Nepal

So my brother just booked his flight for the end of the month and will be over there for three weeks.  Have to work and won't be able to join him.  Doh!   

Crazy thing is that his round trip ticket from LAX was only $390!   Its on a Chinese airline and he has a full day layover in some Chinese city.  He thinks the trade wars might account for the super cheap tix.   

>>>>>Wonder what the food costs in Nepal? 

I found this online (113 rupees = $1 USD):

"In Kathmandu and Pokhara, expect to pay:

Drinks, such as a cup of tea: 10-30 Rupees per cup

Chapati (flat bread): 10-30 per piece

Momo (Nepali dumplings): 50-100

Fried eggs: 30 – 50

Samosa (Nepali pastry with spicy filling and fried in oil): 10-30 per piece

If you go to a tourist restaurant, expect to pay three to four times more. The cafes and restaurants for tourists serve a variety of meals, and your average meal with a non-alcoholic beverage may cost 7-20 USD."

So to travel cheaply, avoid the tourist restaurants.  

So didn't end up going, but I am receiving reports and photos from my brother who has been over there for about two weeks now trekking around in the Annapurna mountains in the north central part of the country.  Here is what I am learning:

* Practically everyone who interacts with the tourists speaks English.  Language barrier not a problem.

* Many of the trekking trails that were just footpaths 10 years ago are now roads.  Good for the villagers who finally have easy access to goods and hospitals, but bad for the tourists who get dusted every time a truck rolls by.  I am told that emission standards for vehicles are non-existent, so you get fumed too and the air pollution in the city of Kathmandu is really bad. 

* Hotels and guest houses along the trekking routes go for about $5 a night, but they get you on the food with meals going for $5 too.   Beer is very expensive - $2.50 in town and up to $5 in the mountains.  If you forgo the beer, you can get by on $20 a day.

*  There are a lot of temples and shrines along the route with elaborate mandalas and shiny buddha statutes.  $2 is the standard entrance fee.   Here is an interesting painting from one of the temples:

* Although technically illegal, ganja grows along the road, but it is reportedly seedy and not that good.  

* There is a lot of diversity in terrain and climate based on altitude.  Tropical-like in the lower valleys but dry and cold in the mountains.  Dhaulagiri, the seventh highest mountain in the world and nobody has climbed the south face:

Wish I was there, but had to work.  Someday.   

>>>Keep em coming!

Now mind you that I couldn't make it and these are pics my brother is taking and sending me.   He has been over there three weeks and heading back to the states tomorrow.  He flew up to the high country near Tibet and the spent two weeks hiking from there down to the low country, which he says is full of Hindis and a lot like India.

Kathmandu:

Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction.  You may remember her from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. 

I jokingly asked my brother if he saw anyone getting their heart ripped out and he sent me this pic:

A Nepali beer stand. Like the modest slogan:  "Probably the best Nepalese beer."

>>>>Lived on $5=10 a day

Nice. That would come out to $8.50 to $19 per day now with inflation.  Still a bargain and budget adventure travel to other countries is a truly worthwhile, mind expanding thing if you can make the time.  Costs some money to get there, but once you are there, you often spend way less money than you would just doing day to day things in the states.

>>>the crazy thing is Airfares are cheaper today than 30 years ago.

No doubt.  That $1000 flight to the subcontinent in 1991 would cost $1,885 today with inflation.  But as you mentioned, you can now get over there for less than $900 round trip. 

Flights are half price compared to years past yet people still bitch and moan about air travel like they are stuffed into an 18th Century slave ship during the middle passage. 

So are you going back to India?

My brother flew on a Chinese carrier too and he suspects that the trade war had something to do with it.  Perhaps the Chinese are trying to drum up tourist dollars with extra cheap flights?   I did read a news article that they have slashed airport fees for Hong Kong to try to get people to come to the protest ravaged city, but that wouldn't explain the ultra-cheap flights to the rest of the country.