Our trip to Nepal was very good - the itournepal.com drivers and guides were all as promised. No hitches at all with the trip.
Our hotel in Thamel was indeed pretty spartan (the Holy Himalaya), but it was functional and we loved being able to walk to all sorts of nearby cafes, restaurants, and shops.
A few things I learned that I wasn't expecting:
- The charge to use an ATM in Nepal is very steep - usually 4 or 5 percent even if you withdraw the maximum amount allowed by the ATM. And a lot of ATM's flat out don't work, even if they claim to be on multiple networks that your own ATM card is on. However, the pleasant surprise is that Thamel moneychangers only take about a 2 percent vig vs. the interbank rate. This makes it one of the few places in the world where the standard advice to use ATM's and avoid moneychangers at all costs doesn't hold. Bring your cash.
- Speaking of cash, USD and EUR are easily changed anywhere. But CAD is not - I had a few moneychangers reject my CAD 20's, even though they have CAD rates posted outside their shops. They also rejected one of my "old" US $10's, so I'm wondering if there are multiple designs to the Canadian $20 note out there. (Mine were light green but very new, making me wonder if they are more familiar with an older design?)
- SIM cards and per-minute international rates were so cheap that it's hardly worth looking for a strong Wifi signal (which you probably won't find) to use Skype. Have an extra passport photo handy - they need it to sell you a SIM. We had reliable service everywhere in Kathmandu and even on our Chisopani/Nagarkot trek.
- You may need to bring your own towels, toiletries, and toilet paper if you're staying in teahouses. We always carry backup soap, shampoo, etc. but the towel/TP thing caught us by surprise. Granted, we only did a short 2-night trek so maybe the bigger, longer treks make this clearer in advance. But it's a question you might want to ask if you're planning a trek. Note that "teahouse" simply means "extremely barebones lodging in a trekking area." Ours in Chisopani had limited running water and, like much of Nepal, limited electricity. We did drink plenty of tea of course, but the lodges aren't really about the tea...they're just places for trekkers to crash for the night.