I would sayis kind of expected is more
around the tourism activities.
If you've had a tour guide forthe day, it would generally be
(22:27):
expected to tip like not a taxidriver but like a tour guide.
Or if you've been trekking andyou've had porters or guides or
things like that, that's kind ofmore where that tipping would
be expected.
And I think a lot of it is morejust to show your appreciation
and kind of yeah, it's notnecessarily expected from them
they're still going to begetting paid but it's more just
saying thanks for helping us andfor sharing your culture with
(22:49):
us.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Yeah, Great Well, it's useful to know because
around the world, every culturehas a different tip and culture.
And you know you don't want todo the wrong thing, you need to
know exactly what theexpectation is.
I think it's just to becomfortable with it really.
So it's been great to chat withyou guys about Kathmandu.
It's definitely on my bucketlist of destinations.
(23:12):
I certainly will be returningto India and hoping to then add
a trip to Nepal on at the sametime.
So I will be probably chattingwith you again to find out any
more if I need some any moreinformation.
But I think we've covered a lotin episode 50 and 55 about
Nepal and Kathmandu.
So it's been great to chat.
Now I'm going to ask you thethe classic question ask at the
(23:35):
end of every episode.
So I'm going to throw this atyou, isaac, what would be the
one tip that you would sharewith anyone who visits?
Is planning a visit to campmandu for the first time?
Speaker 3 (23:46):
oh, um, one tip.
I think my one tip is just towalk around and explore.
Like there's so much that youcan see from having an unplanned
adventure where you're not on atour group or following a tour
guide.
Like just go wander around, getlost in the streets, you'll
never know what you're going tosee, you'll never know what you
come across.
So, yeah, just just have someof that unstructured time to
just explore and make your own,make your own adventure tracy,
(24:09):
I'm going to slide in with atrip, with a tip as well, and
this is specifically for you.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Um, we did this experience probably eight years
ago, but you can take a scenicflight from the Kathmandu
airport and it flies past so youcan see Mount Everest, and then
it lands back in Kathmandu.
So if you don't want to gotrekking but you still want to
see the mountains and you wantto see Mount Everest, it's a
really cool experience that youcan do.
(24:34):
It takes a couple of hours,hours, and it's just pretty epic
yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Right, that's going on to my itinerary for sure.
Anyway, it's been great to talkto you guys this week, so I'm
so happy that you both agreed tocome on.
It's wonderful to talk tosomebody who grew up in a
destination and obviously,Abigail, you've been so many
times.
You've got so much attachmentand love for kathmandu and nepal
as well.
So thanks so much for coming onand sharing that with us.
(25:01):
Thank you so much thank you forjoining us on this episode of
the global travel planningpodcast.
For more details and links toeverything we discussed today,
check out the show notes atglobal travel planningcom.
Remember, if you enjoyed the,please consider leaving us a
review on your favorite podcastapp, because your feedback helps
us reach more travelenthusiasts, just like you.
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