Planning a trip to Pokhara with my kids

My last trip to Pokhara was one of my wildest escapades, a 200 km journey on bike starting off at 5:00 PM from Kathmandu. It was the 3^rd of January, 2008. I wasn't riding alone; had my colleague too. Both of us had our bags loaded with clothes and stuffs and were so heavy that it we could barely enjoy the ride. As a matter of fact, I had to discard some of my belongings and hand them over to an acquaintaince soon after exiting the valley. Due to poor visibility and several stopovers for my complaining partner, it was half past eleven at night when we reached hotel in Pokhara.

For some things, once is enough, I thought at that time. I had to ride alone all the way back home because my partner got a complimentary return flight ticket. Not counting the one and half an hour of recess I took at a point almost halfway, I arrived home in just four hours. I had left from Pokhara at 3:00 PM. I promised myself that day that I would think several times before riding such long distances on a bike in future. 200 kms in 4 hrs may sound easy enough to you unless you are familiar with the hilly terrains of Nepal.

That story is now more than 4 months old. If you're curious to know what's new, then I'm scheduled to report to the bus-stop tomorrow at 6:30 AM. Same destination. Alone? No, this time I'm taking my three dearest kids. They're the youngest three amongst my cousins. So, is it a family vacation? Not entirely, as I've got some official works to take care of. My plan's plain and simple. I'll take them for a whole day sightseeing on Saturday. I'll be visiting some of the hotels we're dealing with in the next two days. I expect my kids to go with me to all those places and to spend some time in the gardens while I finish my business indoors with the managers. They'll comply, I hope, because they're aged between eleven and fourteen years.

Have we packed up? The kids have and are already dreaming. I'll try to finish mine after publishing this very post and tucking this very computer into my bag. I had a very restless and tiring day today and now am a bit worried that I may not be able to get enough rest. To make it on time to the bus-stop, we'll have to get up at five and freshen up and dress up and make some last mintue rechecks and leave by 6:15 AM.

A note of gratitude

Over the past few weeks, I remained busy spreading the word about our newly launched portals, http://www.nepalhotel-link.com/ and http://www.kathmanduhotel-link.com/. The overall feedback was positive, if not overwhelming. Personally, I think that we're suffering from the lack of interest from our own people. The initial statistics on the traffic we're getting show that only a small part of it is generated by domestic visitors. Had it been for me, I would not have lagged behind in promoting works of others, priority definitely going to those of our countrymen. What about you? Don't you think your small contribution today can change the way tourism is done in our country? If you think it can, I hope you will pass the word around and let your friends and colleagues know about our 'Caring for Destination' initiative and other activities related to responsible tourism in collaboration with whl.travel network.

I remain thankful to the following publishers who took their time to hear us and brought our efforts to the public through their media.

Gorkhapatra/The Rising Nepal
The Himalayan Times
eTravel Board
Nepali Times
Nepal-News.org
People's Review
Yahoo! Buzz (Howang Nhu)
Mixx (Howang Nhu)

I also wish to thank all those who are not in the list above but who did care to indicate their support in their own ways, and not to miss, all of our link partners.

If you care too, don't wait to let it out. Tools are plenty, just take your pick - email, buzz, chat, blog, Twitter, SMS, MMS and so on.

Three hours for six litres?

Today was a hot and tiring Saturday for me. Productive or not, I leave it up to you to figure out. Got up at five, freshened up, dressed and rushed to a petrol pump at Pulchowk. Was pleased at first to see a very few bikes enqued, but was disappointed to find out that no petrol at all. So I made a phone call to an uncle of mine and he advised me to try my luck at yet another station at Lagankhel, operated by the army.

I immediately started my back, hit the 70 plus and reached there in 4 minutes or so. I got a position at the end of the double queue with more than 60 bikes ahead. It was barely six in the morning. I gathered that the distribution wouldn't begin before eight. That meant waiting for two long hours by the road-side.

To kill my time, I bought a newspaper, read it as long as I could and then tried solving the 'Sudoku' and the crossword, both unfinished, though. They opened the pump for the waiting public at eight, but they were already allowing other vehicles and even bikes, who apparently had some sort of coupons with them. It was nine when my turn came to purchase the fuel, but was only given 6.4 litres (for NPR 500.00). I gave the cashier a 1000 rupees banknote and asked him mockingly, "Is it a must to take the change?" (by which I meant to ask whether I'd get petrol instead of the balance cash). He smiled and shook his head in negation. I had no other choice but to leave with what I could get there. The remaining queue contained 300 bikes or even more. And dozens of cars.I had never been in such a long queue, not for petrol at least, before. That I must have carried my mask along, I realised later. I salute those who spend overnight so as to get the fuel next morning or even noon.

You may be surprised to hear that just because of the recurring fuel shortages, black market's blooming. More than that, there are several roadside vendors who're getting good business by selling tea, snacks and other items. Funniest of all, I learnt today that to get a bike looked after during the night, one needs to pay 50 rupees to a local club. Do the rest of the maths by yourself.

A friend of mine used to say, "What a life we're living? There's pipelines but no water, there are millions of vehicles on the road but no fuel, millions of cellphone users but not even a satisfactory coverage! Yet, nobody seems to be troubled as as if everything's in perfect order." I think that the average Nepalese people are perhaps the greatest inventors of new and adaptive cultures and they do need some melodrama to get used to all sorts of scarcities being imposed on them.

In the evening, I installed a combo TV tuner on my PC and was finally able to watch TV in my own room after one whole year. Was able to see a part of a programme (Future Weapons?) featuring a stealth plane called "The Predator" on Discovery. So if time permits and so does the electricity, I'll be spending some time watching TV when I'm at home. Sadly, the latter went off at 8:00 PM today.

Just as I was about to publish this post, electricity came back and I quickly turned my TV on. I was surfing through Nepali channels when I saw this breaking news on the ABC News, saying that a bomb was found today in a bus that had entered Kathmandu with passengers from Birgunj. After all the passengers got down and the bus was being parked, the driver was informed about the bomb by the bus owner (in Birgunj, who was tipped earlier by the person who had planted it there on the phone).

The driver and his assistants immediately searched for, found and threw the bomb on a nearby river bank. The police were contacted and after hours of hard work, it was disposed. A specialist of explosives stated that it was powerful enough to blow the roof off a building with a base area of 50x50 sq metres. It is scary to even think that it was actually targeted on civilians. That was a narrow escape from such an unthinkable tragedy!

A cordial reception

Yesterday afternoon, I went to the airport with my teammates to welcome the first guests visiting Kathmandu after having made their hotel reservation through our portal a week later its launch was announced.

It was a typical Nepalese style reception, which our guests seemed to enjoy. We greeted and garlanded them and transferred them to their accommodation in Kathmandu.

Crazy bike riders

Traffic conditions in Kathmandu are worsening everyday, that's for sure. It's so frustrating sometimes that no matter how hard you try, you just can't reach your destination on time. Traffic jams, road blockades, protests, roadside vendors, careless pedestrians and crazy bike riders - all at their best.

The reason I call most of the bike riders here crazy is their irresponsibleness and disregard for others. Just today, I witnessed a bunch of those. In less than a distance of 2 kilometres, I was stuck in two heavy jams and then rerouted due to a massive protest in one of the busiest junctions. The incident took place at the point where the second had occured.

Usually when a jam occurs, people are supposed to stick to their lane without obstructing vehicles coming from the opposite direction. That's what I was doing today. But a bike was trying to push through from my right, clearly off side and in somewhat uncontrolled manner. There were two boys on it. I stuck to my side and watched. They kept pushing though there was no way, only to hit the silencer of a bike that was ahead of me. The solitary rider of that bike then turned his head back and stared at the boys who had just hit his bike. They just giggled and paid no attention.

As the bike in front started moving forward, I followed and braked when he did. The speed was way below 10 kmph. Even at that speed, the same bike which was behind me now hit mine. When I looked back and asked, "Hey, what's this?" They giggled again. I waited for an apology, but they didn't even bother. A little later the rider shouted at me, "What's the use of blocking the way, can't you see there's a jam?" I couldn't tolerate their wayward conduct and decided not to keep my mouth shut. So I moved forward a few metres and when I found a suitable corner, stopped and waited for them to approach.

They were reluctant at first, but after about a minute later (as the vehicles from behind were blowing horn), they got into motion. Since I was at such a point that they couldn't escape, they approached and I signalled them to stop. They did and I said, "Don't you guys even know that if you make a mistake you're supposed to apologise first? Is the way you're riding okay? You just hit two bikes, don't you realise?" To my surprise, the rider answered, "Well, actually my bike's brakes are no good, that's why that happened." Before I could say anything, they sped up and and took a narrow street where I had no plans to go. I just stared sideways for a while and then headed towards my destination.

An awaited announcement

One announcement which I had been waiting for several weeks finally came on the 15^th of April. I'm pleased to share it with you as it's the result of a great teamwork of my colleagues for nearly four months.

KathmanduHotel-Link.com was launched early this April as the 156^th locally managed destination website brought to the public by whl.travel, the global grassroots travel network catering to independent and responsible travellers. It is the first of two whl.travel destination portals currently chosen for Nepal and the 14th in South Asia.

With an all-inclusive approach this portal aims to provide a common platform for the local providers. Using a user-friendly interface and a robust backend system powered by whl.travel, KathmanduHotel-Link.com allows all providers, from small budget hotels to multi-star hotels and tour companies, to showcase their products and services in a virtually boundless e-marketplace.

So this new journey begins for me and my team. I'm glad to see the initial stages have been successfully accomplished. You can learn learn more on the announcement or download its PDF version from the WHL Blog. You can also see the official press release done in Kathmandu. And if you find it noteworthy to circulate the news in your own circle of regional press, travellers, hoteliers, tour organisers, or anyone who might be interested, please do so without any hesitation.

Though at this time most of the travel stories originating from Nepal in the media are pessimistic, let's hope that this endeavour will help tourism in this naturally and culturally rich country take a new direction. After all, it's high time something promising came to light, isn't it?

Happy New Year 2066 BS

May each morning of the new year bring rays of hope into your life.
May peace and integrity prevail in Nepal.
May our Nepal move ahead on a progressive path.
May all Nepalese get to breathe a sigh of relief.
Happy New Year 2066 BS to all Nepalese!

Happy Dashain 2065

Happy Vijaya Dashami 2065 to Nepalese all over the world!

Happy New Year 2065 B.S.

My friends, relatives, colleagues & all Nepali folks,
no matter where you are, I wish you
A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2065 B.S.

May the new year bring good health,
happiness and success to you & your family.

May it set our motherland on a progressive path
leading to a new era of long-lasting peace and prosperity.
जय नेपाल !

What's more questionable?

Which human behaviours do you find most peculiar and prevalent? My answer would be - our complaining about the works of and questioning ethics of other people.

I wonder why we can't as easily appreciate works of others as we expect ours to be appreciated. We don't even remember who taught us the art of complaining, do we? It's as if we were born with more than what we need to master this art. Likewise, when it comes to questioning others' ethics, we don't stand an inch behind. Even better we are at brushing off the shame we bring to ourselves in the name of criticism.

Criticism is perhaps the most misapprehended word of all. Why is it that negativity echoes first when we use this word? Could it be that negativity lies somewhere inside us - in our conscious or the sub-conscious selves?

Today we're observing a historic event in my motherland, Nepal. It's the Constituent Assembly (CA) Election today. We, the citizens, are supposed to elect the members of the CA, which will write a new constitution for the nation. We have complained for nearly two decades since the people's movement resulting in multi-party democracy in 1990. Several governments formed and dissolved and we kept complaining all the time. Eventually we began losing interest in politics and paying attention only to the means of our own survival. We (especially the people living in the capital) became so indifferent to what was going on in the mainstream politics or in the rebellious movements or in our very neighbourhood.

Today, I think is definitely not the day for us to just complain about the past and do nothing but exhibit our indifference and inaction. Today's the day when for once we stop complaining and act. I wish my fellow countrymen felt the same way and got this message.

Let's ask ourselves, "Is complaining all we can do?" Let's question our own morals first. Let's realise our voting right. Let's use it. Let's act! Together we can make a difference.

I'm taking all the registered voters in my family to the polling booth today including my grandpa (81) and grandma (78).