Wonderful Beautiful Nepal | Travel, Culture & Food

In September of 2014, during Storymoja Festival in Nairobi, I launched my first collection of speculative short stories, A Killing in the Sun , which features sci-fi, fantasy, and horror genres. A few weeks later, I got an invite to present a paper in Paris, at a workshop title Manufacture/Domestication of the Living in Science Fiction, at Le Cube , Center for Digital Creation. The  organizers  had chanced upon the book, and were impressed with the stories that tackled manufactured living beings. Below is a version of the talk I gave, last Friday. In Paris, reading the sci-fi story, Lights on Water Many African communities are technologically dependent on richer nations. Some governments, like that of Uganda, plan to boost technical capacity by promoting science subjects in schools. Already, there is a private initiative to promote the study of robotics in secondary schools in Uganda, by FundiBots. But critics of these initiatives say they are more or less copy-paste...

The perk of being a hardworking writer, especially if you put out a good piece of work like A Killing in the Sun , is that you get to go on these fully sponsored trips. Last month, I traveled to South Africa, to attend Time of the Writer festival , in Durban, and also to be part of the Literary Crossroads at the Geothe Institute in Jo'burg. I was with the amazing Napo Masheane, in a discussion moderated by the vibrant Niq Mhlongo. I'm not a good public speaker, I often squirm in front of an audience, but the reading I had turned out to be one of the best ever, maybe because Napo and Niq made me feel comfortable and welcome.  The Jo'burg skyline, as seen from the Melville koppie I stayed in a quiet suburb, Melville, one of the safest places in Jo’burg. I could move around with my camera without fear of being robbed. That first day, I forgot to change money at the airport. Big mistake. I took a tuktuk to a bank. I was indeed surprised to see these in South African. They tell...

When Annie told me she was on her way to Langtang by foot from Changunarayan it was all I could do to not lecture her. As I wrote in my eBook, Nepal: A Tourist's Manual, it is important to support the local economy when trekking. There have actually been incidents of muggings due to trekkers not using local guides. Not only that, but I think it's like swimming. Just as you should never swim alone, trekking alone can be just as dangerous. But Annie has done her share to support Nepal by volunteering and embraces the culture so graciously. She seems to have something surrounding her that keeps her safe, too, but don't we all? So, off she went on her adventure that could be called, "110 Pounds Against the Mountain." Trekking the Langtang Range Solo Written by guest blogger: Annie McLaughlin, Canada The constant dreaded response I received after telling the casual passerby that I intended on hiking the Gosaikunda trek up to the Langtang range alone without a guide ...