+1

We were the Americans that Brian and Tanja ran into in KTM and we ultimately chose to go with Eagle Eyes Exports because we didn't care for Suraj. At our first meeting with Suraj we mentioned that we had also spoken to Jeewan and Suraj immediately launched into telling us that Jeewan was a liar and could not be trusted. He then would not take "No" for an answer and repeatedly visited our guesthouse to try get our business. And I also think that the "I've traveled more than you" shit was a douche move. Tanja documented the attempt to overcharge them and Suraj's hidden fee on the air waybill. None of that has anything to do with how many times they've shipped their bikes, it has to do with Suraj's willingness to take advantage of his customers.

Colin

Emailed Eagle Eye Exp, Eagle Exp, New World Link Exp and Tai Cargo.

The prices which are set (in Nepali Ruppies):
Dangerous Goods Fee = Npr8000
Airway Bill Fee = Npr200
Price (either gross or by volume) less than 500kg = Npr104.45/Kg
Price (either gross or by volume) more than 500kg = Npr83/Kg
Fuel surcharge = Npr12/Kg

These prices are set by the airline and should not change courier by courier. The next prices are variable:

Crate charge
- New World L Exp Npr6129
- E Eyes Exp Npr9000
- E Exp Npr6500

Handling, curstoms, taxes, loading etc
- New World L Exp Npr6445
- E Eyes Exp Npr8000
- E Export Npr8000

These are the initial prices before negotiation. Ishowar from New World Link Export sent a nice personal email and converted all his prices into USD. Payment must be made in a foreign currency anyway so this was helpful.

Alternatively I might go with Tai Cargo who only deal with the airport to airport transport. This means they will only pick up the ready crated and processed bike and you must do these things (like finding a carpenter, do all the paper work, get the crate xrayed etc) yourself.

Personally I think I will ride to the airport where the couriers get the bikes crated. Get a quote for crating myself then approach the couriers to barter over the handling fees.

Paul

I'm leaving either today or tomorrow for Bandipur to go rock climbing. Not sure how long I'll be there but likely 4-5 days (I've been here for 2 weeks!).

Then headed to Kathmandu and perhaps trying a 10day, no human contact, hardcore meditation class. Then flying from Kathmandu some time after.

Pokhara is in a lovely area. Personally lakeside is way to commercialised for me so I'm staying about 2km down the road (as described in my earlier post). Its a very quite place with 4 double rooms. Npr200 per person + a little if you want to use the gas in the kitchen. I've been using my stove and buying food from the in city so living has been cheap.

There are plenty of places to walk and things to see. Shamefully I've only done two of the walks in the Lonely planet, round the lake and up to Sarrankot for sunrise -4:30 start, utterly worth it. If you carry on down the road round the lake you reach the end of the asphalt but can ride up to the top of the mountains there (which I forget the name of). There are plenty of other places to see, ask Om the charismatic owner of Nervana.

Hope that helps

See you on the road,
Bryn

Hi Bryn,

We left Pokhara a few weeks ago, we're now in Thailand and on our way to Malaysia shortly.

It's good to see a slightly more competitive approach to pricing from Eagle Exports. As long as he's not up to his old tricks and wants to try and add his crating charge and handling charge to his 20,000 rupee made up charge on the Thai bill! Also, it seems all the other companies do a per kilo price. Eagle Exports didn't do a per kilo price for us but instead an estimate which turned out to be far higher than the eventual weight. As documented previously, that cost us over $100 US.

Good luck with your shipping!

Oh, and just for completeness the following was Eagle Exports attempt to give us a quote. In contrast to all the other companies we subsequently emailed, there was no attempt to itemise the costs or explain what the charges were. Our bikes turned out to be less than 600kg (exactly 500kg in the end), yet our price per bike (on the first Eagle Exports quote) was US$725 per bike... at the very upper end of the price bracket below.

Lesson learned, shop around!!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Brian,
Thank you for contacting us. We are professional bike shipper in Nepal.
Regarding the shipping cost of bike From Kathmandu to Bangkok, it always depend upon the real weight or volumetric weight (by size of box) of the shipment.
Normally bike like your's consumes 300kg (Volumetric weight)
and it cost around USD 750 to USD 860. But, When I measure your bike and see the luggage box then i can tell you the exact price.
If you send Two bikes together then the cost reduces by USD 100 to 150 per bike.

By the way, Can I ask you where are you Now and when do you plan to arrive Nepal?
Happy New Year 2012 and best wishes
regards
suraj and sara

when Simon and I were ready to leave Nepal and head to Thailand - we used Eagle Eyes in Kathmandu.

we had a really good positive experience. they were very professional - took care and attention to what we required and understood the importance of our bikes to us.

we were given a proper quote and this was not altered or 'added to' in anyway. the final quote was what we paid.

but with another company with a name very similar it can get confusing...
so the information of the company we used is:

contact person: Jeewan
Eagle Eyes Exports . <eagleeyes61@hotmail.com> or ,<eagleeyes@wlink.com.np>

we decided not to approach anyone else for quotes as we were happy with the one Jeewan provided us with and so we can not make a comment as to the other company.

best advice - shop around if you are not comfortable and go with the person you 'like' best!
cheers

__________________
Lisa
www.2ridetheworld.com