Kathmandu Valley
 Kathmandu is the capital city of Nepal; your placement can be within the
city itself or in the urban or rural set up. The rural area, can provide
mountain like placements. This area covers about 218sq miles and
includes a lot of the Nepal's cultural heritage i.e. Bhaktapur, Buddha,
Swayambhu, Pasupatinath etc.
All
of the villages are located within a half to one and an hour's bus
ride to Kathmandu's center. Most of the villages have well developed
infrastructure, with water readily available, and reliable
roads. Primarily, the village economy is agrarian – so you will
eat many fresh vegetables. Local phone calls can usually be made
and international phone calls accepted, but Internet access is
usually not available. General Kathmandu Volunteer
Information
Accommodation
Volunteers in the Kathmandu area either home stay with local families or
if working in an orphanage they often stay in the orphanage. Nepali
people are extremely hospitable and volunteers will be well looked after
however the accommodation will be typically Nepali and therefore basic
by Western standards. Toilets and showers are usually Nepali style and
the electricity supply in Kathmandu is unreliable with scheduled 3 hour
power outages for much of the year. We have four different home stay
families in the area all of whom have lots of previous experience with
looking after volunteers. Volunteers staying in orphanages are given
their own room within the orphanage.
Weather
Weather in the Kathmandu valley is some of the most moderate in Nepal.
In summer (May to September) the temperature rarely rises much above 30
degrees, the monsoon season (June to September) is less dramatic than
most areas and winter temperatures (December to February) are usually
above 10 degrees during the day with snow being extremely rare. It can
get quite cold at night especially in the higher elevations around
Kathmandu.
Food
The staple food for most Nepali families and in orphanages is "Dal Bhat"
which consists of rice (Bhat), lentil soup (dal) and vegetables in curry
(Tarkari) and/or meat (Masu) and a small amount of pickle /sauce (Achar),
other popular Nepali foods are either Indian or Tibetan influenced with
lots of curries, breads and potato based dishes. There is a massive
selection of international food in Kathmandu although most of this is
around the Thamel area. Volunteers can either eat with their host family
or go out to eat, although the variety of locally available food will
depend greatly on where in the area they are located and their proximity
to Thamel. Volunteers from other areas of Kathmandu usually travel into
Thamel on weekends to socialize with other volunteers and eat Western
food. A typical meal in Kathmandu will cost anywhere from 50 – 300
rupees ($1-$5).
Activities
There are numerous things to see and do around Kathmandu. Among the
highlights are the Three Goddesses Temple, Durbar Square, Swayambhunath
(Monkey Temple), Mahakala Temple, Pasupatinath and Bodhnath and shopping
and bargaining around the touristy Thamel area.
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