While trekking, we stop at various tea houses / guest houses for tea, lunch, dinner, overnight stays. The tea houses have meals (dal bhat, pasta, chow mein, momos, etc). They also serve tea, coffee and bottled drinks (coke etc). And they serve snacks – packets of crisps, chocolate bars, etc.
As the altitude increases, the prices also increase. A chocolate bar that might be 100 rupees in Pokhara might be 150 on day one, 200 on day two and 300 on day three.
Often, by European standards, even the expensive chocolate bars are fairly cheap, but they are more expensive that we might be used to from other shops in Nepal.
Trekkers often respond with incredulity at the prices. Partly because things are more expensive than they have been used to and partly because it can feel a little like the trekkers are a captive audience and can be taken advantage of.
And this is quite tricky. It is easy as a white, western tourist to assume that the local merchant is overcharging you. Partly because in some cases they are. The three wheeler from the main road to the where the hotels are in Chitwan should cost 300. When I got off the bus and got mobbed by three drivers they said it was 600. I said: “no, 300”. They laughed and said: “she knows what she’s doing” and agreed to the 300. It is also the case that people will negotiate a price, so if someone does suggest 600 for something, it is perfectly appropriate to then offer 300 and see where you eventually end up. But, in some shops, things are fixed price, you pay the price that is asked (supermarkets, restaurants, etc).
So it can be hard for trekkers to know whether the increase in prices is an opening suggestion in a negotiation, whether it is an attempt to overcharge the foreigner or whether the price should indeed be higher here.
There is definitely some of the latter in play.
Some of the trekking routes that I walked had a jeep track that ran alongside. So it is possible to get a jeep to Ulleri or Ghorepani. But others are not accessible. Tadopani can’t be accessed by jeep, you need to walk either from Ghorepani or from Gandruk. Think of the chocolate bar. It doesn’t magically teleport itself into the tea house in Tadopani. Someone has to bring it in. And they can’t bring it in by jeep. They’re going to carry it, or put it on a donkey. And the person (or donkey) is going to have to clamber up these mountain paths for a couple of hours to get from Gandruk to Tadopani. And it’s not just the chocolate bar, it’s also gas cylinders (35kg each when full, strap one to each side of a donkey). And of course, anything else that can’t be found or grown in the near vicinity.
So yes, the chocolate bar should be more expensive in Tadopani than in Gandruk. There are additional transport costs.
Also, there are schemes for the guides that accompany trekkers. In my case, my guide was given her room in the tea house for free (for bringing me in). And she had a voucher system for meals (though only dal bhat and the standard breakfast). She’s paying a reduced price for those and Three Sisters (the trekking company) gives her an advance to cover that. So, sure, I’m paying directly for that advance for her meals as part of the money I pay Three Sisters to have her with me, but I’m also subsidising the vouchers and the room cost with my spend in the tea house. Additionally, tea houses are only able to make money when people are staying there, so some parts of the year will be quieter than others. They can’t easily attract more people in since they really are only catering to trekkers.
So for all of these reasons, I don’t really mind paying the extra for the chocolate bars as the altitude increases – the cost to the merchant is higher, their profit is lower. And even if I am being overcharged a little that’s ok too. One of the joys of travelling is the ability to bring money into the economy of the place I’m visiting. 300 is still reasonable (though there are limits, I don’t think 1,000 would be reasonable). If my 300 rupees contributes a little to the family being able to pay school fees for their kids for just a little longer then I’m happy to do that.
And anyway, after a big day of trekking the chocolate does taste extra sweet! Well worth it!
This is the view from the tea house in Ghorepani, where pretty much everything else is a long way down!
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