Wonderful Beautiful Nepal

Few things actually describe or define Nepal like thanka paintings do. The detail and devotion speak about the better side of Nepal and her people and these original paintings last a lifetime. With Buddhism well established and the fastest growing religion on the planet today, these paintings are a Nepali souvenir whose time has come.  My problem has been where to buy one. Most tourists are not aware of the commission structure in Nepal. If your tour guide takes you into a thanka school you will pay the commission on top of the normal store price. No problem, you say? A 10% commission would probably be fine for most tourists. What would you say to a 100% commission added to the normal price? This literally doubles the cost. Are you happy with that? Most consumers would be quite put off by that, but that is the part of the process tourists are NEVER told. This is a fact-the 100% commission is added to the price of the thanka if you go in with a tour/trekking guide. Even if it's so...

If you live in Nepal, and want to get high speed internet, what are your options and the speeds you can get. Luckily since the past few years the internet speeds have improved tremedously. Common internet speeds nowadays are around 512 Kbps. Yes I know it is still slow compared to most other western countries. From my testing NCELL has the fastest speeds topping around 2MBps in the day, while at night the speeds are unbearably slow and useless. NTC was slower around 512kbps but the speed was consistent thru out the day. Overall winner in Nepal NTC ADSL internet in terms of cost, speed, quality of internet. (see test result below) Update May 2014- Now with NTC releasing WIMAX for public use, the speeds are much faster. See my review on WIMAX in Nepal .

The Greatest Festival of Nepal - Bisket Jatra of Bhaktapur भक्तपुर (2069-2070 B.S.) A grand festival of Bhaktapur - repertoire of cultural experience... Festivals are an integral part of life in Nepal, and numerous festivals held throughout the year are enthusiastically supported by the Nepalese people. Religious festivals are determined by the lunar calendar, while national festivals have fixed dates. There is one festival, however, which is determined by the solar calendar. This is the annual Bisket Festival, which takes place in early April in the ancient Newari Cultural City of Bhaktapur – and it is based on a fable. Bhaktapur, the cultural capital of Nepal, is rich for its culture, heritage, traditional feasts and festivals and typical Newari life style. It is worthwhile to visit Bhaktapur especially when you can watch a live festival. The biggest festival of Bhaktapur is called ‘ BISKET JATRA ’. This year, it starts from 10th of April for a week. For the festival, people hav...

Guest Writer: Morwenna Murray, along with Amanda's comments and pictures after Last Saturday was Nepali New Years' Eve and it was celebrated in style in the beautiful, ancient city of Bhaktapur. This small town is 14km from Kathmandu and the narrow cobbled streets and breathtaking temples makes you feel like you have just stepped back into the Medieval era.  If you come to Nepal around this time of year you don't have to actually make an effort to plan to see something special. You can just listen for the drums and other instruments and follow the sounds. Bisket Jatra is the nine-day festival celebrating the new year, starting usually four days before new years day, then carrying on for four days after it. Part of the festival involves a huge 10 metre tall rickety, wooden charriot, carrying images of the god Bhairab. On the first day of the festival locals gather around the imposing chariot in Taumadhi square and a tug of war ensues between the east and west sides of Bhak...