So I was intrigued to see a recent NYT article about the top retirement countries, where Nepal was not even mentioned. Mexico, Uruguay and Panama were highlighted, but nothing about Nepal. The pros and cons of the listed countries had mainly to do with things like the cost of living, distance from the US, and availability of consumables found in shopping malls.
Perhaps my vision of retirement is not mainstream, but the more distance between myself and LA, the better. After all, one just has to open a web browser, and the good bits are all right there anyway. As far as shopping goes, well, I visited the new Bhatbateni on Ring Road last week, and I could have been at Walmart or Tesco and would not have noticed the difference. Even the prices seem the same.
From a cost of living perspective, I can see one drawback for potential retirees coming to Nepal: the price of land and new constructions. Heck, you can get a small palace in America for the price of 1 ropini overlooking the Bagmati here. But I’m sure this has more to do with the crazy Nepali economy then anything else, where I hear that land investment garners 30% returns each and every year, while in America, returns are now in the negative digits.
But here things like rent and utilities are raised in pennies and not hundreds of dollars, and taxes are at a flat and even rate, so I see Nepal as a bargain for those thinking of spending their golden years here. Healthcare services (from past experience), is excellent in the city and costs are affordable – and I suspect will remain so as long as the American-style insurance scam remains absent.
But my evaluation of Nepal’s retirement potential comes from walking my dog. The other day I was walking the galli behind St Mary’s Assumption Church, and I could swear I was in a small village in France, only the folks were speaking a different language, and the dogs looked a bit leaner. But the bricked path, the flowers overgrowing thatched roofs mixed with new construction, and the overall lifestyle seemed identical, and ideal...
Kids walking home from school hand in hand, small cold stores selling fresh curd and eggs, corner markets filled with baskets of vegetables, butchers displaying slabs of meat on open tables, and mountains of oranges on ancient bike carts. Old men drinking tea on wooden benches in the sun, rows of women kneeling over the dharas washing, and white sheets flapping in the breeze from rope and poles. Chickens and puppies on the curb, and a hardware store specializing in homemade brooms were just a few of the major attractions along the way.
My evaluation of Nepal’s retirement potential comes from walking my dog. The other day I was walking the galli behind St Mary’s Assumption Church, and I could swear I was in a small village in France.
There was absolutely nothing stressful going on, just village folk getting on with village business, while children studied on rooftops and moms swept the walk. And for me, looking for a bit of garden pipe and wall putty was my only concern. I thought this was what a retirement heaven should be like, and not at all like the retirement hells I’ve seen in the USA, that come complete with handicap toilets, parking, and doorways.
Once home, there was a cup of milk tea waiting, sipped while watching an owl sleep on the sill as marmots scurried around a spinach patch - with a pair of hawks soaring above it all, enjoying the winter breeze just as much as I was. After all, one can tell that our short 60 days of winter is just about over, and that warmer mornings are just around the corner.
I have to thank the gods that my days of racing from home to office and back again in an unending blur of stress-related incidents is finally over, and that I have found a small spot on the planet not ultra modernized beyond recognition. In my later years, I will be able to enjoy life as those did in the early years of civil society, before there was the splitting of the atom and everything else along with it.
Herojig is quirky kinda expat happily retired in the Kathmandu valley with Nepali family, friends and a very large dog – and thanks the gods that a pair of owls live next door
herojig@gmail.com
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