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American Express
The Amex office is on Jamal (daily except Sat 10am-1pm & 2-5pm). As usual, you can receive mail at the office if you can produce an Amex card or travellers' cheques.
Banks and moneychangers In Thamel, the most convenient bank is Nepal Grindlays, with branches on J.P. School Road (at Hotel the Earth) and Kantipath (both Sun-Thurs 9.45am-3.30pm, Fri 9.45am-12.45pm). Also useful is Himalayan Bank in the Sanchaya Kosh Building on Tridevi Marg, which keeps extra-long hours (daily except Sat 8am-8pm). Many other private banks can be found along Durbar Marg and Kantipath. In the Freak Street area, your best bets are Nepal Bank on New Road (daily 10am-4pm, limited service available 7-10am & 4-7pm) and Himalayan Bank next to the Bishal Bazaar on New Road (Mon-Fri 10am-3pm). Note that Nepal Bank requires you to show your purchase receipt for travellers' cheque transactions. Many registered moneychangers in Thamel and Freak Street keep longer hours (generally daily 8am-8pm). Credit cards Amex, Visa and Mastercard are accepted at major hotels and many boutiques. Cash advances can be made at the major banks such as Nepal Grindlays and Himalayan Bank and through Alpine Travel Service (J.P. School Road, Durbar Marg and Bishal Bazaar/New Road). Email Many communication centres and cybercafes provide email and efax services. Most will allow you to receive email - major ones in Thamel include EasyLink Cybercafes ( www.visitnepal.com/easylink), Global Communications ( glocom@mos.com.np), ATM Telelinks ( postfax@mos.com.np) and Cybertrek ( ctic@wilink.com.np). The Himalayan Explorers Club prints out members' incoming messages for free. Charges at the time of going to press were Rs6-10 per minute for online access, Rs2 per minute to work offline, Rs15 per kilobyte to send messages, and Rs10-15 per page to print out incoming messages. Embassies and consulates It's a good idea to register with your embassy or consulate on arrival in Nepal. If you get into any legal or medical trouble, being registered will expedite assistance, and it's especially important if you go trekking or rafting to ensure prompt evacuation if necessary. HRA and KEEP have registration forms for many countries. Western ones include: Australia, Bansbari, on the road to Budhanilkantha (tel 371678); Belgium, Durbar Marg (tel 228925); Canada, Lazimpath (tel 415193); Denmark, Baluwatar (tel 413010); Finland, Lazimpath (tel 416636); France, Lazimpath (tel 412332); Germany, Gyaneswar (tel 416832); Israel, Lazimpath (tel 411811); Italy, Baluwatar (tel 412280); Mexico, Baluwatar (tel 412971); Netherlands, Kopundol Heights, Patan (tel 522915); New Zealand, Dilli Bazaar (tel 412436); Norway, Jawalakhel, Patan (tel 538746); Poland, Ganabahal (tel 250004); Spain, Battisputali (tel 470770); Sweden, Khichapokhri (tel 220939); Switzerland, Jawalakhel, Patan (tel 538488); UK, Lainchaur (tel 411590); US, Panipokhari (tel 411179). Emergencies For an ambulance, call 244121. See also "Police" below. Hospitals, clinics and pharmas Two Western-standard clinics in Kathmandu do inoculations, stool tests and other diagnostics. Unquestionably the best is CIWEC Clinic, off Durbar Marg on the way to the Yak & Yeti (Mon-Fri 9am-4pm; tel 228531), which has very proficient Western and Nepali staff, and is a great source of information on all matters pertaining to health in Nepal. The Nepal International Clinic (NIC), a block east of the Royal Palace entrance (daily except Sat 9am-5pm; tel 434642), is also good, and a bit cheaper. Several other clinics in Thamel pretend they're of the same standard, but they're really just glorified pharmacies and often don't know what they're talking about. Medicines can be purchased at pharma (pharmacies) everywhere, with or without prescription. Sajha Swastha Sewa, opposite the Mahakal temple on Kantipath, is open 24 hours. CIWEC and NIC can refer you to a specialist if need be. A number of small private hospitals operate in the valley; B&B Hospital (tel 531930) has a good reputation among expats, although it's located in Patan, way down at the southern edge of the Ring Road. Of the public facilities, Patan Hospital (tel 522266) is reasonably modern but again fairly far from Kathmandu, while Bir Hospital (tel 223807) is central but very Third World. If you're in really bad shape, you'll be sent to Bangkok anyway. Language courses Learn some Nepali and see how the country opens up for you. The ITC School (tel 412793; raj@itc.mos.com.np), located up a lane north of the Tin Dewal on Tridevi Marg, is professional and has enough teachers to offer scheduling flexibility. Cultural Destination Nepal (tel 426996, fax 416417), a smaller outfit in Dilli Bazaar, is also recommended. Both offer short-term one-on-one sessions (about Rs200 per hour), longer intensive courses, and homestays with Nepali families. The Peace Corps (tel 410019) or Experiment in International Living (tel 414516) might be able to suggest other language teachers. Newspapers and magazines Tourist bookshops stock a wide variety of international newspapers and magazines, including the Asian editions of the International Herald Tribune, USA Today, Time, Newsweek and the like, and many glossy magazines imported from Europe and North America. The local English-language dailies sell out early at the main bookstores, supermarkets and at pavement vendors on New Road. Police If you're the victim of a crime, first contact the Tourist Police (tel 247041), which is supposed to have an English-speaking officer on duty from 11am to 5pm. They also staff little booths in the centre of Thamel, in Durbar Square and in other tourist areas. Outside regular hours, have a Nepali-speaker call 100. You'll need to report thefts to the district police headquarters, which in Kathmandu is on the west side of Durbar Square; ask for the Interpol section. The national police HQ and Interpol office is in Naksal. Post The Poste Restante section at Kathmandu's GPO (General Post Office) is open Sunday to Thursday, 10.15am to 4pm (winter to 3pm), Friday 10.15am to 2pm. Letters are filed alphabetically in self-serve pigeonholes; it's always a good idea to check under both your first and last initial. You can buy stamps and aerogrammes and have outgoing mail franked at the GPO (Sun-Thurs 7am-5pm, Fri 7am-3pm). However, it's probably more convenient to use one of the book- or postcard shops in the tourist areas, which also sell stamps (small surcharge) and take mail for franking. Some phone/email places will also do this. Shipping agents can take the headache out of sending parcels home. A few that can be recommended are Mountain Packers & Movers, Thamel Northwest (tel 424974; kcmount@wlink.com.np); Ritual Freight, Thamel (tel 251942); and Speedway Cargo, Thamel North (tel 410595). Air-freight services include DHL International, Kamaladi and Thamel (tel 222358); United Parcel Service, Thamel (tel 423300); and Federal Express, Ramshah Path (tel 228861). Sending parcels through the Foreign Post Section (Sun-Thurs 10.15am-1pm, Fri 10.15am-12.30pm), around the corner from the GPO on Kantipath, is cheaper but completely exasperating - set aside the whole morning. Radio and TV Numerous FM radio stations operate in the Kathmandu Valley, including the bilingual Namaste Kathmandu/Hits 100, with a real masaala format of country and western, pop, Indian and Nepali tunes, and Kantipur 96.1, with endless chat. Radio Nepal, heard on several medium-wave frequencies, reads English-language news bulletins at 8am and 8pm. Cable and satellite TV services carry CNN, BBC World Service, and English-language movie and sports channels, as well as Nepal TV and plenty of Indian programming. Programme guides are sold in supermarkets.
Telephones and faxes
Making phone calls and sending faxes is easy at any of countless communication centres and ISD/STD/IDD places. They're generally open daily 8am-11pm, and many accept credit cards. It costs Rs160-180 a minute to call most countries, and the charge for receiving calls ("callback") or making collect calls is Rs5-10 per minute. Shop around, because prices vary. The Central Telegraph Office is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but it's inconveniently located on Kantipath, opposite the National Stadium, and queues can be long. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Nepal,
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