Wonderful Beautiful Nepal

 Money matters have the ability to ruin your travels more than any other issue you are likely to encounter. It isn’t just a third world problem, either. I lost $500 in France and even got a bad note from an ATM machine. Although I recovered the first money, the second problem was just a loss of 200 Euro. Traveling outside of America or Europe has even more pitfalls. The people in countries like Nepal, where they are not allowed to use international banking, remain very curious about how it is that your money can follow you around the planet. Even educated people in these countries have many misconceptions about us and our money, one such misconception being that we can never run out of it. When my bank got bought out last year my money got stuck for almost a month. When I mentioned it to a local merchant whom I had created somewhat of a relationship with, she laughed at me in disbelief. It was unthinkable, even amusing that I could try to lie to her about it-as if a t...

Nepali Goat Curry - बोका को मासु Serving Goat Curry during festive occasion In Nepal, Vijaya Dashami (विजया दशमी), Dashain ( दशैं) or Bada-Dashain (बडा दशैं), the most important religious festival of Nepal is almost approaching (October 6, 2013).  It is time to post about the most loved festival and the feast. During this festival, a large number of male goats, sheep, water-buffalo, pigs, ducks and chicken are sacrificed before the goddess in the temple, or other places like Kot Square , or some private homes and offered to the deities.  After religious rites are performed, the ritually sacrificed animals are cooked and distributed among friends, relatives, and neighbors. For many families, this may be one of the few occasions during the year that they are able to eat meat. The most common and preferred meat is a freshly slaughtered goat and the Nepali word for goat is the same as the generic word for meat (bokaa and khasi) .  Meat from castrated goats are called khas...

Written by guest author, Day Wong, Hong Kong, China I took the bus from the tourist bus park at the top of the hill in Bhaktapur. It took about an hour to get there and the bus stopped at the spot where many guest houses and restaurants are located. If you want to go to the top to see the best view it will take at least an hour to an hour and a half from there, but it was an asphalt road and a fairly easy walk, although mostly uphill.  The local buses didn’t leave until 7 am, even though there were many buses already on the road going elsewhere. I took advantage of the wait by having breakfast at a nearby local restaurant.  They call it the ‘tower’ and along the way I noticed several military lookout areas. Nagarkot became popular during the recent uprising with the Moaists, so there isn’t much culture there. The tower at the top, although would have been an even better view, was broken so it would be very difficult to climb up to the top, anyway. An interesting thing happen...