Nepal Rover

Re: Nepal Rover

I would appreciate knowing the information about how many are signed up for these departures, even if no one can tell me more in depth information about the tour or the climate.

Thanks.

Re: Nepal Rover

Hi Warren,

Thanks for your questions.

October is the start of what many people consider to be the best time to travel to Nepal. It is the start of the cool season, during which the average daily temperature is 18 degrees celcius. It's also a great month for trekking with clear days and crisp, cool nights.

The tour is already more than half-full so there is no chance of it being cancelled due to a low number of bookings. There are still two places available on this date but I would recommend booking relatively soon to avoid missing out.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Nepal Rover

Thanks, Brendan.

I had no idea it was almost full [the webpage color-coding needs updating]. For now, I have to wait, as for medical reasons, I cannot book anything. I'm not cleared to travel, though I expect to be in the near future. So I might miss this one. We could technically make the previous departure (9/23, I think), but that one is less likely to fit into our schedule otherwise.

Re: Nepal Rover

Hi Warren,

I agree that the availability needs updating as nobody seems to get it; we'll see what we can do.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Nepal Rover

Warren

I did this tour in November 2004. Actually, I did the "Images of Nepal" tour, which is this tour plus 4 days of trekking around the Kathmandu Valley at the end.

I really couldn't recommend it enough. The places visited are amazing, whether you're in the hustle and bustle of Kathmandu, or the laid-back lakeside environment of Pokhara. It was easily the best holiday I've been on (I'm hoping that my new tour to Peru in August this year with ImTrav sets a new high standard, though!) The tour leaders were great, and the other people on the tour were all very amiable and up for a laugh, too. All in all, great stuff.

Anyway, I could ramble on all day, so it might be better if you have any specific questions (regardless of how silly they seem!), to just ask away.

As for the weather, I found it to be very pleasant. Not particularly hot or cold, it was about 20 degrees Celsius (not sure what that is in Fahrenheit), on average. It rained once, just as we were arriving in Pokhara. Most of the time I was wearing just a shirt/t-shirt - even in the evenings a coat wasn't really necessary. This is in the cities, mind you - when I went trekking, I did need a coat in the evening then.

Hope this helps - and if you have any more questions, please ask.

Re: Nepal Rover

Thanks so much for your very informative answer. At this point, I don't have any additional questions for you, but I might have more later on.

I do have one question, which would probably need to be answered by Brendan, as well as anyone who has traveled to Nepal in 2006 or 2007. Our government (US) government still has a strong travel advisory out against traveling to Nepal--particularly against driving outside the Kathmandu Valley, as this tour does, due to safety concerns. I can easily overcome these concerns, but it's going to be hard to get my wife to ignore such warnings.

I realize that tourists have not been targetted, but any word about how Imaginative Traveler handles bandhs and other situations in which there is jeopardy would be appreciated. I have noted a thread or two in which tours have been cancelled. What has been the state of things so far during 2007? What measures have been taken, if any?

A really frustrating aspect of travel planning these days is that both the government and the media have a vested interest in scaring us to death, while tour operators and tourist offices have a vested interest in underplaying or denying things. It's hard to know the truth from afar. So far in our travels, all fears have been unfounded. But we've never gone against an official advisory before.

Re: Nepal Rover

Hi Warren,

That is so true:

"A really frustrating aspect of travel planning these days is that both the government and the media have a vested interest in scaring us to death, while tour operators and tourist offices have a vested interest in underplaying or denying things"

There are a few ways we are handling the situation in Nepal. First of all, if we deem a tour unsafe we will cancel or amend it as client safety is our number one priority.

Assuming that the tour is safe to go ahead we may take extra steps to either avoid a potentially dangerous area or get there by different means.

That's why many of our tours to Nepal currently fly between cities rather than drive. On the rare occasions that toursists have run into rebels on the roadside between cities the rebels have made it perfectly clear that they have no intention of scaring tourists away from the country or attacking them and that their only objective is politically motivated and strictly domestic.

Of course though it's not a very controlled environment nor very stable, hence we try to avoid running into the rebels in the first place by flying rather than driving.

I couldn't agree more with you about the media trying to scare us across all aspects of our lives, not just travel, and you have to read between the lines as much as possible and act on gut instinct to experience those truly great travel moments.

I hope this helps.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Nepal Rover

Warren

I'd echo what Brendan said above, really. I know I travelled to Nepal in 2004 (an American couple were on my tour, funnily enough), and that the situation was quite serious in early 2006, things do seem to be much calmer now, from what I can gather. I seem to remember reading recently that the Maoist rebels are now part of the government, and control several ministries. Given that this was a long stated aim of theirs (to be included in the mainstream political process), I'd argue it'd be unlikely that they will call bandhs or act in an otherwise provocative or reactionary fashion at this time.

Obviously, you can't predict what will happen, but I think the skies are clear for now!

In the very unlikely (to me, at any rate) event that you got caught up in a bandh, there's not much you can do other than play along. If it's in Kathmandu, you'll probably just be sitting around, bored. Bandhs tend to last 24 hours, from what I recall, so it'd be a minor inconvenience overall.

Brendan is also right to point out that avoidance of the rebels all together is the wisest course of action (I did meet someone who, despite having to pay a

Re: Nepal Rover

Hi Dom,

If there was a 'post of the day' award you would have won it! Thanks for your input.

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Nepal Rover

No problem mate - just don't forget me when the money for Warren and his wife's trip to Nepal come in, eh?

More seriously, I loved every minute of my time in Nepal, and I'd hate anyone else to miss out on it for what I feel are inaccurate fears about the problems there. Yes, it's not a perfect country, but I honestly believe it remains a very safe one to visit, with just a little bit of forward planning.

Here's hoping Warren and his wife have a good time!

Re: Nepal Rover

Yes, ditto. The cheque is in the post I blame Sky News myself, which is not the view of the Imaginative Traveller, but which I also can't turn away from when a 'Breaking News' story flashes up on screen!

Regards,
Brendan

Re: Nepal Rover

Hahaha, Sky News. The trouble is, the details of the "breaking news" is usually something like "...and in Nepal tonight, a Briton was slightly hurt by a comment regarding the unflattering cut of his suit...", but is initially packaged as the most grave and shocking thing to happen since World War II.

That's the 24 hour news cycle for you, I guess - they'll put anything on to fill the air time, and fear usually wins out.

I'm sympathetic to Warren on that score; living in the US, he gets Fox News, which is like seeing a news broadcast from another planet in terms of how divorced from reality it can sometimes be!

Re: Nepal Rover

It's not really for me to say in my current environs but I tend to agree with you on all of those points! If it's not a scare-mongering story then it's some PR machine pumping out a nonsense showbiz story...

The scary part is that I switch Sky News on most days for my daily update of what's been going on in the World...

Regards,
Brendan.

Re: Nepal Rover

I'm not familiar with Sky News.

I do "get" FoxNews, but I never watch it.

Our other news media, which I do watch (mostly NBC and CNN) definitely have their share of fearmongering on various issues. But Nepal is not on their radar.

It's the US government's travel advisory that gives us pause. The US media really are not focused on Nepal. I tune into BBC-America to get some coverage of parts of the world that aren't obsessed with Paris Hilton and that sort of thing.

I see your point about the advantage of the air travel, but the drive to Chitwan looks to be pretty scenic [Lonely Planet], so I sort of hope we don't miss that--if it's not dangerous.

Re: Nepal Rover

I could understand why you would be worried about going against a travel advisory from your own government, but I can only really re-state the reasons I gave above as to why I personally don't think you should be concerned.

As you say, Nepal is not on the radar of the US media...so isn't it possible that an alert could be put in place for Nepal by the Federal Government, and then be more or less forgotten about for a while, with everything going on in Iraq and Afghanistan? I mean, whether or not Nepal is a suitable destination for American holidaymakers is probably low on the priority list in comparison!

I'd never say "ignore your government's advice" - I can only say that in my personal opinion and experience, any risk to you and your wife would be extremely low...so low as to be almost non-existent (again, that's my opinion, but at least it's based on experience of the country at first-hand).

Anyway, yes, the drive to Chitwan is nice, but - without doing Nepal an injustice - a bus ride is a bus ride, regardless of how spectacular the scenery you pass through. To be honest, the experiences you'll have when not on a bus, and the surroundings you're in when you're not travelling, more than compensate for missing out on the bus rides, honestly. Just concentrate on all the things you'll see when you actually get to Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan, and you'll be fine!

Ultimately, the choice is yours, but I hope you and your wife do go and have a great time.

Best of luck!

Re: Nepal Rover

Thanks, Dom, and I respect all your points.

Actually, we're somewhat hamstrung by our medical situation right now. It's a long story, but I've been expecting to be released to travel after having had a severe infection over a month ago, but things just keep dragging on, and now my wife is having health problems. Our doctor, who has traveled extensively, thinks India is just too stressful unless we go with a guided tour, and I don't think "adventure tour" is what he has in mind. I was planning on visiting Nepal at the tail end of a trip to India. Normally, when we travel, we mix a budget guided tour with independent travel. I'm pretty discouraged at this point, but I guess I'll talk to the doctor myself next week (my wife was the one who visited him today) and see if I should just give up on the Indian subcontinent entirely--at least until I retire.