Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 3 | Page 61

Getting Around Kathmandu
by Local Transport

“Welcome to Nepal, Land of Adventure.” This is one of the slogans
that might have attracted you to go to Nepal. Undoubtedly, there
are plenty of adventurous things you can do like bungy jumping,
paragliding, canyoning, trekking, mountain climbing, and so on.
Of course, for all such activities, you have got to make special
arrangements and shell out a fair amount of moolah. However,
there are other things that are no less adventurous, but which
won’t cost you much. One such adventure is going on a tour
of Kathmandu by what goes for public transportation around
here. That is, three-wheelers (tempos), micro-buses (small
vans), mini-buses (larger vans), buses, taxis and not to mention
rickshaws.
First, taxis and their place in your Kathmandu travel.
Your adventure begins the moment you land at Tribhuvan
International Airport. Let’s say that you are here on your own.
That is, no pre-bookings with travel agents or hotels. Well, many
people do arrive this way, and we dare to say that they are the
lucky ones (and not to mention, the more adventurous ones).
The less adventurous ‘others’ will be missing out on something
pretty interesting. You make your way outside the airport and in
a blink of an eye, you’ll be approached by a whole gang of taxi
drivers. Of course you can always take a pre-paid taxi, but that’s
not much fun (and depending on your bargaining skills, much
more expensive). So, one driver now has one of your bags, and
another has the second. Sometimes, it so happens that you’ll
be witness to a minor scuffle between the two, each of whom
believes that you are his rightful fare. Don