What it’s like remote working in Nepal
techinasia.com
techinasia.com
This is the best change we experienced as a Nepali citizen. A separate power backup for internet router is no longer needed.
> why aren’t more startups bootstrapping in the country?
There's this new startup https://www.sevadevelopment.com/ which took this step. They started their office in Lamjung (~108KM from Kathmandu). Monthly costs for rent should be at least half of what it is in Kathmandu. ~10 of my friends did an internship there recently.
Akamai and Google have cache edges here. You might have a 128Kbps ADSL line but you get > 1MBps with YouTube and many other sites due to this. Ncell, a telecom here, provides free Twitter and Wikipedia access. It recently started offering Free facebook too. (net neutrality?).
Kathmandu is now filled with poles carrying fiber optic cables.
i would look into Ubiquiti as well for network.
I remember internet was almost unheard of there at the time. I did find some cafes to send email and little else at the time. I seem to remember UUCP (hehe) being involved but so long ago the details have faded. Had to send my mom a fax because it was the fastest way to communicate when telephone was a couple bucks a minute. ((boggle))
Always wanted to go back, was just the twentieth anniversary and though I couldn't go back last year due to family issues, I'd love to go this summer. This piece has given me the last little piece I needed.
Glad to hear the food is better too! Nepali food was always good and healthy, but I have a funny memory of "Maxican" food on the menu. Curried stuff in the shape of a taco (uggh).
regarding the rubbish, there are rubbish in any big city in the world. I now live and work in Toronto, and some part of Toronto is worst than Kathmandu. While Kathmandu has many areas which are much cleaner and better than some parts of Toronto.
I also bootstrapped my company https://www.techinasia.com/merocampus-online-marketplace-col... living in Nepal at my parents home.
There is also an advantage of living in this side of the world, most of the time you are the first person in the company to initiate your work day which allows you to focus more on what can be done for the day with the rest of the team. And of course, incident response is much better since the timezone difference allows you to stay awake at times that are considered difficult if you are living in America.
It is actually much better in remote-ish area compared to heart of Kathmandu.
> Internet, electricity, and infrastructure is all improving and the costs are still super cheap.
The internet situation has improved drastically over the years. In just 3 years I went from crappy 128kbps to 256kbps, 512kbps, 1mbps, 2mbps, 5mbps and 10mbps fiber connection at basically the same monthly fee (less than $20/mo and it includes TV).
Things are definitely improving but Kathmandu is still unlivable due to dust. Monsoon can't come soon enough so we can trade it for knee deep mud. :-P
Haven't been since 2011 but the rolling blackouts were a little rough, even right after the monsoon.
I spent some time in a K-12 school and the power would sometimes just randomly go out during the day. Every computer in the school would be cut off and we'd sit around and wait for a couple of minutes while listening for the guard's keys jingling as he ran down the hall to fire up the backup generator.
The landscape is beautiful, the history and culture is fantastic, and the people are kind and wonderful.
There are definitely areas with trash all over but if you go with an accommodating and open mind then it's all good. Prepare to be in a third world city/country though. Boiling and filtering water is normal. Soaking fruits and vegetables in iodine water is normal. Dodging high pressure salespeople who will chase you around if you look western is normal. Getting overcharged if you don't haggle is normal.
Pokhara is a bit of a tourist town but it's definitely an escape from Kathmandu. There's a whole row of western style restaurants and cafes near the lake. You can also find pockets of western comfort if needed while in Kathmandu as there's a large NGO worker population and some accommodations that have been built up to serve "important" visitors.
Having said that, there is still a 6 month (or thereabouts) limit to the total amount of time you can be in Thailand per year.
The traffic is intense chaos. The streets are very dusty and dirty. Food is semi-ok in the few western style restaurants in Kathmandu otherwise it's just (mostly) rice (hard, not soft fragrant type) and some crappy sauce loaded with MSG.
Rubbish is everywhere, I mean literally it's like living in the middle of a dump site.
Just a few things to consider before you all go "Woah, Nepal is so awesome".
I think naming places would be a better explanation to this rather than saying everywhere.
Yes, littering is a problem here in cities like Kathmandu but many villages are still untouched by this problem. Nepal comprises mostly of villages.
I mean I sort of understand what they are trying to do and I know other people sometimes make this mistake but it just ends up being confusing.
Mexico and Thailand aren't second world countries unless you just arbitrarily decide to misrepresent what the phrase means, since the whole point of the damn distinction in the first place was to represent the global battle for supremacy between capitalist modern countries (first world) and communist planned economies (second world). The big issue in the cold war was which of those two worlds would win the battle for the third world countries.
So when a former third world country modernizes and becomes more market driven with a more western style economy but you mark it as a second world country, you've literally described the opposite of what actually happened.
In the original comment, I'm not sure the usage of 3rd world was in relation to cold war/political division.
There was also a huge earthquake recently, mr. negativity.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572675/Mountain-rub...
I assume you mean Trump; I don't think that's hypersensitive, I've never heard anybody else punctuate their remarks with their emotion like that.
Those countries won't get better if we don't help them.
"In the later 20th century, in the context of decolonisation and the Developing World, the phrase "the white man's burden" was emblematic of the "well-intentioned" aspects of Western colonialism and "Eurocentrism". The poem's imperialist interpretation also includes the milder, philanthropic colonialism of the missionaries:
"The implication, of course, was that the Empire existed not for the benefit — economic or strategic or otherwise — of Britain, itself, but in order that primitive peoples, incapable of self-government, could, with British guidance, eventually become civilized (and Christianized)."
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Man's_Burden
My employer for the last ten years has been an Asian company, so I hardly agree with that.
The people will need to want to organize a goverment which has the integrity, capacity and resources to improve the conditions. Work on the education system, social and economic structure and provide basic infrastructure. However most often than not these countries are full of corruption, no matter how much money you'd pour into it it'll just go for the benefit of the few.
It all begins with the local people and tbh, I'm not holding my breath.
And finally a personal anecdote, it's funny how the people in these 3rd world countries fail to organize even the simplistic things such as bus terminals. And one just has to wonder, if they can't organize a bus terminal what chance do they have of ever organizing a properly functioning goverment that could organize their country?
As a resident of New York City[0], I am not sure how to respond to this observation.
[0] http://www.wnyc.org/story/surviving-port-authority-bus-termn...
Nepal by no means has "failed to organize even a bus terminal". For god's sake, the Nepalese people organized a pretty successful resistance against their Monarchy[0]. So please get your facts straight before making such sweeping generalizations about 3rd world countries. In general, every country has a very unique set of circumstances for being in a state of social/economic/political backwardness.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_democracy_movement_in_Nep...
The "white man's burden" was the justification for all manner of interventionist, abusive (and self serving) policies.
Countries can definitely improve without "our" help - that's not to say we shouldn't offer our help, but we definitely shouldn't go around assuming inherent superiority.
Ever heard of things like volunteer work, Engineers Without Borders,....?
You believe that — through your own luck and with your own privilege — you are able, and therefore should be willing to help people who — through no fault of their own — require some help.
A colonialist would say that — due to their innate genetic superiority — they are able, and therefore should be willing to help people who — due to their own innate inferiority, primal culture, and lack of intelligence — require some help.
If anything, as an ethnic Han Chinese myself, I know we are all too aware of how to conquer and colonise other places. And trust me, Chinese have no shortage of a superiority complex, regarding the barbaric hordes outside of the Middle Kingdom grins.
This isn't exactly like being Jewish, and getting away with anti-Semitic remarks like Sacha Baron Cohen.
[1] http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1201869/thailand-has...
Your comment is spot on.
> before you all go Woah, Nepal is so awesome
I am curious what triggered you to write such a negative comment. The article did not give me the impression of a nationalistic rag or a puff-piece trying to hide flaws. Rather, just as the title says, it is about "Remote working in Nepal: What it’s like now in 2017". The author gave useful and balanced descriptions and comparisons as far as I can tell.
I've never heard someone intelligent dismiss an entire country as a "total dump", let alone a place that's well known for scenic views like Nepal. Even a novice traveller knows that developing countries have infrastructure issues like trash management and that one's quality of life will not be equivalent to Palo Alto. That said, even our own "premier" cities have spots that are trashy. Heck, it wasn't that long ago that Coyote Creek near San Jose was pretty much a dump. I'm curious what useful data you wanted to contribute to the conversation.
Scenic views. Yeah you can enjoy them while standing on a pile of trash. Just keep your eyes peeled to the mountain tops!
"That said, even our own "premier" cities have spots that are trashy. "
I'm not sure I'd call it a premier city then.
"I'm curious what useful data you wanted to contribute to the conversation."
I find it kinda lopsided to read an article that only mentions the good things without giving a proper/full picture. Some people might not really understand what it's like in a 3rd world country.
Did we read the same article? Here's some points the author made that seem to contradict your claim.
1st paragraph: "boy oh boy, there have been major changes"
That implies change, ie: it was worse before.
2nd paragraph: "There was obviously major corruption going on behind the scenes, which prevented this improvement from happening for so long. "
"In bigger cities like Kathmandu and Pokhara, the hotels have always been a bit hit-and-miss"
"Visa regulations in Nepal are a little stricter than in Thailand"
Having re-read the article, I'm glad the author took the time to present this.
> Some people might not really understand what it's like in a 3rd world country.
I'm not sure your description of an entire country as a "total dump" is accurate or helpful to people like me who genuinely want to understand what it's like in a 3rd world country.
Luckily, there is a broad range of independently captured data on Streetview, even of the Annapurna trail, Kathmandu so folks can evaluate conditions for themselves without bias.
Then you get the NGOs. Expats hate NGOs. NGOs are the true believers, they are here to save the world. When they aren't saving the world they are sitting in the coffee shops that sprang up in areas where NGOs have sent people to save the world. NGOs think they are better than the expats because they "are working with local people" when in fact they see nothing, know nothing and ultimately look down on the people they think they are helping. The secular NGOs look down on the religious groups who set up schools and give english lessons and packets of instant noodles in return for children singing about Jesus. I'm not saying that what they are doing is worthless, teaching basic literacy, and providing food and some medical care is a good thing. But they want people to pay them back in belief. The secular NGOs think they are above that, but NGOs are like Jelly Beans, they might be all different colours on the outside but inside they are the same imported coffee beans that they slurp in the countless coffee shops established to suck what little money they are being paid.
Finally there are the tourists. I used to hate most of the tourists, but the most cliche'd tourists are mostly alright. They are clueless and they come and spend their money and will go home with some nice memories and don't make things any worse when they leave. A sub-species of tourist are the backpacker who pray to their holy heavily worn copies of Lonely Planet guidebooks. Expats like Lonely Planet because you can pick up a used copy for free that has been left in a bar -- always look for the multi-country guides, because backpackers never buy the far expensive single country guides -- and if you see a place in your country that is listed there, avoid it like the plague and then you will never have to see another backpacker except at bus stations and airports. Backpackers are very insular -- they only travel together, they only eat and drink at backpacker establishments (locals don't like them because they never tip, seem to think that sitting with their laptop or mobile phone at a restaurant for hours after ording the cheapest thing on the menu is ok). Backpackers often are not only clueless but insultingly clueless. You see these morons in deeply conservative religious capital cities like Vientiene wearing cloths you would wear at a beach in a Western country. I actually had to tell two girls at a Lao border crossing who were getting a bit of the cold shoulder from immigration that if they put on a t-shirt over their string bikini tops and acted a bit more polite, things might go a little faster. Yeah, right.
Then you have the newest subspecies of tourist, the digital nomad, who write posts like you just read. There is nothing in that post that indicates that he has been anywhere in Nepal or anywhere that isn't in a Western ghetto in an eastern country. A nomad is a kind of parasite that might kick back a little bit of positive feedback in the way of money to keep their hosts from killing them or brushing them off but suck more than they give back.
I encourage people to actually come out and live out here, stay away from the expats, the NGOs and the tourists and especially the digital nomads and learn something. It's difficult, it's traumatic, it can be heart breaking and at the same time open up worlds, wonderful worlds you never new existed. You will be a better person for it, you will be a better programmer or designer or writer or whatever. You will never be able to go back to where you came from and see it the same way again.
And then if you are strong enough you can either come back out here and do something to make it better, or go back home and use your new eyes to make where you came from better.
- I first visited Nepal as part of my university degree and stayed in a remote area for three months studying anthropology completely alone. The people I met during this time are now lifelong friends.
- I am heavily involved in a charity project which helps the development of this remote area and continue to return and help when I can.
- One of these locals is now a business partner in a venture we are close to launching. If you fancy coming to Nepal check out https://adventureparadisenepal.com.
- I don't write such articles to gloat / boast / make people jealous. Moreso I don't write about the boring shit such as the business meetings which were a large part of this trip.
The article is moreso a reflection of the infrastructure and making some quite strong points about Pokhara having the potential to compete with Chiang Mai for that crowd of traveler. I have never been to Chiang Mai nor do I particularly want to.
It is helpful for people like you to not tar everyone with the same brush and realize that everyone is different. I do not need to prove my travel or work credentials to anyone and having one of / if not the largest AirBnB management businesses in Asia, I am sorry if it offends you that I am based in Asia.