Abhishek Deshpande

Category: Travel

  • Card says “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”

    What brought it to my attention:
    Last month I was about to travel to Nepal, for WordCamp Pokhara. I was going through a couple of articles on the web about travel in Nepal. Found out there is conversion charge applicable on cash Withdrawl from ATM in Nepal. The cost was somewhat around 300 – 500 Rs per Card Swipe Transaction.

    In India, we are getting used to with Paying even 100 Rs. By Card for Coffee. So if I have to Buy Coffee and pay by card in Nepal, it would become a 400-600 Bucks coffee. So Paying in cash is the only Open Option. So I checked for Nepali Currency, here’s what happened:

    1. Forex Exchange:
    None of the FOREX Operators in India had Nepali Currency available. All Operators said Indian Currency Works in Nepal.

    2. State Bank of India has Branches in Nepal
    There’s Nepal SBI, Branch of State bank of India, and I do have an SBI Card. But Article has special Note about, Check with your branch if your card is valid in Nepal or not. So I just visited my Home Branch and got with the Scenario titled.

    Note: for those who have no idea about SBI, It is a government-owned Bank in India, where you have to treat SBI staff as Boss to get your things Done. You can google “Why SBI is painful” and learn about how bad things can go at SBI. Luckily My Home Branch has some sensible staff, except one Jerk on Helpdesk. Things go smoothly at SBI for me.

    At SBI, I Went to international banking Section. IB Lady Told me to check the back of Card. Usually, on back of Card where you find CVV Code, in Small fonts, it is mentioned whether your card is valid for the International transaction or not. So I just checked my All Cards, and each of them was having the same line. “Not Valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan.”. so she offered me a Form for Traveller Card – Kind a Prepaid Card, which I need to get activated from Nagpur’s Main SBI Branch on Kingsway.

    While heading to Kingsway, I Tweeted my Lovely Banks, Which reverted me after I reach Nepal, and Vodafone gave me no network so my query must be still pending in their systems.

    At Kingsway Branch, Lady told me to carry cash, as Traveller cards also have the Same line “Not valid in Nepal and Bhutan”.

    So Carrying Cash was the Only Option. But On 8th Nov 2016, Old 500 and 1000 Notes was removed from Indian Market. Thus People in Nepal are cautious about Indian High Denomination currency. So carrying Cash was not a Good Idea, Especially in 100 and Lower denomination as it was Trip by road. As for the last option, I paid things online and took a couple of variants 10,20,50,100,500 in my backpack.

    On Reaching Nepal
    The plan was to Exchange Indian Currency in Nepali Currency on Indian Border. But Co Passenger told me about Standard Conversion rule in Nepal. If you are buying a thing for Nepali Rs 160, then you have to pay INR 100 only. 1:1.6 is the standard Conversion ratio for Indian currency to Nepali Currency. So converting money would be creating two new issues mentioned below, so I skipped it.
    1. The Size of Bundle of Currency would increase as I was carrying high power one.
    2. I’ll be losing my money to pay a conversion fee. As Exchange is a Business, and they charge a percentage for conversion.

    People based near Border accepted New 500 and 2000 notes. But in Interior of Nepal, even in Kathmandu, People refused to take it. In City, I Paid with 10,20,50 denominations, very few stores accepted those, few didn’t. Indian 100 Rupees note is the widely accepted Indian Denomination in Nepal.

    So as I was low on 100 rs notes. I tried one of the Nabil Bank ATM near my hotel, Voila! My International Debit card was accepted, with Highlighted notice, that bank will add Fixed Cost NPR 500, to the transaction. For the first trial attempt, I withdrew NPR 2000, so bank added NPR 500 as Charges, so my card was billed NPR 2500, Indian equivalent was around INR 17XX which is far better than carrying a bundle of notes while travelling or trekking.

    Closure:
    If you are an Indian Traveling to Nepal or Bhutan and you just found your card is not valid for payment in foreign exchange in Nepal and Bhutan. Don’t Panic. My International Visa Card Worked in Nepal despite having a Not valid line on the back of it. Bank Charges might vary, but it’s not like you won’t get cash in these countries.

    Happy Traveling 🙂

  • November – My month of Travel is here

    From past few years, November has always become Month of travel for me. Most of the times it’s for work or family trips.

    November 2018 has many things and journeys in the bag. I will try my best to share my experiences in a blog post for almost every trip. Here’s My tentative Itinerary for November

    1. Kochi, Kerala – 1st Nov to 5th Nov
    I’ll be visiting Kochi, Kerala for WordCamp Kochi 2018, the Second WordCamp in Southern Part of India. Speaker Lineup is excellent, I’ll be on Happiness bar at WordCamp Kochi. If you have any queries regarding WordPress, Blogging, Websites feel free to drop by.

    2. Nagpur – 6th Nov to 11th Nov
    It’s Diwali time, This year we are celebrating Diwali at Nagpur. You are welcome for Diwali cha Faral 🙂

    3. Amravati – 12th Nov – 14th Nov
    My Cousin is getting married. I’ll be in Amravati City. I can quickly get some time for healthy discussions. If you are around Amravati, Ping me.

    4. Pokhara, Nepal – 20th Nov – 27th Nov
    It will be my first visit to Nepal. I’ll be speaking at WordCamp Pokhara 2018. I haven’t planned any itinerary in Nepal tour yet if you have any adventurous Ideas do let me know.

    5. Ahmedabad – 30th Nov – 3rd Dec
    Another WordCamp trip, WordCamp Ahmedabad is Last WordCamp of 2018 in India. I’ll remember my past two visits, Food in Ahmedabad is mesmerising, recommendations are welcome.

    If you are in any of the cities mentioned above on those dates, feel free to ping me.

  • My Travel Itinerary for WordCamp Europe 2018 in Belgrade, Serbia

    This year I’m making to WordCamp Europe which hosted in Belgrade City, Serbia. Here’s my Itinerary

    11 June – Reaching Serbia around afternoon. Planning to rest for the day. Staying at Bongo Hostel
    12 June – Downtown walking tour
    13 June – Riverside Bike tour  Or / And Underground Secrets of Belgrade
    14, 15, 16 June – WordCamp Europe
    17 June – Not Decided
    18 June – Tour to Five Wonders of Eastern Serbia ( Manasija monastery, Resava Cave, Veliki Buk waterfall, Krupaje river spring, Gornjak monastery)
    19 June – Return Journey

    If you are coming to WordCamp Europe, we can catch up in Belgrade before camp, In Camp or Post Camp.

    if have any adventure planned. would love know.

    Major Update: 

    I’m not making to WordCamp Europe, Due to Medical Issues at home. I look forward to see Serbia with your Eyes. Do share me the Photos.

  • I’m coming back to Udaipur

    Udaipur – city of lakes, one of the Peaceful places I found to live. Visited this lovely city last year for the first time. Obviously, WordCamp was the reason. Last year while leaving the city, I planned to come back soon. Here I’m making it. Right after one year again for another WordCamp in the City of Lakes Rajasthan.

    The first view of Lake Pichola, as my Autowala left me at Jagdish Mandir. and I’ve to walk towards Hostel,

    Morning view of Udai Kothi from Balcony takes you perfectly to travel mode.

    More photos from my last visit are Posted on Facebook, you can view them in Udaipur 2017 Album

    This post is for sole Collaboration purpose, if you find some spot I’m missing or I Must visit, do suggest in the comment or on Twitter.

    26th Jan 2018

      • 8.30 AM – Reaching Chittorgarh
      • 1 PM – Check in at Journey Hostel (its 2 hour of Road Journey from Chittorgarh to Udaipur)
      • Lunch at Natraj Dining Near Railway Station, Udaipur (They serve lovely Rajasthani Thali)
      • Sunset at Amrai or Gangaur Ghat Followed by Show at Bagore ki Haveli (I Missed this last year)
      • Late Evening – Unofficial Community Meetup at Sukhadia Circle (its actually Street Food Raid)

    27th Jan is completely for WordCamp Udaipur 2018

    28th Jan

    • Morning – Jagdish Temple / City Palace / Hathi Pole Market
    • Lunch – Krishna Daalbati
    • Evening – Sajjan Garh Monsoon Palace or Jag Mandir

    29th Jan

    • 9 AM – will head for Ahmedabad (will reach around 3, meeting some friends)
    • 5.30 PM – Train to Nagpur

    Please do share, what you think about this tentative Itinerary.

  • WordCamp Bhopal – WWWP5k And ViaLux

    This Weekend had many things happening around. WordCamp Bhopal and ViaLux Anomaly in Mumbai were on the same day 24th Sept 2016. I was supporting offline to my team in my Second Ingress Anomaly. The result is here Mumbai is Blue.

    screenshot_3

    For detail, here’s the Mumbai scorecard.

    WordCamp Bhopal was my first WordCamp in Central India. All camps those I attended were in West Part of India. (I missed Jabalpur and Delhi). Despite living in Nagpur(Center of India), I’ve never been to Bhopal. I hardly discover the Madhya Pradesh. WordCamp Bhopal and #WWWP5k was a great plan to explore the unknown city.

    Train Journey Begin around 1 PM. I reached Bhopal by 7.30 PM.  Mobile Networking took me some time to figure out that Vodafone Calling is working fine and Airtel’s Internet is working in Bhopal. It seems mobile network is some big-time issue in Capital of Madhya Pradesh.

    The initial plan for #wwwP5k walking in Lake Capital Bhopal was to complete Bhopal Religious mission and some Portal upgrades in Bhopal with @Maximus175. Due to some medical emergency, he was not available, so aborted the Mission, just upgraded portals. After upgrading Portals, I joined Milesweb Team at Lake Side Ashoka’s Thus the Urban Socialite at Bada Talab.

    Photo by Chinmay at Bada Talab

    Lovely Food at beautiful Location, We talked about city & community activities.

    Day 2 Bhopal.

    Day Started little late at 7.30, so we rushed toward the WC Venue.

    Skipping the Bheed Bhad Joined the WordPress India Community people for Chai Pani.

    The day was great filled with Talks From Puneet, Alex, Aditya, Rahul, Nirav, Swapnil, Amit, Saurabh.

    Rahul shared how his team solves the Vicious circle. Good to know how rtCamp managed it.

    Apart from talks, it was a great pleasure meeting people from SwiftIdeas, InkThemes, ThemeIsle. Various Conversation about themes, development strategies continued throughout the day.

    I was disappointed to know students at LNCT do not know that “Nagpur was Capital of Madhya Pradesh”. 🙁
    Nagpur has its charm. At the end of day Announcement from LNCT College was the Great. An official Meetup Place in Bhopal.

    Overall WCBhopal was a great day spent. Meanwhile, Amit and I were monitoring ViaLux Activities in Intel Map & Telegram. We enjoyed the winning moment.

    I started my return journey, with Chattisgarh Express at 7 PM with some Delhi University geology students visiting MP for Educational Tour. I was surprised to see their knowledge about wildlife. Conversion continued the late night. Reached Nagpur By 3 AM. This was the Time I started with my #WWWP5K Walk playing Ingress from Station to Famous Zero Mile Stone of India, so no photos of #WWWP5K Walk.

    Aditya Picked me up From Zero Mile, we had some next week planning on Jalebi Poha at Shankar Nagar and ended into Bed.

    I’m still exchanging thoughts with new connects from Bhopal, I look forward to meeting them in WordCamp Nashik

  • MotorCycle Trip – Nagpur to Pune

    I know I’m posting after decades, these are some of my life events need to be logged on my blog.

    15 June 2013, Morning 5.30 Alone I Started my journeys towards Pune, 800Km drive in one day was the Objective with no idea of upcoming hurdles. hardly I’ve crossed Butibori Industrial Estate, heavy rain washed me out, Luckily I’d packed my baggage nicely(usually i don’t). You can visualize what kind of heavy rain it was in Nagpur that day, same evening Cities prime area was flooded. Video here

    Intentionally I decided to use state highway as National Highways has heavy rush. Decision was not wrong but I underestimated the power of wind as Dhamangaon to Malegaon is fully open agricultural land. I couldn’t drive my Pulsor 150 above 50Km/hr.

    Here’s route i drove

    Nagpur to Pune Route

    There are lots of places to enjoy your journey.

    • Kelzhar – Lord Ganesh Temple on hill, first stop you can have on 40 Km from Nagpur.
    • Wardha Bypass Route – nice scenary at Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya (80Km From Nagpur)
    • Pulgaon – nothing much except ordnance factory & farms (couple more 30-40 km from wardha)
    • Dhamangaon – This town is known for railway station in this area, you can find nice Chai & kachori (20 Km from Pulgaon)
    • Karanja lad – religious old city, birth place of Nrusiha Saraswati, truely devine if you can catchup with Maha Prasad at Guru Mandir. Unfortunately I reached Karanja at 10.30 AM, Not good time for Lunch. (80Km from Dhamangaon). this town does make you feel you are back in Maratha Era.
    • Malegaon – more over industrial market place, refuel your engines 😛 (60 Km From Karanja Lad)
    • Mehkar – place with Famous Balaji Temple and Haunted Palace – Kanachani cha Mahal (not sure, but locals keep saying avoid that place). Also place has some British Construction to view. (60 Km from Malegaon)
    • Sindhkhed Raja – Home town of Jijau (JijaBai) – Mother of Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, fort and Monuments in this city are truely amazing and really well maintained. (40 Km from Mehkar)
    • Jalna – Big city you reach after Nagpur Crossing around 400+ km in greenery,

    Rest 300 km route is all national Highway passing through Aurangabad, Devgad, Pravara Sangam, Ahmednagar, Shirur, Ranjangaon.

    Over all it was Great experience Riding 800+ KM Alone in a Single Rainy day. Food at Dhabha’s & talks with Chaiwalas It refreshed me from my daily work schedule.