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9. Beaurocracy
You will spend a lot
of time standing in lines. However there are a
number of blags…
Pretend
to be ill: when you turn up at the visa office
they will probably put you to the front of the
line, and get your visa back to you without you
having to wait all day for it.
Get
a fix-everything-is-no-problem-for-you-wallah to
go on your behalf, this can be arranged through a
lot of the trekking agents (and probably the raft
company you are working for), and doesn’t
cost much. This is probably the best thing
to do in Kathmandu as the Immigration office is
now situated ’kin miles away from
Thamel.
However,
if all else fails and you have to do it yourself…
9.1 Extending your
visa
You may have to do this about every 4
weeks, depending on which entry visa you get. It
can be a real hassle but you can save a lot of time if
you:
Go to the
immigration office the day before and pick up the
visa extension application forms. Get the
passport photos you need (any photo shop in
Kathmandu will do them for you and they’re
cheaper than at home). Fill in the forms in
a bar somewhere.
Come back the
next day about an hour before the immigration
office opens. You won’t be at the
front of the queue even then.
When the door
opens everyone surges inside, but of course
nobody has filled in the form and most people
haven’t even got a pen so you walk calmly to
the front of the queue and don’t have to
wait more than 15 minutes.
If you desperately
need a visa extension when the immigration office is
closed (e.g. for Dashain week or something) then you can
sometimes get it done anyway, the visa-wallahs hang
around near the office and for a bit of baksheesh you can
get it done. The bribe could cost you up to a
fiver.
9.2 Trekking
permits
The procedure for getting a trekking
permit is exactly the same as getting your visa extended,
it’s just a different coloured form. There is
an immigration office in Pokhara so you can get permits
for the Annapurna region (e.g. for the Modi Khola and
Marsyangdi rivers) there.
9.3 River permits
As the list of "rafting
rivers" gets longer, you may not need a trekking
permit to get to the access point. Instead, get a
river permit from one of the rafting offices.
Ghopal at Shiva’s River Adventure is very obliging,
and has connections at the immigration office which can
get you a permit in a couple of hours. It seems to
be normal practice for a group of boaters to get one
bona-fide permit at the beginning of their trip, and then
make multiple photocopies using tippex to change the
names of the rivers, and the dates which the permit is
valid. The police checkpoints you will encounter on
your way to a river are happy to accept a photocopy.
For all of
the above the immigration office in Pokhara is much
better, the staff there seem to know what they are doing
more than in KTM, and are genuinely helpful. There
are fewer tourist types who come here so it is easier and
quicker to get things done.
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1. Disclaimer 2. Guidebooks
3.
Flying with your kayak
4.
Arrival
5.
Staying in Kathmandu
6.
Hey, friend, youwanna changemoney?
7.
Food & drink
8.
Health
9.
Bureaucracy
10.
Post, Phone & email
11.
Getting "work" boating
12.
Some Rivers
13.
Getting around
14.
Stuff to do when you’re not on the river
15.
Things you will need…
16.
Photography
17.
Psst! Hashhash? marijuana?
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