Indra Jatra, 2012 Indra Jatra is my favorite Nepali festival. It is one of the times the Royal Kumari comes out for pictures and even a touch if you can get that close. My friend Sanjaya, was my host for the day and we had a lovely time. Sanjaya is part owner of the Sunapati Thanka Painting School in Chanu Narayan, and a very kind and honest man (Contact information is at the end of this post). As I say in Nepal: On a Budget, Saturday is a great day for a bus ride, but I did not find that advice to hold true. We didn’t get to the express bus park and that was our mistake; it was standing room only. So my edited advice is to only take the express bus-or suffer the consequences. But Saturday is the best day of the week to take public transportation in Nepal. School children use the public buses during the week, so at least it isn’t that bad on Saturday. Sunday is a school and business day, Saturday being the only weekly holiday. But the school kids don't ride on the express bus...

I recently finished reading Barbara Demick's Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea . My understanding of life in North Korea hitherto was based on my interaction with a North Korean defector who was the keynote speaker on our graduation ceremony of summer course in Hong Kong and a couple of documentaries I had watched, most notably the documentary called “Inside North Korea”. This book, in which Demick follows the life of six North Koreans of various walks of life, provided me a much deeper understanding of what it's like to live as an ordinary citizen in the 'Hermit Kingdom'. Here are the 13 facts about life in North Korea that I found shocking: 1. It is compulsory for every household to have the portraits of Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-Il and Kim Jong-Un. Nothing else can be hanged on the wall except the portraits, not even the family pictures. The portraits are supposed to be cleaned regularly with the special piece of cloth provided by the government. The authori...