US CITIZEN(KAILASH YATRA) POOR SERVICE BY MAX HOLIDAY+PARTNERS:
My expectations were not met particularly due to the poor coordination/communication and bad service. I flew from Hong Kong to Kathmandu on 8/18. Hotel the company was offering was not nice so I decided to book my own hotel for the week at the Marriott. I met by Lobsang Ghamtso – Sherpa, He was rushed, frazzled and made me feel anxious as he grabbed by passport and ran off. This is not proper behaviour without giving proper guidance and flow.
Few days later, he came back and sat with me. Not giving me information on my visa or the whereabouts of my passport. He insisted that I use his duffle bag and backpack even though requirement sheet clearly states that I should purchase and bring my own, which I did from the US(waste of money). He also offered a helicopter ride to border and asked me to pay him US dollars, which I did as I did not want to do tough drive to Timure. After me and another US national – Tulsi arrived to the airport, Lobsang said flight is cancelled and we would have to take the jeep to the border because the bus left. He never informed me or to the other lady that the funds from the helicopter would be in exchange for the jeep ride. This is fraud and misleading.
We arrived to Timure after 7-8 hours and delays due to traffic and tough road conditions. We met the group who we would be joining and there was no formal introduction and frankly rude behavior on part of the group.
The next morning, we left for the border crossing. Our group arrived first and the Tibet tour guide did not show up till much later. Then Tibet guide forgot required army paperwork and we waited many hours. From 7am to almost 4pm. We checked into hotel in Kerung and then were told the Tibet guide only booked hotel for 1 night, not 2. We had to check out and go to another hotel next morning where we are waiting hours.
Next we drove to Saga and then Lake Manasarovar. All this time the group we joined was playing music in different language and loud screaming. This is not fair to a person that doesn’t know the language and simply joined a group. It was not a nice experience to sit through for hours. We stayed in a poor condition guest house after the kora of the lake. Next day was the pooja. Except we were told by the group that me, Tulsi and another white male could not join. How insulting and degrading! Why did we stay in the horrible condition guest house the night prior if we were not doing a pooja? I asked guide the night prior to drive me to the hotel in Darschen and they refused. We reached Darchen and was told that we could not bring our large duffle bag. Why pay for pony, bag handler etc?
I reached Dirapuk by walking and the pony person nor the bag helper knew where to go. They took me to the main town many Klm away, after which I learned that the guest house was far. This is poor coordination. Next morning, no electricity. No proper way to use the toilet. I felt sick and noted a high fever. I decided that will have to finish my Kora on pony and take car back on the final leg. I reached the meeting point but there was no car there. I was lied to the pricing for the car.
Finally, due to all of the chain of events, I asked them to arrange car for me to go to Nepal. Seeing my desperation and noting I am a foreigner I had to give 8500 Yuan. After long drive, the Chinese permit office was closed till 3:30pm. After crossing the border, I was told by Nepal personnel Sangay that no helicopter is available and that I would have to use jeep 10+ hrs more. This was terrible experience as I was in car for more than 17 hours. I developed constipation piles and continues fever/cough. Then I was told I would have to pay additional 150 USD for jeep from Timure to Kathmandu, once I reached hotel in Kathmandu the driver insisted I pay 200$. This is simply ridiculous. All trip, Lobsang was ignoring me. Simply bad experience all around.