Getting your Indian Visa in Kathmandu (in 2012)

I found a few other sites around that detailed the process of getting an Indian Visa in Kathmandu and it looked rather grim. Some describing that it's probably best to go there the night before to get a ticket from the machine so you're served quickly. However, the process has changed as of some date in 2010/2011, so this is how it works now. Note the ticket machine is inside the gate now.

Also apparently at this embassy they may not issue the full 6 month visas. I put 4 months on all my forms and that's what I got. It's the same cost up to 6 months but I heard they were not issuing so many for the full 6 anymore.

Visit 1:
(this is for a tourist visa, for a transit visa skip to visit 2).

Things to have with you:

• Passport
• Contact details for where you're staying.

Your task today is to line up, take a number, fill in the telex form to your home countries Indian high commission requesting permission to get a visa issued in Kathmandu.

I stupidly turned up at 6:00am after reading bad stories about how long it takes. Once I got there I found out the Indian Embassy no longer handles the visa, but the Indian Visa Service Centre about 20 meters before the Embassy gate now handles all visas. I walked around for half an hour, went back and found one person lined up at 7am. I then went and had breakfast to consume more time.

Here's the rest of the days process:

• Lined up at 8am, roughly ten other people waiting (it's not peak season).
• 8:30am they let people in the gate, you get the magic security wand waved over you and you're inside.
• Go to the ticket machine and get your ticket for first visit for a Tourist visa. When I was there someone was helping with this process for the first people in. I got A8 and I was last in of the people who were waiting.
• Fill in the Telex form. BLACK PEN ONLY. Note that you need your Father or Husbands name on the form, and the contact details for where you're staying.
• Wait until 9:30am when they start calling numbers. (or leave, and have some breakfast until 9:30am. There's a "KFC" next door.)
• PAY ATTENTION. They will skip over your number if you are not listening and it's rather quick. I moved 5 places ahead because people were too busy chatting.
• Hand your telex form and passport to the guy in the window. He gives you a payment form to fill out, and the Visa application form you need for your next visit (you won't need it today).
• Take the filled out payment form to the other counter (which is counter 1, the second one you go to. Yes that's right, counter 1 is not the first one you go to)
• Keep your receipt, you need this for your next visit. Note the date on the bottom which tells you which day you have to come back. That date will be 3-5 working days away.

I was out of there by 10:30am.


Visit 2:

After almost a week has passed, it's time to go back and repeat the process.

Things to have with you:

• Passport
• Visa form (you can fill it in today to pass the time)
• One passport photo
• Receipt from last visit

No need to have any photocopies or multiple photos despite the number of places advertising photocopies and photos. Of course, I could be incorrect if this is your second visit to India, they do ask when your previous entry/exit dates were.

Process for this visit:

• Line up at 8am after breakfast
• Gates open at 8:30, get your ticket (C2!) for your second visit (or transit visa visit)
• Fill in visa form to pass the time (for transit visa people you need to ask for a form), glue on your photo with the free glue.
• 9:30am they start calling numbers. PAY ATTENTION. The order is type, then number, as in: A1, C1, F1, A2, C2, F2 etc. A is first visit for tourist visa, C is second visit, F must be transit. I was third to get a ticket, but fifth to the window because of this.
• Watch people not listen to the numbers and get skipped over again. (PAY ATTENTION)
• When your number is called, line up behind the person who got skipped over at Counter 2. 
• Hand your filled in visa form, passport and the receipt from last time. They will hand back everything, plus a new payment form.
• Fill in the new payment form and wait around at Counter 1
• Hand over everything again, plus 3850r (3600 for visa, 250 for "processing")
• Take your new receipt, you'll need it again to get your passport back.

You now have until 4:30pm to waste time, the board on this day said passports would be back at  5:00pm though.

Visit 3:

Things to bring:

• Receipt from the morning

Now you just have to wait to get your passport back.

How it went down:

• Lined up at 4:25pm, gate opened at 4:30pm
• Wait until 5:10pm
• Notice everyone rushing to the two counters to line up. They were going through rather quick so I just keep playing with my phone until the line died down.
• Hand over receipt, get passport back with fresh Indian visa.

I was out of there by 5:30pm.

And that's it! I had 6 days to waste in between visits so I spent it gaining a cold and the squirts. Time well spent I think.

New info for late 2012!:
James in the comments notes a few more things in the high season for this process here:
http://www.jamiebettles.com/myblog/getting-an-india-visa-in-kathmandu/

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Yesterday I walked down to the durbar square in Kathmandu here. I'm not sure of the correct name for it, because there are three, but I went to the main one. There's a 750r entrance fee but I just walked around the back of one of the temples to get into the area.

Poter carring goods.

Another one.

Part of the square. Not sure which temple/s it is/are, don't have the book in front of me!

The orange monk guy was stood there for at least an hour.

The most photographed part.

See.

Removed face. Why!

A better angle, with skyrats in flight!

Another side.

Painted.

Goat. This goat was just hangin out with the skyrats...

Tree.

This was on the wall of the large white building. Which is what the ticket was for. I might go back and have a look in there later but I'd spent a lot yesterday and didn't wan't to spend another 750r.

Painted eye on nandi!

Another tower.

SKYRATS!

Some of the woodwork on the buildings. I guess it is replaced regularly.

Crouching bhudda.

More woodword.

A closed gate.

Painted!

People.

A quiet street. No really. This is quiet.

HEHEHE.

Not sure what else I'll stick around in Kathmandu to see. Not liking it so much and I keep getting ripped off. Also it's just constant horn noise and bells in the morning, but eerily quiet between midnight and 6am. But I'm still not sure where I'm going to go next. I think I'll head up the hill near here where you can get a full view of the Himalayas, but from there I don't know yet.

The Battle of Nepal Cargo

Managed to retrieve my bike from customs. Somehow.

I left the guesthouse in the morning with my carnet, keys, and my small camera and set off for the airport cargo terminal. I waved down a taxi (very easy to do in Thamel, they are everywhere) and told him to take me to the airport cargo terminal. He replies with "ok yes!" and we set off, I then remind him to turn the meter on.

We end up at the passenger terminal and I tell him again we need to go to the airport cargo terminal, he says "ok yes!" and then theres more confusion, he asks someone, and then they point to the building behind us. But that's the cargo offices, not the cargo terminal, I tell him I've already been there and got my documents and that I really actually do want to go to the cargo terminal. He reverses over to the cargo offices, I get out and ask a guard how to tell the taxi driver where the cargo terminal is, he has no idea, I ask another official looking guy inside, he explains sort of, but another guy butts in and says "cargo terminal? I know!", excellent, so we go outside and he says "this is your taxi?", I say yes, then there was  some confusion at the door with him standing there, I jump in and expect him to tell the driver where to go. He sits in the taxi also.

We get to the cargo terminal gate, I pay the taxi and we get out. This guy marches up to the gate past all the other people wanting to help me. Some more confusion at the gate when appanently they don't want to let him in, but he gets in after someone else on the inside says something.

Now we march over to the customs office (or some office) with a bunch of terminals and people typing furiously into an old text base database application. I laugh to myself at how old the software must be and then remembered how often the newer looking software I used to work with actually worked.

Now Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy talks to one person for a while and then says they want 10r to photocopy my passport. I counter by producing a photocopy of my passport I had previously obtained, a saving of 10r. Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy then goes to the other wall in the room, and starts talking to one of the people at the terminals. I still have no idea what's actually going on.

I'm watching Mr. TerminalGuy type furiously, save/load files, log in and out of the database. After about thirty minutes he has a printout which he then staples to the airway bill and a few other miscianious bits of paper and gets me to sign. Ok, we're almost there.

Then Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy and Mr. TerminalGuy lead me out of the room and tell me I'd need to pay storage fees (I was aware of that) and then I ask "how much would that be?". Mr TerminalGuy thinks for a bit, and then types 8000 on his phone. I laugh, but leave it, because I know it will never be near that amount.

Mr. TerminalGuy and Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy start conversing in Nepalese, and Mr. TerminalGuy hands over 1500r to Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy and then tells me to wait over in the warm sun for a while.

So I wait.

And I keep waiting. About an hour and a half of waiting in fact. There are many facebook and google plus posts and comments from me to confirm this.

After a while Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy comes out to find me and I ask "so they are getting the bike out now?" and he says, "yes, come with me". So we go up to the fenced off area in the warehouse and he wanders in and tells me to stay at the gate. Eventually he comes back and just gives a small wave to me. And five minutes later the crate with my bike is out. Curious. But then most of the other people standing around got their stuff at a similar time too.

The crate arrives! Hey that's my name!

Now the crate gets crowbared open and a crowd of 20 nepalis has gathered around to see the big reveal of what's inside. All the plastic is torn off and the crate is slowly taken apart bit by bit until there's no more of it. Well that's my $300 crate gone... No idea where it went, I guess they took it all to sell the wood again, which is what I wanted to do.

Half de-crated.

Now my bike is sitting there without a front wheel. I get out the tools and ask if they have something to prop the bike up with. Nope, lots of discussion which I wait for but nothing comes forward. I could have used a bit of crate but who knows where that is now. I get my little prop stand out of my tool kit (it's not as stable on this though), and ask the three people near the bike to help lift it up. Who knows what they were actually doing but I managed to get it under the bike by lifting from the handlebars.

I then start trying to put the front wheel on with all these nepali hands flying in trying to help, I think, or just pointing and commenting to others. I get the front axel halfway in but it won't go all the way because the bike isn't quite high enough, I ask them all to help lift the bike again so I can just get the axel in, but somehow they manage to drag it around the floor slightly, almost knocking it off the stand (because they weren't actually lifting it) and getting the front wheel and axel in some odd position that may have damaged it. I lift the bike up by the handlebars again and move the stand back slightly to get the height I needed.

Note to self: Nepali help is... Possibly the opposite of help.

Now the front wheel is on, I start bolting all the other bits together. While I'm doing this there are lots of poeple gathered round picking up bits of my stuff, examining it closely, folding things that aren't meant to be folded, opening and closing stuff. I just ignore it and go about my business.

After about an hour of bolting stuff up while dodging nepalis it starts to look like my bike again. I tell Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy that it's all done and he says ok follow me, we march off to the customs office to get Mr. TerminalGuy, then for some reason we back out into the hall, and then the stairway, and then halfway up the stairs, where they have this long discussion about how much I need to pay, but they never actually tell me an amount. I tell them I have very little money on me anyway. And they offer to take me to an ATM, plus I need to get fuel too because the bike is empty. Sure, why not. I thought it would be a taxi, but no, Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy gets hold of a bike, a 180cc thing and he can barely get his feet on the ground while on it. I ask him if he's ok to ride it, which he says yes, of course. I jump on the back, and then we set off on a very jerky wobbly ride to the airport ATM. I note that I'll need a change of underwear.

He drops me off at one ATM and I try to get 10000r out, but this one won't let me get it the money out. I turn around and tell him I can't get that much out, then I ask, "how much do I actually need to get out?". Now it's at this point he stops speaking English. We rope in a few other people and he has these long discussions trying to explain why it's 10000r to people, and then they all tell me that the total cost may not be 10000r, but that I could use the extra money for fuel or food or anything. I keep trying to ask what is the actual amount in fees that I need to pay, but nope, keeps coming back to 10000r. I tell my translater that I know he's ripping me off, but before it was 8000, now it's 10000, and I just want to know the actual amount to get the bike out of customs because I may already have that in my wallet. I know he has the documentation in his pocket and I say can I see it, but he pretends it's not there of course. So now he's annoyed with me and no longer saying anything in English. We go up to the next ATM, which works, I get 10000r out which I do plan on using for food, and then hide a lot of it in various pockets.

We then set off on the bike again, him almost falling over with me on the back, I think we're going to get petrol, but nope, we end up back at the cargo terminal. We to back inside and try and find Mr. TerminalGuy. And I start asking, where are all the reciepts for this, there's some discussion and then they hand them all over. 1795worth, just like I thought.

Now the problem is they're holding on to the bit of paper that lets me get the bike out of the customs lot, plus, I still need fuel.

We end up outside where there's no one in earshot again. I then said, that I know they are ripping me off, and I'd gladly pay double for their help, but not 8000. Looooooooonnngggg nepali discussion, Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy is now wearing his cranky pants and almost jumping up and down. I'm laughing at it all anyway. Eventually Mr. TerminalGuy counters with 7500. I laugh again and say no, How about 4000 (they have helped after all). More crankypants, more discussion, more laughing. 7000 from them. At that point I give up because they're being jerks from jerktown and they still have the paper I need to get out. I get the 7000 out of my wallet and you should have seen Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy grab for it! I did actually comment to Mr. TerminalGuy about Mr. JumpInTaxiGuys grabbing for the money.

Then I say, I still don't have fuel. So Mr. TerminalGuy asks Mr. JumpInTaxiGuy. No wait. You know what, I'm changing their names. Jerk1 is JumpInTaxiGuy, Jerk2 is TerminalGuy. So Jerk2 asks Jerk1 why I still didn't have fuel cause that was one of the things we were meant to get. More nepali discussion, but then eventually I'm on the back of the bike with Jerk1 and we go to the petrol station. Jerk1 says to give him 500r, I say no, the pump is still counting. Fuel comes to 370r for 3 litres, and then Jerk1 goes for my change and keeps it! It's amazing that he's being like this right in front of me. I wish I got a photo of him so I could plaster his name all over the place for being a jerk, and I wish there were jerk police to report these guys to. What jerks.

Back on the bike to the cargo terminal with my expensive fuel, Jerk1 gets stopped at the gate, some angry words from one of the gate guards to Jerk1. I'm allowed in anyway so I go in, no idea if Jerk1 got in, never saw him again. I only see Jerk2 as he hands my documents back and gives me the ticket out.

Inside I put the fuel into my bike, wheel it outside, put my motorbike gear on, all while a crowd of nepalis are following. I start the bike (it works!) and then one of the guys that was standing around my bike the whole time says "porter charge" (jerk3). I pretend not to understand this, and just keep putting my gear on and then ride to freedom!

But I'm stopped slightly before the gate, oh right, ticket out. They check it but it takes a little while, and in this time Jerk3 has caught up and says "porter charge" again. This time the ticket checking guy is there (niceguy1) and he translates for me, but is laughing because he knows they're being jerks. But they're persistant jerks. I'm not sure if Jerk1 or Jerk2 were going to pay them. So I get some money out, 85r, and try to hand it to them, but they didn't want to take it! I said "if you don't want it I'm going!", and niceguy1 is there telling me to go anyway.

Six hours after leaving the guesthouse I'm back into the freedom of crazy traffic that is Nepal. All up it was 7500r to get my bike out which is about $90. All this from asking directions. What jerks.

Here's some calming pictures of Kathmandu from the top of the guesthouse:

Looking north, away from Thamel.

Looking East.

Looking Northwest.

Prayer flags.

Nighttime north.

Monkey temple all lit up in the distance.

My bike goes to Nepal!

I've been dealing with Trans Air Cargo to air-freight my bike into Nepal. I had been dealing with Kittima which is who everyone else mentions on Horizons Unlimited. I started the process just before I entered Thailand. I crossed the border on the 1st, had the required documentation to her by the 3rd, and by the 9th it was all crated up and booked on a flight for the 12th. The only delay after I had all the documentation together was the dangerous goods certificate, but that only took a couple of days and then I got notice from Kittima that I should be at Trans Air Cargo on the 8th at 10am with the bike.

So on the morning of the 8th, I realised I didn't know where to go exactly. So I checked their website to see if I could figure out where, and spotted the head office address in the middle of Bangkok, a main warehouse and a customs warehouse near the airport, and two other office addresses. I tried calling Kittima a number of times that morning to verify where exactly I should go but she would not answer. I called Trans Air Cargo but no one wanted to commit to an address without Kittima being there. I thought this may delay my shipment because it would be a dangerous goods inspection like in Australia when they must be present to check the bike over before shipping. If I missed this appointment I figured I may have to hang around for a week for another appointment to be booked. 

As it as getting closer to 10am I just decided I should just get to the warehouse address, that's the most reasonable destination to go to, but I miss-underestimated how hard it would be to set my GPS to navigate me there. After trying to find the location via eyeing similar locations in Google maps, and then matching the streets in the GPS I eventually found the warehouse location. 

Just as it hit 10am Kittima arrived at work and responded to an email and gave me the head office address in the center of Bangkok. I called back quickly and asked what happens if I miss 10am, which I already had, and she said it's OK, just come in at 3pm. I thought that was curious... But I asked where exactly where I was going, and she said she would send a map. The phone coverage at the hotel here is terrible too so it was hard to understand what she was saying, she probably couldn't understand my broken Australian English either. Through the conversation I'm trying to verify if i'm going to the warehouse, and she said yes. So I get my gear together and got ready to head out towards the airport. 

After a few minutes I get the email on my phone and I decided to check it, just in case. I find a map and directions to the head office address in the middle of the city. Now this made me wonder, I called Kittima back and asked why she sent a map to the office. Well it turns out they have a packing facility there and that's where I should be going...

Right. I headed there, an hour through Bangkok traffic. It's not to bad, it's like driving in Melbourne, maybe like it was before the police started cracking down on all the lane-splitting by motorbikes. It has been nine months since I was there though, I could have forgotten entirely!

Finally I get to the office location...

Taking the freight elevator up to the second floor.

After I get to the packing floor they ask if I want to start disassembling the bike now or tomorrow. I said now is OK and get to it. I took the panniers off, the front wheel, front mudguard, the mirrors, my extra PVC tubes, and loosened the bark busters. Fairly minimal disassembly.

Here is Mr Ano measuring for the crate, and his assistant draining their free fuel.

After the battery was taped up and the fuel gone it was all done.

This is everything.

There was still some space left in one of the panniers after the yellow tool box was out. I had some other gear back at the hotel that I was going to put in there. I knew I'd be paying the volume rate as the bike is quite light compared to the space it takes up. I went back the hotel and packed up anything I wouldn't need in Nepal for a few days so I could ship that for "free" too.

Once I got back to Trans Air Cargo the next day (right near one of the BTS stations too) this is how I found my bike:

Well... I won't be putting anything else in that pannier.

I had my blue bag filled with riding gear and other items so I just jammed that in the corner of the crate to go with it. It was dark in the box too, so who knows if they actually packed everything. I guess I'll find out in Nepal.

Here is my crate! If they knew how expensive they were they wouldn't fill games with them.

So all that was left was to pick up my Carnet that had been sent to customs and to pay!

The crate is 100x200x114 but the bike could have been packed down a lot less. If I'd taken the rear wheel off and handlebars too, and then put everything that's not a bike into a second crate I wouldn't be shipping so much air. But there's only so many things that are convenient to take apart and then put back together.

The actual shipping weight should have been somewhere around 200kg, but they charged by volume weight because it was higher and that worked out to 372.5kg

Costs were:
Thai Airways Freight charge = 29800
Handling = 3500
Transport = 1000 (truck to the airport)
Dangerous goods certificate = 700
Wooden case = 9000
Fork lift fee = 500

So that works out to just over $1300. Plus my $400something airfare to Nepal. I read up on some forums before doing this and the only charge I could have really bargained for was the crate cost but that was all done over the phone and I didn't know until I had the final cost in front of me. That might have only saved $150 though. 

And then there's the airfare. Nepal air have a cheaper flight on Mondays and Fridays but I'm going on Tuesday, and for $100 less than the Thai Air flight you can get 1 or 2 stop flight through India with Jet Airways but it takes about 12 hours and I'd possibly need a transit visa. 

But anyway. For similar costs to the Darwin-Singapore freight I'm doing the same Bangkok to Nepal! I think the next shipment will have to be sea-freight though (India to Turkey perhaps?). Just depends on how much "Phase 3: South Asia" costs.