News

Mustang-Nepal, Among Top 10 in Best Travel 2013

Mustang in north central Nepal has been named one of the world's top 10 regions in Best in Travel 2013, published by Lonely Planet, the largest travel guide book and digital media publisher in the world.

The guide book has described Mustang as being best for activities, off the beaten track and culture. Mustang lies "behind the Himalaya" and has been called "little Tibet" or "the last forbidden kingdom". Though it is politically part of Nepal, in language, culture, climate and geography, it is Tibet, the guide book says. It was opened to tourism in 1992 with the number of visitors limited to a few hundred annually.

The completion of a motor able road linking Mustang to China and the rest of Nepal is expected to transform the lifestyle and economy of the region, thus heightening the urgency among explorers to visit the region before it changes. Read more.....

Guerrilla Trek Set to Promote ‘War Tourism'

Nepal has long been a popular trekking destination for foreign tourists. However, the country now has something new to offer altogether. Tourists can now experience a ‘historic’ trekking route named the ‘Guerrilla Trek’ that starts from Myagdi and passes through Rukum and Rolpa, once a “seething pot of war.”On Tuesday UCPN-Maoist Chairman Puspha Kamal Dahal launched a map and a guide book produced by an American, Alonzo Lyons, amid a programme here.The trail has been divided into three sections and is a 19-day walk over rugged mountains, rivers lined with lush wheat fields, caves and centuries-old villages. The Guerrilla Trek follows trails where thousands of Maoist guerrillas once dug trenches and ambushed their enemy during the insurgency (1996-2006). Read more.....

Visit Lumbini Year 2012

 Siddhartha Gautama 

( सिद्धार्थ गौतम), the Lord Buddha, was born in 623 B.C. in the famous gardens of Lumbini, Nepal. Lumbini is now being developed as a Buddhist pilgrimage centre, where the archaeological remains associated with the birth of the Lord Buddha. 

 

Nepal is celebrating Visit Lumbini Tourism Year 2012. The objective of Visit Lumbini Tourism Year 2012 is not only limited in promoting about the Birthplace of Lord Buddha, but also try to give positive message throughout the world. The holy place Lumbini, the world heritage site, is the property not only of Nepal but the universe. Lumbini is the common destination of all the pilgrimages from all across the world. Once you dream about the birthplace of lord Buddha, then you will definitely reach there and this is the power of positive vibe. Read more.....

Women lost in Nepal ate Grass‚ Bamboo to Survive

KATHMANDU, JUN 10 - A Japanese woman who was lost in Nepal's mountains for nearly two weeks said Friday that she survived by eating grass, drinking river water, taking shelter in small caves and praying.

Makiko Iwafuchi, 49, of Chiba, said she left her hotel May 25 for a short stroll near the Goshainkunda lake. She left the main trail and could not find it again.She said she walked for days but was unable to find the trail or come in contact with any villagers until Tuesday, when she heard voices."I screamed, saying, 'Hello! Please help me!'" she told reporters after returning to Katmandu on Friday. "It was a miracle. I felt at ease and thanked God."

Aside from some visible insect bites, she appeared to be fine three days after her ordeal about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Katmandu, at an elevation of more than 14,000 feet (4,300 meters).Read more....
 
First Buddha Film from Nepal 
 

Alarmed by Bollywood training its lenses on the Buddha, Tulsi Ghimire is now making the first Buddha film from the Himalayan republic to bolster its claim to the founder of Buddhism.

Ghimire, who moved from India’s hill town of Kalimpong to Mumbai first to learn acting and film-making and then made Kathmandu his home, has begun making “Gautam Buddha”, the first Buddha film from Nepal, the birthplace of the apostle of peace.

The 60-year-old, who gave the Nepali film industry such hits as “Kusume rumal” and “Balidaan”, says he was inspired to make the film after a conversation with Buddhist monks from Sri Lanka and other places.

“First, there was this Bollywood movie, ‘Chandni Chowk to China’, that claimed the Buddha was born in Nepal,” Ghimire told IANS in an interview. “Then there are reports of renowned Bollywood director Ashutosh Gowarikar making an epic film on the Buddha.

“We are concerned whether there isn’t some political motivation - to lay claim to the Buddha. If Gowarikar builds the sets of Kapilavastu, the kingdom in which the Buddha was born to its ruler King Shuddhodan, the Indian state where it is erected may be regarded by many people as the birthplace of the Buddha.

“Some puzzled Sri Lankan monks actually asked me whether the Buddha was born in India or Nepal. I told them, he was born in Kapilavastu, when neither India nor Nepal existed. Archaeological ruins

 prove Kapilavastu was in southern Nepal. You can still see the remains of the old palace and the garden where the Buddha was born.” Read More.....