Travel Tips

Some other important hints
Beware of touts who climb to be reprehensive companies and offer to take bargain hunting.

Shopping
Shopping can be very pleasant and exciting in Kathmandu. There are numbers tourists' shops on the main street of Thamel, Durbar square, Patan and Bhaktapur as well in the hotels arcades bursting with tempting jewelries, image, clothes and typical Nepalese craft. In some of the small village shops one can obtain traditional makes and beautiful potteries. Antiques can be taken out of the country with special permission granted by the department of Archeology. Traditional crafts mans colony in Patan is famous shopping center for Nepalese handicraft.

Do and Do not
• In some of the temples entrance may be prohibited for the non-Hindus.
• Leather articles are prohibited to be taken inside the temple and stupas.
• It is better not to touch offering or persons when they are on the way to shrines.
• Beef is strictly prohibited among both Hindus and Buddhist.
• No more female animals are killed for food.
• Generally temples, stupas and monument are permitted to be photographed, it is better to ask authorized persons to have permission before take up the camera.
• It is better to be properly dressed when visiting any places. Don't wear sun, sand and beach wear those are not proper dresses in Nepal. Need not to be solid and overdressed but comfortable and decently covered.
• Don't be insulted if a Nepalese lady hesitates to shake hands. In Nepal, people, especial women, do not normally shake hands when they greet one another. Instead hand shake say "Namaste".
• We are hard on drug abuse trafficking and possession of drugs are taking as serious offences.

Foreign Currency and Credit Cards
Credit cards Master and Visa are normally accept at major hotels, shops, and restaurants. ATM is generally found in Kathmandu and Pokhara. Major Banks, hotels and Government license holder money exchange counters and Kathmandu Airport has foreign currency exchange facility.

Exchange rates are published in English dailies news paper such as The Rising Nepal, The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times. Nepalese Rupees are found in denominations of 1000, 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1. Coins are found in denominations of 100, 50 and 25 paisa. One rupee equals 100 paisa.

Vaccination
Nepal does not require any particular vaccination for your visit. Vaccinations for Cholera, Meningitis, Tetanus & Diphtheria, Typhoid and Gamma Globulin should be considered for your trip. Please consult your physician and get a complete check -up before your departure.

First aid Kit
A simple but adequate medical kit can be most useful without taking much space in your baggage. The following is recommended as tried and true list of items.

• Aspirin or Panadol - for pain or fever.
• Antihistamine - useful as a decongestant for colds, allergies, to ease the itch from insect bites and stings or to help prevent motion sickness.
• Antibiotics - useful if you are travelling well off the beaten trails but they must be prescribed.
• Kaolin preparation (Pepto-Bismol), Imodium or Lomotil - for stomach upsets.
• Rehydration mixture - for treatment of severe diarrhoea.
• Antiseptic, mercurochrome and antibiotic powder or similar 'dry' spray - for cuts and grazes.
• Calamine lotion - to ease irritation from bites or stings.
• Bandages and Band-Aids - for minor injuries.
• Scissors, tweezers and a thermometer
• Insect repellent, sun block, suntan lotion, chopsticks and water-purification tablets.
• Throat lozenges (Strepsils).
• Moleskin
• Sulamyd 10% eye drops.
• Antacid tablets.

Environmental guidelines:
• Please show respect for the local population, the animals and the nature. Please refrain from buying threatened animal and plant parts, as well as corals.
• Take your time, remember you are on holiday, and in some cultures rush is considered impolite.
• Shopping: If you buy local products, you support the local economy. And if you bargain about the price, remember it has to be fun to shop and a good deal is when both parties are happy.
• Begging: Please do not give money to beggars, especially not children. If you wish to donate we advice give it to local projects that Yala is involved with or you may wish to donate via an aid agency.
• In most of Yala's trip areas leaders collect clean usable clothing from travellers at the end of a trip, for distribution to needy communities.

Economic:
• Buy locally made crafts and support local skills to encourage the positive sides of tourism.
• Consider tipping a reasonable amount for good service.
• Bargaining is an accepted practice in all of the countries we visit- but do so in a good humour and bear in mind the amount of money you are haggling over!
• Think carefully about giving money to beggars, it is often more effective to give money to local charity to reduce reliance and expectation.

Social:
• Learn some words of the local language, this is appreciated and often results in getting more out of the experience.
• Ask for permission before taking photographs out of respect for the local people.
• Enjoy the areas you visit but, if possible, try and leave in a better state than you found them in.
• Respect the local laws, customs and cultural beliefs.
• Show respect to the locale customs. Please dress appropriate, when visiting private homes or villages. Maybe learn to greet in local language.
• Do not buy ancient artifacts or souvenirs.

Environment:
• Try not to damage any plants you see on the trail.
• Wild animals should not be touched, fed or disturbed and do not encourage local people to parade animals.
• Do not collect firewood use kerosene or LPG gas for cooking.
• Our policy is to carry out all non biodegradable rubbish.
• Be economical in using fresh water for showering and washing as often they are in short supply.

Time/Business Hours
Nepal is five hours 45 minutes ahead of GMT.

Electricity
Major towns in Nepal have electricity and the voltage is 220-volts and 50 cycles. Load shedding is sometime experienced in Nepal. However, most of the major hotels have installed their own power back generators.

Restaurant and food: Almost every kinds of food representing the culinary areas of many parts of the world are available in restaurants. Hotel may have several restaurants under one roof serving a wide variety of dishes while individual restaurants cater several types of cuisines like Chinese, Indian Continental, Japanese and Tibetan etc.

Altitude sickness: Altitude sick ness, often known as acute mountain sickness or AMS, if not treated when symptoms first appear, can lead to death. It is the effect of altitude of those who ascent too rapidly to elevations above 3000 meters. Early mountain sickness will manifest itself in headache, loss of appetite and sleeplessness.

Do not ignore these warnings otherwise more serious symptoms can occur which can even cause death sometime within few hours.

Being a young, strong and fit does not help. Medicine is no substitute for descent. If a doctor is available, he may give medicine or oxygen. However, the patient must go down even if given treatment, if you travel in Khumbu region you can contact the hospital in Kunde and Pheriche and if you travel to Manang you can contract at Manang Hospital for altitude sickness and information, Doctors are available there during trekking season.