Second Half of July 2006
For last couple of months Kathmandu was repeatedly coming up in conversations with friends. It was discussed that people from Delhi and other parts on India go there to party and have fun; they go on a Saturday, spend a lot of time in casinos and would return on Sunday. Even though it all sounded very glamorous and I was tempted by all this, however it seemed quite out of reach and I never really thought of going due to various reasons.
However in middle of July 2006, I happened to visit Dalhousie and Khajiyar (Himalayas), for a 3 day break, more on that later. After returning from there I was discussing the experiences and other details with my friend, Naveen. He got very excited and was looking for a escapade for himself as well. Couple of days later he showed me the package tours that were being advertised in newspapers, I do not recall them exactly, but they were like Rs.10,000 – 11,000 (USD 225) per person, including airfare and 3 day 4 night accommodation is 4/5 Star hotels. The package sounded pretty decent, however all of them had validity till September and we planned to go there after Diwali. So we decided to get the tickets done for early November (3rd – 8th), which cost us Rs. 6,000 each (USD 140) Delhi – Kathmandu – Delhi on Indian Airlines, now known as Indian.
After that started my research on Internet. That was first time I used internet to gather information about a place that I was visiting (Even though I am hooked to WWW for more that 12 years now). There was lot of information available on the internet, but that was from western tourists and their perspective. On the basis of the same we decided that we will also visit Pokhara, as according to most of the travelers it was a beautiful place.
There were couple of more people who wanted to come with us and got their tickets booked, but after that got them canceled due to individual problems. So started the hotel inquiries, we wanted a decent place to stay, range was never a major constraint, but we wanted to try our options. A special mention to currency difference (INR 1 = NPR 1.6). In the process I stumbled on Annapurna Guest House, Thamel, Kathmandu. There was not much information available on this one on TripAdvisor, VirtualTourist or other websites, however the rates that were mentioned on the site (http://www.annapurnaguesthouse.com) seemed reasonable enough (literally cheap). However since there was not much information available on the internet, I decided to send a mail asking for the best rates and availability. Infact I had sent mails to some other reasonable hotels; however I got a response from Mr. Manjit Thapa, owner of Annapurna Guest House. He sent me all the details, with rates in INR and also offered free pickup from the airport.
In following days, I exchanged a few more mails with Manjit, he gave a good discount to me, and we booked our room in Annapurna Guest House, Thamel. We paid around INR 400 (below USD 10) per day for a double room. I have always believed that service provider who is prompt in answering his mails can be relied upon. And this time I was proven right and how (more on this later).
Over here a special mention to a primary difference I have noticed between Western and Indian traveler. Most of the western travelers (few backpackers might be an exception) give high importance to getting a hotel booked in advance. They try to get the hotels booked along with the tickets, however generally Indians do not get them booked in advance. We prefer to go to the place first, physically see the hotel, negotiate and then decide. I am not sure how right I am in this assessment; maybe your comments can throw some light.
