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Places to hang out in Kathmandu Valley

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Places to hang out in Kathmandu Valley

There seems to be no place in the Kathmandu Valley that hasn’t been breached upon by the ambitious will of a domestic adventurer: That funky restaurant? Oh no, you went there last time with your peeps. That cool place to hang out? Nah, went there for a funny photo shoot with colleagues. Sometimes, it feels as if the Valley is the same old assortment of familiar people and even more familiar settings. But worry not. I guess looking for a needle in the haystack is even better for the true adventurer at heart. The Week, as usual, comes to your aid.

Newa Lahana, Kirtipur
This restaurant is famous for its spot on Newar delicacies and drinks.newa-lahana-kirtipur

To reach there, go past the Tribhuvan University Heights and take a right turn. With two and a half stories dedicated solely for food lovers, also find the place apt for hanging out with your friends and family. The views from the rooftop are ones that you shouldn’t miss. Look forward to a great experience at Lahana.

Bhaktapur

Bhaktapur
traditionally known as the city of devotees, Bhaktapur is always a supreme place to hang out in. With its old brick houses and lanes, any place you go there will be a treat to your eyes and senses. Take a look at the potter’s village, or even sign up for a pottery class! If you are in your walking shoes, then you can go for hiking around the famous Changu Narayan Temple. Although Bhaktapur is the smallest city among the three in the Valley, it still has a string of temples and places that are waiting for the right kind of visitors.

Bungamati/Khokana

bungamati_khokana
A bus from Lagankhel for 30-45 minutes – depending on the crowd in the vehicle – and you’ll reach this beautiful Newar village of Bungamati. Bungamati has grown to become a local tourist destination, with extended cultural events on auspicious days, and traditional music in full swing and the locals clad in traditional wears. If not, go for an evening to watch the sunset, from where you can also watch the Khokana valley in the right. Stroll around in the ancient hamlet where it seems time has decided to rest. This evening will definitely be memorable.

Nag Daha, Dhapakhel
Nag Daha is a big pond which, from afar, looks like a snake. It’s a haven for nature seekers: The pond with gentle water ripples surrounded by greenery is quiet and perfect for solace. To reach there, take a public vehicle from Lagankhel to Dhapakhel, and walk for a few minutes. The place even has a modest number of eateries if you’re looking to enjoy the place with food. If you’re lucky, you can even get a chance at boating. This will be a good opportunity for the legend seeker in you. This legendarily rich place may have some stories that you can share later on.

The Sankata Temple, New Road
If you’re tired of hanging around Basantapur and are looking for something less crowded, then you could give the Sankata Temple a visit. It has a big courtyard dedicated to it, and one can easily find a ‘chiya pasal’ along with a few other snacks. If you are really in the mood for local food, then seek the Sankata Restaurant which is hidden in a busy alley to the north of the temple. Aside from serving the regular lunchtime snacks, they have yummy baras that are worth dying for. The area is pretty big, with people doing their usual businesses. Sneak in for a laidback time with your buddies.

Source: Republica

1st Indo-Nepal motor rally to kick off next week

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1st Indo-Nepal motor rally to kick off next week

The first-ever Indo-Nepal Motor Rally from Odisha to the Nepalese capital will kickstart next week, linking key Buddhist cities in the two countries to boost “spiritual” and “adventure” tourism.

nature-adventure-culture

The rally will begin on February 27 and will conclude in Delhi on March 8, Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae told mediapersons here. The rally – aimed at promoting nature, culture and adventure tourism – would be instrumental in strengthening people-to-people contact between the two countries, said Rae. The rally will link Jagannath, Puri and Pashupatinath as well as sister cities Bodhgaya and Lumbini, highlighting age-old cultural and civilisational links between Nepal and India, he pointed out.

The rally will see participation of around 110 people in 30 cars which will cover a total distance of 2,500 km in 10 days. 25 vehicles from India and five vehicles from Nepal will take part in the rally. “The event also aims to give tremendous impetus to tourism, both spiritual and adventure tourism in both the countries. “This venture also attaches great importance to the Buddhist trail, linking Bodhgaya, where Lord Buddha attained enlightenment with Lumbini in Nepal, where Lord Buddha was born,” remarked Rae.

The rally will open up new avenues of tourism in both the countries by encouraging young travellers of the two countries to each other’s territories through the land route, he pointed out. The Nepal-India Motor Vehicle Agreement signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal during the 18th SAARC Summit has helped promote tourism between the two countries through land route, Rae said.

Three Nepalese motor drivers today embarked towards Puri to take part in the rally.The motor rally will enter Nepal at Jogbani customs point at Biratnagar on March 2 and will halt at the picturesque town of Dharan before embarking to Dhulikhel, another scenic town situated in the east of Kathmandu famous for its mountain views.

The rally will reach here on March 4, marking the end of its first leg. On March 5, the second leg of the motor rally will be flagged off by Rae and Nepal’s Minister for Youth and Sports Purushottam Paudel. It will then pass through the beautiful cities of Pokhara, Lumbini and Dhangadhi before reaching Delhi on March 8.

The rally is being jointly organised by Kalinga Motor Sports Club, Bhubaneswar and Nepal Automobile Sports Association with support from the Indian Embassy here and the Nepal government.

Source: News Nation

TAAN Lhosar Festival to be organized in Thamel

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TAAN Lhosar Festival to be organized in Thamel

Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) has decided to celebrate TAAN Lhosar Festival in Thamel on February 17.

news_TAAN_Press_Meet

Speaking at a press meet organized at TAAN Secretariat in Maligaun, TAAN officials said preparations for the festival were at the final stage.

In the past years, TAAN used to celebrate Lhosar festival by organizing ‘Lhosar Dinner Ball’ in different hotels. This year it is organizing the festival in Thamel – the tourist hotspot in Kathmandu Valley — to promote Lhosar festival as a cultural tourism product.

TAAN President Ramesh Prasad Dhamala said the festival will see cultural performances of different ethnic groups like Gurungs, Tamangs and Sherpas.

The program will begin with a cultural procession from Sanchayakosh Building. The procession will pass through different thoroughfares in Thamel before culminating into a formal program at Tridevi Marg.

Traditional dances like Syabru (Sherpa), Maruni (Gurung) and Tamang (Selo) will be performed on the occasion. Ganesh Himal Tourism Development Committee will organize a special ‘Mhendo La’ Dance in Thamel. There will also be food stalls showcasing traditional cuisines of Sherpa, Gurung and Tamang communities, among others.

The program will also see various entertainment and fun-filled programs like live concert, modern dances and DJ session, among others. Renowned artistes like Performance by renowned artistes like Roj Moktan, DJ Tenzing, Mingma Sherpa, Resma Sunuwar, Himal Ghale, Abhinash Ghising, Nirmala Ghising, Sunil Lama, Jyoti Magar, Mausam Gurung, Sanjaya Gurung, Bhimu Gurung, AP Sherpa, Jayabir Tamang, Arambha Tamang, Bharat Sitaula, Dorji Lama, Suman Thapa Magar and DJ Biki are scheduled to perform at the program.

“By organizing the festival in Thamel, we want to press the authorities not to limit night activities in Thamel to say 10 pm. As a tourist hotspot, Thamel should operate round the clock,” TAAN General Secretary Sagar Pandey said.

Similarly, festival coordinator Kul Bahadur Gurung, who is also the second vice president of TAAN, said TAAN will give continuity to the festival based on response from the participants.

TAAN plans to organize the festival every year on February 17 to promote it as a cultural tourism product.

Source: TAAN

CNP recognized as best conservation area for tigers

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CNP recognized as best conservation area for tigers

Nepal has accomplished yet another milestone in its efforts to conserve wild animals by meeting a set of international standards considered ideal for the conservation of tigers.

Rich in biodiversity of both flora and fauna, Nepal´s Chitwan National Park (CNP) has received the international recognition for being the best conservation zone for tiger protection. The CNP´s management has excelled under all of the 17 major standards prescribed internationally for creating best grounds for tiger protection.

chitwan-national-park

“This is a great achievement for Nepal. Now, recognized for having the best conservation area for big cats, the success truly reflects the combined efforts of the Nepal government, local communities, the Nepal Army and various organizations working hand in hand to create a better shelter for tigers. I hope other countries will take lesson from what Nepal has achieved in the past few years,” said Mike Baltzer of the WWF Alive Initiative.

The recognition to CNP is given by CATS (Conservation Assured Tiger Standards), an international committee devoted to develop and assure best habitation ground for the wild life protection across the globe.

According to Khalid Pasha, manager at CATS, a survey was conducted under major standards like tiger population, the involvement of local communities, overall management of the park and work force, flow of tourist, and management of tiger habitation. CNP has secured impressive points in all these important categories.

“This is a great success for Nepal, a gold standard that marks the well management of CNP when it comes to tiger conservation. This achievement should certainly work as an inspiration for other tiger range countries to meet similar standards and create better homes for these valuable forest animals,” said Pasha.

Nestled at the foothills of Himalaya, CNP is a home for 120 tigers along with 68 species of mammals, 54 species of birds and 126 species of fishes. The park is best known for the protection of One Horned Rhinoceros, Royal Bengal Tiger and Ghariyal Crocodile. Located in the Southern Central Tarai region of Nepal, the park extends to an area of 93,200 hectors of land, spreading in four districts Nawalparasi, Parsa, Chitwan and Makawanpur.

Pasha further shared that the achieved accreditation not only signifies the best wild life management of CNP but it will also help win trusts of bigger donors with intention to donate for wild life conservation.

“Having achieved this certification, Nepal has now earned the respect of other countries and donors abroad,” said Pasha.

Meanwhile, Tika Ram Adhikari, director general at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, attributed the success to the teamwork.

“In the coming days, we are planning to introduce this wildlife quality management certification for conservation of various other animals in both Banke National Park and Shukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve. We hope to create safest shelters in Nepal for all types wild animals,” said Adhikari.

Source: myrepublica

NAC finally gets new aircraft for int’l air service

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NAC finally gets new aircraft for int’l air service

Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), the national flag carrier, finally received a new aircraft for international air service, on Sunday. This has happened after 27 years and many hurdles along the way to add new planes to the NAC fleet.


Airbus A320-Nepal-Airlines

The plane — Airbus A320 — touched down at Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA)at 4:34 pm, on Sunday, with Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Deepak Chandra Amatya led team of government officials and representatives of Airbus. The aircraft which is manufactured by the Airbus Company was welcomed amid a special function. With the arrival of the new aircraft that is named ‘Sagarmatha’, NAC now has a total of three aircraft including two Boeings — Gandaki and Karnali — for international air service. “After several ups and downs we finally have got the new aircraft,” said Madan Kharel while addressing a welcome ceremony of NAC’s first A320 on Sunday evening. He said that they have had to face trying times, always bearing a fear on whether NAC would be able to revive their glory days due to lack of aircraft.

The aircraft is part of an agreement reached in June 2013 to purchase two Airbus A320-200 aircraft. Kharel said that the other aircraft is expected to be delivered within April and NAC will start operations to Dubai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Mumbai and will also add a new destination, Guangzhau in China. As narrow-body aircraft alone are not sufficient to compete in the international market, NAC is also working on plans to purchase a wide-body plane in the near future.

Kharel said that they have a target of buying a wide-body aircraft by 2021. Prior to this, NAC also had a target to obtain two more narrow-body planes. The addition of the new aircraft to the NAC fleet is also expected to give a boost to the tourism industry at a time when air traffic is expected to almost double within a decade.

NAC officials said that they are planning to start services with the Airbus A320 from February 25. Both the aircraft are powered by engines made by US-based International Aero Engines and will have 158 seats, including eight seats for business class and the rest for economy class.

Minister Amatya said that the rapid expansion of global tourism market has made it necessary to enhance the quality of the country’s aviation service by making them more punctual and credible. “We have emphasised the importance of ‘air safety’ and prioritised it in our policy,” he added.

The Airbus aircraft purchased by NAC is a widely used aircraft in the world. “The A320 is a new partnership in aviation sector of Nepal,” said David Dufrenois, vice-president, Customer Affairs, Airbus. Sheel Shukla, marketing manager of Airbus said that the aircraft was the ‘most fuel efficient’ single aircraft presently available in the market.

The last time that NAC had bought aircraft was a Boeing 757 in 1988. After the arrival of another aircraft in April, NAC is planning to fly to various destinations in Asia including Hong Kong and Bangkok. As it had only two aircraft for international flights, the national carrier had been finding it difficult to provide effective and competitive service as most of the times one of the two aircraft remained grounded for ‘technical reasons’.

Source: The Himalayan Times

Nepal, India to jointly promote tourism

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Nepal, India to jointly promote tourism

Nepal and India will soon begin joint tourism promotion campaign.

Speaking at the 51st anniversary of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA), Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae said that there is a need of mutual cooperation as Nepal and India are jointly promoting tourism.

“As Nepal is a famous religious tourism destination for it has Pashupatinath, Lumbini, Muktinath and Janakpurdham. It should promote these destinations to attract tourists,” said Rae, adding, “Nepal should focus on religious and adventure tourism and it is through this it can bring in quality tourists”.

NATTA-AGM

Prachanda Man Shrestha, former CEO of Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) said there is a need of the campaign to promote regional markets. “Nepal needs to move forward giving priority to neighboring countries India and China first to promote tourism and increase tourist arrivals,” said Shrestha.

At the program, NATTA demanded a certain percent from the tourism service fee (TSF) for strengthening the association. “As it the tour operators who bring in tourists, we should get certain percent from the TSF collected by NTB,” said DB Limbu, president of NATTA.

NATTA currently has around 500 members associated with it. It cancels the membership of companies that does not renew its membership for more than a year. Earlier, it used to cancel membership of companies that did not renew membership every six months.

Source: Republica