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| Home | Issues | The Daily Star Home | Volume 5, Issue 29, Tuesday, July 20, 2010 |
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Check it out Naturally Nepal NEPAL Tourism 2011, an event organised by the Embassy of Nepal, was held on 7 July 2010. The intention of holding this event was to increase tourism in Nepal with a presentation of all that makes Nepal worth visiting. Krishna Chandana Aryal, Minister Council, Deputy Chief of Mission, inaugurated the occasion. Musa Ibrahim, the first Bangladeshi to successfully climb Mount Everest, spoke about his experience in Nepal and the wonderful time he had there. He spoke about his adventures of climbing the world's tallest mountain, as well. Leknath Bhushan did the presentation of Nepal Tourism 2010.
The art and architecture are very full of life in Nepal, as proven in the presentation. Speckled with numerous exemplary works of art and architecture, Kathmandu Valley stands as a testimony to ancient Nepal's inclination toward the aesthetics. UNESCO has listed several monuments in the Valley as World Heritage Sites. Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, is the only World Heritage Site outside the Valley in South Nepal. Swayabhunath Stupa is another famous temple in Kathmandu. Historical records found on a stone inscription give evidence that the stupa was already an important Buddhist pilgrimage destination by the 5th century AD. Its origins however, date to a much earlier time, long before the arrival of Buddhism into the valley. A collection of legends about the site, the 15th century Swayambhu Purana, tells of a miraculous lotus, planted by a past Buddha, which blossomed from the lake that once covered Kathmandu valley. Another temple is the Janaki Temple, which is famous as the birthplace of the Hindu Goddess Sita. Bhaktapur is another place that was mentioned as a must-see site in Nepal. It is renowned worldwide for its elegant art, fabulous culture and indigenous lifestyle. Bhaktapur is also sometimes referred to as the 'city of culture', the 'living heritage' and 'Nepals culture gem'. Nepal is also known to have as many festivals as days in a year. Apart from all the festivities, the country is a place you can never be bored of because of all the activities that are on offer. Nepal is famous for its jungle safaris, bungee jumping, paragliding, canoeing, trekking and much more. Along with all these activities, Nepal has amazing malls for 'shopaholics' and world-class amenities. Nepal has every category of accommodation facilities that range from international standard five- star hotels to budget hotels and lodges. The weather is always dependent on the seasons. Summers in Nepal are always bright and sunny where as winters are cool and soothing. And last but not least, the people in Nepal make everyone's stay absolutely worth it. Welcoming you with a friendly smile, they make you feel absolutely at home. In this context, it was mentioned that Nepal received 12,578 visitors from Bangladesh last year while the air arrivals totalled 6,735 till May this year, which is 59.7 percent increase over the same period last year. The Prime Minister of Nepal says, "Tourism is a peace industry. So, we need to discourage strikes for the sake of tourism as well as economic development. Economic prosperity is the key to social justice so cooperation from all sectors is a must to meet the target of welcoming one million visitors in 2011," he added. For access to flights to Nepal, Biman Bangladesh and GMG airlines are your best bet. They're the most trustworthy airlines for direct flights. As said by most Nepalese, you go to Nepal the fist time as a tourist and you return later as a friend. When it comes to 'Naturally Nepal'… once is never enough! For more information contact The Embassy of Nepal or log on to www.nepaltourism2011.info42
ONE day at work while a colleague, Kanika, was writing something on the whiteboard, her assistant saw hairy, brown fingers on the grill of the window. She screamed. Kanika, without realising what had happened, screamed and so did her class of students. They ran out of the classroom and watched in horror as a full grown monkey put in his paw and grabbed a copy from her table. Then it travelled all the way along the cornice at the back of the building to the classroom opposite Kanika's and tried to snatch a student's pencil case. But the teacher, Sudipta, was smarter and braver than Kanika! She hit the beast on its hand with a water bottle and it went away. The students thought Sudipta miss was cool! Everyone else wondered how the monkey knew that Kanika and Sudipta were fast friends! The monkey's academic pursuit didn't stop here. A few days later he was found sitting on the ventilator of a room which is the Teachers' Resource Centre. He was observing teachers signing out books and resources. Soon a geography book was missing. The book was later found on the cornice sans the cover. Later a paper weight from one of the staff rooms was gone; apparently out of all the paper weights, the best one was missing. Then one day a lock was gone. The next day it was back on the table. The poor guy couldn't chew the stout Chinese lock so he decided to chuck it back! The monkey found his way to a nearby tea stall where drivers drink tea and chat while waiting for the employers' children to finish their classes. The owner of the tea stall invited him and he joined the other men folk for a cup of tea and ate a banana and biscuits offered by the host. It seemed the monkey had learnt to lift his paw to his forehead and salaam people. Or maybe that was his way of thanking his host. One day there was a great commotion. I peeped out of my office to find the whole school out on the veranda of all the four floors. The students were laughing and pointing at the top of building. Lo and behold! Our very own monkey was sitting on top of a “Gazi Tank”. The lid of the tank was open. Upon further investigation I found out the lids of all the eight Gazi tanks on top of the school building were open! The monkey was dipping his little paw into the water and licking it with a little pink tongue just as a small boy would insert his hand in a pickle bottle or a jam jar and lick it. It looked kind of cute but I remembered that he had contaminated all the water. Luckily it was Thursday. The water was duly drained out and the tanks were cleaned during the weekend. Apart from all the monkeying, it is the indiscriminate cutting of trees which has prompted the poor primates to come out for food and security to the only place they could find...the habitats of their relatives: humankind!
Things to do on a rainy day Have a happy rainy day! By Naziba Bashar
Dear Dr. Khan, Dear Ms. Khan, Dear Dr. Khan, Dear Mr. Monir, |
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The presentation included visuals of the best places to visit in Nepal such as Paradise Pokhara. The place is most often referred to as a 'haven' for being surrounded by beautiful snow-capped mountains, with a magnificent lake of crystal-clear pure Himalayan water and all-year-round pleasing weather. There are other parks and cities and wildlife reserves, one of the most famous being the Koshi Tappu wildlife reserve.
RAINY season brings with it not only happiness, but also a little boredom. Since it's wet and messy outside, you feel that sitting at home is the best option. However, after a while, you also start getting bored. What to do now? How to pass away the time? Simple, indulge in all the activities for which you couldn't seem to find time in the past few days. Read your favourite book, watch that DVD that is lying with you for so many days, catch up with friends over the internet, and so on. Need still more fun activities for rainy days? Check out the ones mentioned below and keep yourself amused. 
