Essential to bring
Clothes
a) You will (most likely) be hand washing and line drying your clothes, so don’t bring heavy clothing. For example, one pair of jeans you might enjoy having but many pairs of jeans will become a pain. Bring light cotton pants for the summer. T-shirt and light full shirt (cotton or polyester) to cover your arms or protect from the heat of the sun.
b) Bring cotton/poly blends for t-shirts, collared shirts etc as they don’t wrinkle as much, wring out easier, and dry faster.
c) Women – In respect to the culture, please do not wear strappy tank tops, shorts, short skirts, and clothing made of sheer material. You’ll be fine wearing pants most of the time. Anything below the knee is acceptable, for example, skirts and capri pants. Sleeveless tops are fine.
- Light rain jacket if in raining/wet season (weather is unpredictable)
- Water bottle
- A roll of toilet paper- You can buy this at the grocery store here.
- Day backpack
- Alcohol based hand sanitizer/ wet wipes
- Sleeping Bag- the min degree.
- Flash light– LED headlamps are worth their weight in gold!
- First aid supplies
- Pocket Knife
- Sunscreen/Powder Drinks (Mixes) good to have as it can be very hot weather in summer/dry seasons.
- Stethoscope, pen torch, pens, notebook
Shoes
a) You will be walking on lots of unpaved roads (ie: comfortable runners/ shoes/ working shoes is fine).
b) You will be removing your shoes often (every time you enter a home).
c) Athletic shoes are a must and sandals with a thick or hard sole will be appreciated in hot weather.
Money
a) Bring some cash with you that you can exchange for rupees to last you for a few days until you’ve sorted out an easy way to get money. You need to pay for your visa in foreign currency at the airport when you arrive in Nepal.
b) Bring a couple ways to get cash. ATM card, credit card, traveler’s checks.
Also Bring:
- Camera
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen
- Insect Repellent
- Copies of passport and other important documents
- Passport Photos: You will need at least four.
Would be nice to have:
- Tablet /mini laptop – luxury item, but great to have. There is WIFI in Volunteer HQ. If you are going to be keeping a blog or doing a lot of emailing or typing for your project then it is probably worth it. Don’t bring your laptop if you want it to stay pristine. It will get dirty and things might happen to it.
- Cell Phone – you can buy a pretty cheap SIM card and minutes to use while you are here.
- Rechargeable batteries and the charger/ power charger back up.
- A good book to read – There are some great book stores in the main city area, but it might be a few days before you get to one. You can also trade in books at the many bookstores
- Ear plugs for times when you need to catch some shut eye, when either the streets are loud or your host family is still awake. Also, Nepal “wakes up” much earlier in the morning than many Western places.
- Night time eye mask
