Please arrive 3 hours before your departure time

I'm currently sitting in the airport waiting the recommended 3 hours before departure time for international flights and wondering why I came so early? When I arrived at the check in desk earlier there was a large queue for "economy check in" and zero queue for "web check in". I waved my printed out ticket in the air and was ushered to the first available desk. "Do you live in Kathmandu?" said the check in clerk. A little confused I started telling him all about the fact that I was off on elective, had even got my visa prior to departure and was staying for 6 weeks. Immigration and police officers must get this all the time. Ask a simple question and the passenger thinks they are being quizzed in order to find out if they really are who they say they are. In fact, he was only checking that I hadn't forgotten to print out my return ticket.

10 minutes later I've cleared security and have been left with a world of time to explore the world of duty free and their sampling whiskeys.