First, I want to
assure you that this information is regarding a legitimate offer. I am hoping
to give help to those who have no chance to elevate their lifestyle in the US
and who struggle with medical, food and heating in the winter. When retirement
catches you with deflated real estate investment and a deflated portfolio due
to the financial crisis of 2008 and few job opportunities for someone in your
age bracket it’s time to rethink your options. Is staying where you are really
a good option?
One thing that became
clear to me by living several years in Florida is that winter is the thing that
causes old age to creep up on us. My plumber while I lived in Florida was 92
years old. I lived in a senior mobile home golf community and several of the
residents there had more energy than I did even though they were decades older.
So my secret to a long life is to live in a climate where you can stay busy all
year long. Hibernating may work for bears but people just get older and less
healthy with each spring. We have to keep moving or our bodies loose stamina.
When it became clear
that I needed an entire building due to my Nepali landlord keeping a fresh
breeze rolling through the building all winter long, I found a beautiful guest
house that was still under construction. Although I kept saying, “No, not
Changunarayan,” when I saw it and the amazing location I had to take it. So, I am
now the proud owner of a 14 room guest house. The possibilities are really
exciting. Why ‘not Changu?’ It’s a long bus ride from Kathmandu and there has
been an issue with water. Pipes have been laid and bridges are under
construction that will bring Kathmandu closer. That left a lovely guest house
in an amazing location, so how could I say ‘no’ to that?
I only have 6 rooms
for guests. The rest is for the restaurant, living room areas, etc. No one can
be expected to sit in their room all day. That means room for sitting around,
room for socializing and room for making a guest house look and feel more like
a home. I am not looking to make an ‘old folks home,’ but an expat home for
mature people who want to enjoy life and stay active.
But $500 a month just
seems a bit too low. People are a bit skeptical of just what they are getting
themselves into. Even Thailand is well over $1,000 a month, according to many
sources. Truthfully, if you were to come here on your own you would need to
have a lot less activities, do more of your household work yourself and pay a
big chunk in transportation. You would need at least $5,000 for furniture, kitchenware,
inverter, car and driver (or take the local bus). Then there is the learning
curve. People end up in Kathmandu because the facilities are all there. Hospitals,
government agencies and most items you would want to buy are all easier to find
in Kathmandu. But the pollution can be difficult to deal with. Everyone wears
masks to combat it, but there are still the dogs, horns, beggars and heat.
My rent here in
Changunarayan is the same as what I paid each month when I lived in the mobile
home community in Florida, but instead of a tiny, old trailer I have an entire
building! Instead of living with a bunch of older people as neighbors from a
similar culture I get to have people from all over the world coming through. I
got to rewrite myself and live a much better lifestyle.
Guest services is the
next biggest expense, but wages are so low here, especially if room and board
is provided, that I have 2-3 staff working for me at all times. It’s really
nice to have ‘people.’ Surprisingly, room, food and $10 per week is a living
wage here, so that really isn’t very much overhead.
Food is another
expense, but even when vegetables are out of season they are seldom over $1.25
a kg. (about $.60 per pound). We get some lovely, picked-the-same-day
vegetables and many are even organic. None of it is GMO. Some food is almost as
expensive as in the US, such as pasta ($1.30-500 grams) butter ($4 per kg.),
olive oil ($10 per 500 ml.). This is because local people do not include things
like butter and olive oil in their diets, so these items are often imported.
Many of the
electronics are quite expensive and a laptop can cost as much or more as in the
West, due to the import tariff. So my diet, vegetarian only, costs me less than
$3 a day, maybe $100-150 per month. You probably won’t want to eat meat here.
They kill it and cook it without curing it, so it’s tough as nails. There is
also a problem with refrigeration due to electric shortages, so you won’t want
to eat too much meat. Although anyone can get stomach bacteria problems, it
seems to me that meat eaters have more problems and have a more difficult time
recovering.
Transportation is
another issue. I will have a car and driver, costing between $300-500 per
month. My plan is to convert a car to LPG, which will make it very inexpensive to
drive. Regardless, we will have the car taking everyone together to Kathmandu
whenever anyone wants to go. I think it will be that the car will leave at 10
am and return at 3 pm to avoid the worst of the traffic. Evening meetings and
events will be available whenever anyone wants to go. Of course if you’d like
to go to Chitwan or Pokhara you would need to pay unless it’s a group
adventure. We will be doing things like going to Pokhara or Chitwan for a week
at a time.
Electricity runs
about $5 per month, water is free during the monsoon, but can cost $50 during
the dry season; drinking water will cost about $1 per day for everyone. The
home phone is only $3 per month and internet with cable TV costs around $20. Although
we have horrendous power cuts in the winter, we seldom run out of electricity. The
only reason we do run out is because sometimes it just doesn’t come back on. We
have several rechargeable lamps to use at such times. Cooking fuel will cost
around $15 per month.
Not that disease like
malaria is a problem, but we have screens on the windows, mosquito nets and
mosquito zapper paddles. I also make sure each room has a bathrobe and shower
shoes to make showering and dressing easier. The bathroom floors get very slippery
and cold, so you will want to put a robe on and dress in your room. Yes, each
room has an attached bath, so you could even walk around naked.
As you can see by the
expenses listed here, there is no need to cut corners. There is plenty of room
for a lot of miscellaneous expenses and still some profit. I’d love to just be
able to live free so I could save my retirement income to do projects to help
Nepal. So, if you are retired and living on a small income and would like to
explore the possibility of coming to Nepal for an extended stay please contact
me by email: FrugalTravelsNepal@gmail.com
