Originally shared on Facebook · January 2023 · 45 reactions, 19 comments
In October 2022, I packed a bag, left Bangkok, and moved to Nepal for three months. Not a holiday. Not a two-week trip with a return ticket booked in advance. Eighty-seven consecutive days living between Kathmandu and Pokhara, with no particular plan other than to see if this country I had first visited briefly in 2018 was as special as I remembered.
It was more special. Significantly more.
Why Nepal? Why Pokhara?
I am drawn to places that most people overlook. I went to Myanmar in 2010 when there were no ATMs and you had to carry cash like a drug dealer. I visited Angkor Wat in 2005 when you could still be alone in the temples at sunrise. I went to Bagan in 2012 when almost no tourists were there. Nepal in late 2022 had that same feeling: a country of extraordinary depth that had not yet been polished into a tourism product.
Pokhara specifically appealed to me because it sits at the gateway to the Annapurna range, and the quality of life there — the cost of living, the pace, the food, the mountain views, the walking culture — matches in a way that seems almost unfair. An apartment for $300 USD per month. Momos everywhere, cheap, and addictive. A city that wakes up slowly, does its thing, and goes to sleep without the noise and stimulation overload of Kathmandu.
The Mardi Himal Trek: One of the Most Beautiful Things I Have Done
During the extended stay, I completed the Mardi Himal trek — a route that climbs through rhododendron forests, past shepherd camps, and up to a high camp with uninterrupted views of the Annapurna massif, Machapuchare (Fishtail Mountain), and Dhaulagiri.
I had planned to do the Manaslu Circuit — one of the more demanding and remote circuits in Nepal — but contracted COVID two weeks before the start date. The Mardi Himal trek was the alternative, and I say this without any consolation: it was one of the most beautiful treks I have done in my life. The Manaslu will wait.
What makes Himalayan trekking different from everything else is the scale. You are walking through a landscape that makes you feel genuinely small in a way that is not threatening — it is clarifying. You understand, in a visceral way, that your problems are the correct size. Small. Manageable. The mountains are the big things.
Kathmandu: Temples, Chaos, and Old Stone
We split the 87 days between the two cities. Kathmandu is a different Nepal — denser, louder, more complex. But it has temples that stop you mid-sentence. Pashupatinath on the banks of the Bagmati River is one of the most significant Hindu pilgrimage sites in the world, and watching the cremation ceremonies there is a reminder that death is a public, communal, spiritual event in this part of the world — not the hidden, medicalized experience it is in the West.
Boudhanath Stupa sits like a great white eye watching the city. The Thamel neighborhood is chaotic and full of trekking shops and terrible tourist restaurants, but five minutes off the main drag and you are in medieval alleyways where nothing has changed in centuries. Durbar Square — the ancient royal palace complex — is earthquake-damaged but still standing, still breathing, still used.
Food: The Dal Bhat Power
Nepali food does not get the global attention it deserves. Dal bhat — lentil soup with rice, vegetables, pickle, and sometimes meat — is the national dish and it is one of the most nutritionally complete, deeply satisfying meals I have eaten anywhere. Trekkers joke about “dal bhat power, 24 hour” because it genuinely fuels long mountain days. On the trail, you can have unlimited refills.
Momos — Nepali dumplings, steamed or fried, with meat or vegetables — are everywhere in Pokhara and are, without question, one of the great street foods of Asia. At 150-200 rupees for a plate (about $1.50 USD), they are also a reminder that good food does not require an expensive restaurant.
The Cost of Living: What $300/Month Gets You
Let me give you the actual numbers, because numbers matter.
- Apartment in Pokhara: $300 USD/month (furnished, with views, WiFi included)
- Momos: 150–200 NPR per plate (~$1.20–1.50 USD)
- Dal bhat full meal: 200–350 NPR (~$1.50–2.70 USD)
- Coffee: 100–200 NPR in a lakeside café
- Mardi Himal trek (guide + permits): ~$200–300 USD for the full trek
- Local transport (taxi across Pokhara): 200–400 NPR
I am fully remote — ThaiLawOnline.com runs independently. The internet in Pokhara was reliable enough for legal work, client emails, and video calls. The time difference with Europe and North America works well from Nepal (UTC+5:45) — mornings in Nepal are evenings in Europe, which suits client communication.
Why Nepal Works as a Remote Work Destination
The digital nomad conversation in 2022–2023 was dominated by Bali, Chiang Mai, Lisbon, and Medellín. Nepal was almost never mentioned, which is exactly why it interested me.
What you get in Nepal that you do not get in most digital nomad hotspots: genuine immersion. There is no “digital nomad bubble” in Pokhara the way there is in Canggu. You are simply living in a Nepali city where the mountains happen to be visible from your kitchen window and the cost of living is among the lowest in Asia for the quality of life offered.
The Nepali people are warm without being servile, helpful without being intrusive. They have a self-possession and dignity that comes, I think, from living in a country that was never colonised. That is rare in this part of the world, and you feel it in the interactions.
Would I Go Back?
I have been to Nepal twice. The first trip in July 2018 was six days and 526 photographs. The second trip in late 2022 was 87 days and 1,224 photographs. The data answers the question.
Pokhara is a special place. I still think about it the way you think about a place where something important happened — not a dramatic event, but a quieter kind of shift. The kind where you return home and realise that your definition of “enough” has been permanently recalibrated.
If you are considering Nepal as a travel destination, a trekking base, or a remote work experiment: go. The October-to-January window is ideal — post-monsoon clarity, crisp air, peak trekking conditions. Fly into Kathmandu, spend a few days, then take the domestic flight or overland journey to Pokhara.
The Himalayas will do the rest.
Sebastien H. Brousseau is a Canadian lawyer based in Cha-Am, Thailand, and founder of ThaiLawOnline.com. He has been travelling independently in Asia since 2002 and lived in Nepal for 87 consecutive days in 2022–2023.
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