Tag: Tribhuvan International Airport

Hi, Bye Khatmandu!

Besisahar to Khatmandu

When Sunshine hit, there is that surreal feeling. Our Last Day in Nepal. Today, We were going to Khatmandu and that was it. We will say goodbye to the country. My notes would be, if you are in a pack and wonder about tipping for your guide and / porter calculate it based on day of the trip and give more to the guide as the guide holds bigger responsibility. Please separate the tip for each person and give it in the morning or at the start of the trip because people may went off earlier. That was what happened to our pack some went off before we reached Khatmandu. Hence, tipping at the end of the journey didn’t work. The same if you want to give some items / souvenir to them, the best time is to do it in the morning. Including picture like the one that we had here!

  • Last Pic with full team

Once everything we good to go then off we go to Khatmandu. The road between Besisahar and Khatmandu was already in the modern road type so you don’t really need the 4 wheel drive as what we used the day before from Manang to Besisahar. It’s crucial to start early in the morning. We started at 8 AM and I must say it was a bit too late. The traffic was no JOKE. The road was jammed awfully until you could just turned off the car’s engine and you will be alright, in a sense you won’t go anywhere. It will be a good idea to pack some snacks and drinks and perhaps some book / games For me, I was tipsy due to the medicine so I was so drowsy and slept through the most part of the journey. We only stop by for a breakfast. We didn’t eat breakfast in the Hotel. Our guide said that we should go early and it’s better to have breakfast on the way. I still agreed with this decision.

  • Playing to kill time
  • road condition

Arriving in Khatmandu

We arrived in Khatmandu quite late. The traffic was so bad. It kind of made us shall rethink about our planning since our guide told us it will be impossible to continue with our original plan due to the place opening hour and our flight time. So we adjusted it to stay only Thamel, Boudhanath Stupa and afterwards directly go to the Airport to catch our flight back to Indonesia.

First thing first, our late lunch in Thamel. Thamel is a hustling place. There are many stores and restaurant in this areas. I would say the area is well suited for tourists and for those who is going to hike himalayas. You could get all of your staples in this area. For us this time, we would like to buy some souvenirs to bring back home. If you are looking for t-shirt, magnets, chai tea, coffee, himalayan salt, etc you could get all over here. remember that you could bargain the price. Just happened that in one of the store the keeper could speak Bahasa Melayu. Oh, how do i miss Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, you could see some pictures of our stroll in Thamel below.

  • custom pack your purchase
  • stores in Thamel

Boudhanath

We couldn’t stay too long in Thamel, once we finished our meal and purchase, we directly went to Boudhanath. It’s structure is very unique with the eyes at the top as if you are being watching. It’s a beautiful view to see and enjoy but please do not forget that it’s also considered as a holly place for Buddhist. During our visit there was an event over there so it was quite pack and since we arrived nearly 6 PM we can’t enter the place further because the place was already closing down. Within the vicinity you could circle around and found many shops as well. For us, we were already too tired so we decided to just sit and enjoy Boudhanath view. Btw, Kathmandu during that time was very dusty. If you are quite sensitive or have allergy I think it will be better to wear mask at all times.

  • The Eyes that See You
  • From Us
  • who is too tired to move

Nepal Airport At Last – Tribhuvan International Airport

We couldn’t really spend that much time in the Boudhanath area since we need to catch our flight. So here we were with a bit of heavy heart of a trip that was going to end soon. Thankfully the location wasn’t too far from the airport and it wasn’t jammed heavily.

When you get in the Airport the process was pretty standard. You need to check-in and drop your baggage afterwards you go for security clearance and immigration. The Airport was as busy as it could be. If you are not planning to bring back Nepali Rupees or if you have more than what you need you could exchange it around check in area after immigration I didn’t remember I see any so it’s better to do it before immigration clearance.

And that was it folks..! We finished our trip in Nepal. It was a long trip for me going from Indonesia ( Jakarta ) – Malaysia ( Kuala Lumpur ) – India ( Amritsar, New Delhi, Agra ) – Nepal ( Khatmandu, Besisahar, Chame, Pisang, Manang ). I was exhausted emotionally and physically but that’s about life. I wonder what is the empty feeling that started to creep out yet there is that serene and grateful feeling grows out. If you could do the trip around the world. Each trip gives out something that I would love to remember through life. The reason why I write it over here so that I could revisit it when I want to.

I wish we could go back and you could go together next time. Please stay safe, healthy, and happy! 🙂

Please look my whole series of Nepal over here

Cheers,

Triana Mustika Rukmi

See You India – Namaste Nepal

India trip was amazing, however, we need to move on to the next destination – Nepal. With heavy eyes, we woke up very early in the morning. Dear All, please, if i could tell you a story about any processing time in India, somehow anything was proceeded rather slow…please learn from our experience and spare much more time when you want to go somewhere.

First task, Checking out from the hotel. Okay, it took sometime. we could still enjoy a bit of the hotel lobby in the dark of course since it was early morning. Once we are good to go, i took the hotel bill and was amazed on Indian Taxation. Dear.. it’s complicated no wonder my colleagues who implement system related with it had many challenges in India.

  • hotel Lobby
  • hotel bill taxation @_@

Second task, going from the hotel to the airport, this is quick. Good. Third, entering the airport. Dear Lord, it took very long time. the queue wasn’t even have that much of people, but really it took us an hour just to enter the building only to find the check-in queue was about the same condition if not worse. 😦 Everything needs patience yet this is another level of long processing time i could ever imagine. Until, the officer had to call people out of the queue or else people will miss the flight – including ours.

After we had our baggage settled, we ran into the immigration. Oh my…my.. here comes a very long lines. Again, the process was quite slow. I wasn’t sure why and up until now still unsure. I was in a group of three and we decided to separate ourselves, whoever finish first must go to the gate so that our plane didn’t leave us behindbecause we were still in immigration line on our take off time with all the worst scenario has passed our mind. Finally, I finished first and i ran like crazy. I think i was pretty loud since people from afar giving me ways in advance. LOL.

Sweet truth though, As i came nearer to the Gate, people were still waiting to get into the boarding Room. Thanks God! having the experience of the processing time, i took sometime off to freshen up myself first and i was right. When i came back, the line was still there. 😀 Me and my group could finally had a breather walking on usual pace. welcoming our next flight from New Delhi to Khatmandu. This time we use Indigo for another experience flying and since it’s affordable. 🙂

  • Hi Indigo
  • 3rd flight to go to Nepal

once we were onboard and fly, here comes our hunger. all the plan to eat and enjoy the airport has been thrown away out of the window. here to the cup noodles and some confusion in counting the Indian Rupees.

  • sleepy eyes but excited – by Mondya P
  • breakfast anyone?
  • foreign money on hand

The trip between New Delhi and Khatmandu was not that long. Perhaps it was due to our excitement it feels even shorter. In no time we have arrived in Khatmandu. – Tribuvhan International Airport. The airport was not big and just like that you enter the gate and you were already at the immigration line.

What i would like to share is that, if you haven’t submitted your VISA document then you could fill it up at the airport. They have machine ready for that. However, i will still suggest you to fill it and get it printed before you go to Nepal. ( read about it here ) Reason being – who knows what will happen at the airport. One of our friend who came a day earlier experienced electricity problem.

After you get your VISA submission ready, you need to go to the cashier to pay for your VOA ( visa on arrival ). just next to it there is a money changer. We found that the price that they offer over here is quite competitive compare to the other after the immigration so if you need a bit of cash you could exchange it here or maybe you could wait a bit until you get into the city. Once you get all set, here we go to the immigration lane to enter the country.

I was so excited and nervous at the same time. Wow.. me? really? i am going to go to hiking? I have million reasons not to yet there i was going to have my first hike ever in Nepal. Isn’t it dreamy? more about it later. For now, welcome to Nepal. Wish you were there with us!

Cheers!

Triana Mustika Rukmi