
What it’s like remote working in Nepal - williswee
https://www.techinasia.com/talk/remote-work-nepal-2017
======
aatishnn
> Electricity is now 24 hours

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/](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.

~~~
rshm
Scandal few months back about electricity.
[http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/corruption-in-
electric...](http://nepalitimes.com/article/nation/corruption-in-electricity-
industry-of-Nepal,3408)

i would look into Ubiquiti as well for network.

------
mixmastamyk
Awesome. I was in Nepal in '96 for a study abroad trip and had a wonderful
time. Lived for months in Ktm, Pokara, and up along the Kali Gandaki river.
Made a flight alongside Everest. Studied anthropology and geography/geology.

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).

------
csswizardry
I had quite an insightful conversation with a Nepalese developer on Twitter
recently:
[https://twitter.com/csswizardry/status/832903820539748352](https://twitter.com/csswizardry/status/832903820539748352)

------
royalghost
It is great to see the discussion going on regarding working remotely from
Nepal. I think Nepal has a great potential of attracting nomad techie from
around the world if there is sufficient infrastructure such as electricity,
good roads and enough legal provision. It is good that the country is heading
to that direction.

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...](https://www.techinasia.com/merocampus-online-marketplace-
college-admissions) living in Nepal at my parents home.

------
guessmyname
The Philippines — specially Palawan — is another good destination for remote
work. A co-worker lives in Davao and have met people in Manila that do as much
(or more) work than me with their Internet speed which is not at US levels but
is good enough for what most nomad developers do. Be sure to get a local SIM
card and a 4-8GB plan just in case so you can share it with your computer.

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.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Why not boracay then? Palawan seems a bit far from everything, getting away
would be difficult (transit up through Manila to get anywhere).

------
aagat
> Mobile internet coverage is awesome.

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

------
molsongolden
Great news about the electricity.

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.

------
StuartJLans
Thanks for the feedback all. I wrote this piece as I have been going to Nepal
for the past 7 years and try to get back there every year. Every country has
it's problems and I am there mainly to catch up with some dear friends who I
will continue to be in touch with for life. I have always had positive
experiences in the country so like to share it with others. Of course I don't
write about the days I spend on the toilet or sick, who wants to read that
stuff. Note I did say in the article though that this was the first trip out
of 7 that I didn't get sick!

------
anticodon
What a coincidence! I'm reading this at the Delhi airport waiting for my
flight to Kathmandu. Didn't understand the part about visa though: article
says that you can live all year in Chiang Mai. Maybe it's true for USA
citizens but for everyone else it's 1-2 months only.

~~~
mthoms
People just do "border runs" every two months to renew. Just leave for a
couple hours and the 2 month limit resets itself.

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.

------
ensiferum
It's also a total dump. Very disorganized 3rd world country. Thailand in
contrast is an order of magnitude more developed, especially Bangkok.

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".

~~~
pjmlp
Thanks for the colonialist attitude!

Those countries won't get better if we don't help them.

~~~
ensiferum
In general Nepal and other similar 3rd world countries won't get better until
the people over there make it so.

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?

~~~
pm90
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you have good
intentions at heart but are somehow misled as to how societies work. I will
try to remedy that.

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...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_democracy_movement_in_Nepal)

~~~
ensiferum
Well talk again once you've actually been to the main bus terminal in
Kathmandu.

~~~
pm90
I will but only after you've actually been to the ghettos of inner city
Detroit, Houston and South Side Chicago :).

------
deerpig
A number of posts like this seem to pop up every year. You can divide Western
people staying out here into three broad groups, the expats, the NGOs and the
tourists. Most expats are out here for decades or forever because there is
something wrong with them and they don't fit in to the country they grew up
in. Expats range from complete nut cases, to cranky old white racist assholes
with too much money and the belief that they can treat everyone like dirt
because they have money. Then you get people who are really dysfunctional and
should be in more structured environment where they are at least looked after.
And here and there you find people who acually make it their home. But most
cultures out here don't have the concept of naturalized citizens. You can live
here for 50 years and perhaps even have a passport, speak the language
fluently and have a successful business but you'll always be gwailo, gaigin,
farlang, barrong -- a white guy (and yes, most expats are men).

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.

~~~
StuartJLans
Your comment is quite frankly ridiculous to tar everyone with the same brush
when you have no idea about my background or my purposes for visiting the
country. I am not there simply to take take take.

\- 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](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.

------
mustafabisic1
Would love to go there one day. Nice arguments :D

