A manual for the post office in Nepal

After my recent adventures at the post office of Kathmandu, I thought it would be worth to write a manual about how to send a package from here.

1. Well, the first challenge is to find a post office itself. While offices of different couriers like DHL, TNT and Fedex can be found at almost every corner, it turned out, that there is just one main post office in Kathmandu, where it’s possible to send a package, which is called General Post Office and situated at Sundhara. At least, this was the first information I got. Later I got to know that parcels can be only sent from the Foreign Post Office that can be also found at Sundhara, just in a different building.
2. The second challenge is to find the office actually open. After three days of visiting the post office and finding it closed – once because of bank holiday, other day just because it was Friday, then it was too late... – finally I got to know that although the post office itself is supposed to be open usually from 10am to 5pm on most days, parcels can be only sent between 10am to 2pm, which is not too easy to manage with your working hours...
3. The next step: keep in mind that the opening hours here should be considered in Nepali time – the fact that the office is supposed to be open at 10am doesn’t mean that you will actually find open gates then... Maybe around 10:30..:)
4. Once you found the post office open, count on spending around one hour there. Well, this part is going to be again a real adventure. :) Getting there, the post office workers remembered me from the previous days when I was trying to send my package with no success, so they greeted me warmly, even remembering that I wanted to send a package to Hungary. First I got a form to fill out – of course in Nepali, but fortunately I got an English manual next to it, too. For this be prepared, that you have to declare the content of your package that is going to be checked, too and you will even need your passport and the expirery of your visa to present. When you are done with this, you have to go to the “packing person”, who, even though your package is already packed, will make a white cotton cover for your parcel and sew it around it. And the best part is just coming after this: red wax is going to be melted over some candles and stamped on the sealing of the package, just to make it extra safe – really, just like in Harry Potter! :) When you are also done with that, there’s still another form to fill out and maybe, just like me, you will still have to wait again a bit for the “boss” to arrive who might be there only an hour after the official opening hour...

But don’t worry, if you follow these steps, you will have a real experience of Nepali time and administration, you can get a chance to have a chat with fellow foreigners waiting for the office to open and you will feel extremely successful and satisfied after knowing that your package is already on its way to the destination!  (hopefully :P)