Letter from Nepal

Participatory Tourism: Climber Adopts Village

2010-05-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

Anthony John Freake (or "Papa Tony," as he was known in Nepal), spent two decades helping a Sherpa community become a much more livable place. He ended up designing, raising funds, and directing construction of a school, teacher's house, clinic, monastery, youth center, community center, hydro-electric plant, running water supply... Very inspiring. [ Read the article at WanderingEducators.com. ]

Here's the article without the photos -- which, unfortunately, are the best part!
Submitted to WanderingEducators.com by Seth Sicroff on Fri, 01/01/2010

In my previous column, Trekker Sponsors Orphans, I wrote about Marc Osborn's transformative decision to sponsor three Nepali orphans. By facilitating the work of Goma Dhakal and her Rainbow Children Home, this trekker will have given a second chance to some kids who got off to a really bad start in life. Predictably, Marc's choice has already had a ripple effect, as it inspired a friend to visit Nepal and sponsor three more children. The publication of his story in Wandering Educators may motivate some readers to make similar decisions, and the article is likely to serve RCH's fundraising efforts for years to come.
Tourism planners in Nepal and other developing countries might consider how they can promote "orphan tourism" as a key variety of participatory tourism, one with the potential of not only motivating multiple return visits and foreign currency transfers over long periods of time, but also of helping salvage critical human resources which could otherwise be a drag on the economy for generations.
* * *
An even more extreme variety of participatory tourism is exemplified in the story of British national Anthony John Freake. For more than twenty years, "Papa Tony" has been a sort of fairy godfather, helping transform Phortse from a holdover medieval village into a modern community (by Nepali standards).

Phortse

Phortse is a community of about 400 Sherpas in the Khumbu District of Nepal, about a dozen miles from Mt. Everest. Perched on an isolated terrace approximately 3800m/12,500ft above sea level, Phortse was for years ignored by nearly all of the thousands of trekkers on their way to and from Mt. Everest, just a few days' walk away. It didn't matter that Phortse is probably the oldest Sherpa settlement, and one of the more beautiful, with a glorious southern exposure that catches several hours more sunlight every day than most Khumbu settlements. The problem was simply that Phortse is situated across the Dudh River valley from Tengboche, which happens to be one of the most charismatic trekker destinations in the world. Faced with that kind of competition, Phortse stagnated while those villages directly on the main tourist trail prospered. With no electricity, no running water, and -- due to seasonal and permanent outmigration of young men working in the tourism and mountaineering sector -- not enough labor to manage the fields, Phortse was in danger of becoming a ghost town.
I met Papa Tony at the Namche Conference ("People, Park, and Mountain Tourism") in May 2003. Namche Bazar (3400m/11,500ft) is the gateway Sagarmatha [Everest] National Park, and despite the fact that Namche is a week to ten days from the nearest road, the tourist trade has brought modern conveniences ranging from electric lights to Internet cafes and bakeries selling cappuccino and chocolate croissants. At the conference, Tony presented a talk about his work in Phortse. Most of the fifty-five participants were professionals, working for aid and development organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund and the United Nations; they were openly shocked to hear what a single determined individual could accomplish.

Tony and Sheila Freake

I'll let Tony describe his Phortse Community Project himself. The following account is edited from Tony's candidate statement for the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal, an award presented every few years by the Nepalese non-profit Mountain Legacy "for remarkable service in the conservation of culture and nature in mountainous regions." (My wife Empar and I were the initiators of the Namche Conference, Mountain Legacy, and the Hillary Medal, and I am a member of the Hillary Medal Selection Committee in charge of reviewing nominations.)
=========
Tony:
I first went to Nepal in 1989, having taken early retirement from the London University, where I was a Departmental Superintendent in Physics, Kings College. I bumped into a couple of colleagues from my climbing club, the UK section of the Austrian Alpine Club, and together we joined an expedition to climb Mt. Mera -- a so-called "trekking peak" that does not require a lot of technical expertise. Still, at 6,475m/21,246ft Mera is more than a mile higher than Mont Blanc (4,810 m/15,781 ft), the tallest peak in the Alps.
One of my colleagues and I went out a week earlier than the main group to get more acclimatised. Our sirdar (expedition leader) invited us to visit his home in Phortse. My first impression was, "Yes, these people could do with some help!" and I have been helping ever since. I went to climb a mountain and fell in love with a village.
First things first!
I thought the top priority ought to be the rehabilitation of the dilapidated primary school. However, the community urged me to help build a residence for the teachers, as they were then sleeping on the schoolhouse floor. What good would it do to have a first-rate schoolhouse if the teachers couldn't be retained due to lack of accommodations? So I knocked up a drawing and raised some money; in 1992 the community purchased the material and built the house.
I learned some important lessons from that first project. Although the Teachers' House was an improvement, the materials purchased by the villagers and the quality of construction work left a lot to be desired. On future projects I would take a more active management role and keep a close check on the finances. I would design the structure, raise the necessary funds, purchase the materials (transporting many of them from Kathmandu), and appoint and pay the builders.

Flying in material from Kathmandu

My second project was a small medical centre. The village had a health worker who was paid by the Himalayan Trust, but had no clinic to practice in. The nearest Western-style facility was the Himalayan Trust hospital at Khunde, four hours away; it had been built by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1966. Dr. Liz Hawley, the New Zealand medic in charge at that time, felt a Phortse clinic would be splendid; it would allow her to perform surgery there rather than oblige patients to negotiate the arduous trek to Kunde.
Soon after completing the design for the clinic, in 1994, I was approached by a Master at Eton College, the most prestigious boarding school in England. A group of his boys were planning to go to Nepal on trek and he was very keen that the boys should do some community work whilst in the field. He proposed that they join the Phortse project, and I accepted wholeheartedly.

"So, what are you going to do?"
Meanwhile I received a letter from the Phortse elders requesting me to replace their Health Worker. This appointment is normally the responsibility of the Himalayan Trust, so I felt leery of intruding. On arriving in the Khumbu I was quite surprised when Doctor Hawley told me that she wanted to get rid of him as well. Apparently the man appointed by the Trust had got fed up with the job and simply handed it over to his brother, a local pastoralist who not only was unhappy at having to neglect his yaks due to clinic duties, but actually had no notion of how to perform those duties. The matter came to a head when two babies in the village died unnecessarily. "So," I said to the doctor, "what are you going to do?"
I was taken aback by her answer: "It is not a question of what I am going to do, but what you will do."
Despite my own lack of expertise, we were able to find a bright young Sherpa from Phortse village for the job. After training by the Kunde doctor, Sodam Doma Sherpa served creditably for a number of years.
As crew foreman we were fortunate to recruit Pasang Lama, a master carpenter who had done a lot of work on the Khunde Hospital. The project went smoothly, although spirits were dampened by an accident that occurred in England prior to our departure. Gordon Daniels, one of the Eton boys, died while paragliding in a fundraising event. A plaque in his memory can now be seen on the wall of the clinic. A couple of years later, the boy's father and two other children came out to Phortse on pilgrimage.

New clinic

In 1996, I was approached by the Headman of the village and a senior monk from Tengboche. They requested my help in building a gomba (Tibetan Buddhist monastery) in Phortse. The gomba at Tengboche had only recently been rebuilt after a devastating fire, so I acquired the plans and prepared a scaled-down design for Phortse.

I again appointed Pasang Lama to direct construction, and the final cost amounted to 30,000 pounds sterling, much of which came from Eton College. His Holiness the Abbot of Tengboche blessed the building and all the villagers were delighted.
Since then we have added a courtyard, a residence for the monks, and other facilities. Phortse Abbot Nima Rita told me that every year on my birthday he would light a butter lamp in my honor "to give me good life."

New Phortse Monastery

Monastery icons

Monks' quarters

1999: it was time to build a new school. My design called for four classrooms and the Head Teacher's quarters. Again I invited Eton College boys to help me decorate the inside; two other groups were recruited to decorate and landscape the exterior. One of the groups came from the rather gritty Canning Town neighbourhood of London's East End. It was interesting to see young people from extreme ends of the social spectrum equally working so hard for these Sherpa halfway around the world from England. In fact the Canning Town lads raised enough money the following year to invite twelve young Phortse Sherpas for two weeks' holiday in England. Procuring the visas, however, turned out to be quite the challenge.

New school

Performance at the New School

"Let there be light!"
At the opening of the Namche Conference in 2003, a representative of each of the fifteen participating countries lit a butter lamp in the gomba courtyard, which had been given a much-needed facelift by the conference organizers. I lit a butter lamp on behalf of the UK. It was for me a powerful moment, and it inspired me to install electric power in the village of Phortse. By 2005 we had a 60kw micro-hydro plant up and running. I also raised money and installed a drinking water system.

Youth Centre

In 2007 I financed the rehabilitation of the old school so that it could be used as a Youth Centre complete with two pingpong tables. I also opened a Community Centre, which I hoped would help conserve Sherpa culture. A Sherpa Ladies Group is already in action. We have plans to install a library and 'learning centre' inside the Community Centre, and we expect to initiate some sort of cottage industry as well. We're still raising money for this project.

Children playing at the Youth Centre

Lastly, through my Phortse Community Project I have helped two girls through college in Kathmandu. The Himalayan Trust paid for fees and exams, while I paid for the girls' upkeep during their enrollment at college. The girls became the first Phortse youngsters to pass their School Leaving Certificate after graduating from the new Khumjung High School, built by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1982. One is now the Health Worker at the clinic I established in Phortse, so they are in a way completing the circle.

Sheila teaching a class at the Phortse School

* * *
In 2008, Papa Tony was awarded the Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal. Peter Hillary, the son of Sir Edmund Hillary and a member of the Hillary Medal Selection Committee, presented the Medal at a lavish ceremony at Tengboche Monastery in honor of the 55th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Everest. The entire village of Phortse, and a great proportion of the residents of Khumbu district, showed up to fete their local heroes.

Peter Hillary, Tony Freake, Beau Beza. (This photo and the three following courtesy of Dr. Beau Beza.)

Sherpas present katas (Tibetan ceremonial scarves) to Sheila and Tony.

Sheila, Tony (with Hillary Medal), and Beau

Presentation of Sir Edmund Hillary Mountain Legacy Medal: Sheila Freake, Dr. Beau Beza (Chair of the Hillary Medal Selection Committee), Papa Tony, Peter Hillary, and Peter's daugher Amelia

A few weeks later, Sir Edmund's son Peter Hillary introduced Anthony Freake at a gala event of the Royal Geographical Society in London, attended by upwards of 850 luminaries.

Emulating Hillary
The remarkable achievements of Tony Freake and his collaborators cannot be fairly represented in such a synoptic narrative. One element worth underlining is that Tony's work is not really an isolated freak of philanthropy. The Hillary Medal is intended to honor and encourage emulation of the even more extraordinary achievements of the first summiter of Mt. Everest. Sir Edmund built, equipped and maintained 42 schools, hospitals, clinics and forestry programs in the Himalayas. As a mountain climber, Tony Freake was very much aware of Hillary's philanthropic heroics, as was Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and founder of more than 130 schools in the remote mountain villages of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
While there are not many Hillarys, Freakes or Mortensons, their impact is so momentous that tourism planners need to consider how to propagate the breed. I will come back to this issue in another column; for now let me just suggest that a key factor is the amazing success of Sherpas in generating a philanthropic response among tourists. It's not an accident.

Kale Pheb, Tony!
As we were finalizing this article for publication, we learned that Tony had succumbed to cancer on Sunday, Dec. 27. We extend our condolences to Sheila and his friends in Phortse and around the world. Tony's mission will be carried on by his circle of collaborators. Those who would like to send messages of appreciation or find out how they can contribute to the Phortse Community Project may contact Sheila via Tony's email address: tony.freake at mypostoffice.co.uk If you're going to the Khumbu in Nepal, please visit Tony's beloved village of Phortse ... and stop by the gomba to light a butter lamp in gratitude for his life and his example.
On behalf of his friends at Mountain Legacy, Iet me offer our thanks and farewell, Tony. As the Sherpas say to one about to depart on a long journey, Kale pheb! Go slow.

Seth Sicroff is the Nepal Editor for Wandering Educators, and Internet sales manager for Sunrise Pashmina.

Nepali gov't extends CA term by one year

2010-05-17T09:22:00.000-07:00

May 17, 2010 article in Xinhua News: http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6988224.html
============
The Nepali government Monday decided to extend by the term of Constituent Assembly (CA), which is expiring on May 28, by one year.

The decision was made at the cabinet meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office Monday afternoon, Minister for Information and Communication Shakar Pokharel said.

According to Pokharel, the CA term has been extended as the constitution-drafting has not been completed.

The government is preparing to register a bill to amend the Interim Constitution for the extension of the 601-member CA that was elected two years ago to write a new constitution of the country.

On May 14, the government had formed a high-level panel comprising of nine senior ministers to deal with the parties including the main opposition Unified Communist Party of Nepal ( Maoist) and collect their suggestions regarding the extension of CA 's term.

Source: Xinhua

HIMALAYAN PRECIPICE

2010-05-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

Article from The Economist:
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16064258

May 6th 2010

Time is running out for attempts to settle the country's confrontation

NEPAL'S Maoists can put on an impressive display. For the past week
they have endured torrential rain and outbreaks of diarrhoea to bring
the capital, Kathmandu, and the rest of the country, to a halt. Then,
on May 4th, tens of thousands formed a human chain around both sides of
the 27km (17-mile) ring road, surrounding and cutting off the capital.
In a country where politics is marked by incompetence and cynicism, no
other force can match the former rebels for commitment or
organisation--which is only one reason why everyone else finds them so
frightening.

After ten years of insurgency the Maoists laid down their arms and
signed a peace deal in 2006. That deal is now on the verge of collapse.
The heart of the process is the writing of a new constitution, a
long-standing Maoist demand. When a Constituent Assembly was elected in
2008 to write it, the Maoists emerged with an effective veto and twice
as many seats as their nearest rival.

Then things started falling apart. A Maoist-led government resigned
after less than a year when the prime minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal,
better known as Prachanda ("fierce one"), sacked the army chief as part
of a dispute over integrating former guerrillas into the army--only to
see him controversially reinstated by the president. With some prodding
from India, 22 parties cobbled together an anti-Maoist coalition, but
the constitution-writing process stalled. May 28th marks the expiry of
the interim charter under which the country has been operating. If
there is no agreement to amend it, Nepal will plunge into legal limbo.
No one knows what law--if any--will then apply.

Agreement seems remote. The aim is to sign a "package deal" in
which--in theory--all sides will have something to show for the
concessions that will inevitably be needed. The trouble is this
requires tackling the issues that have proved most intractable over the
three years of the peace process, notably the integration of Maoist
fighters. There is no sign that these problems are getting any easier.

The timing is tricky, too: which steps should be taken before today's
government resigns and which after? The Maoists insist that nothing is
possible until the departure of the prime minister, Madav Kumar Nepal.
Forming the next government is another headache: the Maoist candidate
for prime minister is Prachanda himself, but he is unacceptable to many
others, including (it is thought) India.

Then there are deeper problems of trust. Baburam Bhattarai, the
Maoists' deputy leader, calls the government a coalition of elites bent
on preserving their power and privileges. "The elites", he says, do not
want to finish writing a constitution, because they know they will lose
the election which must then take place.

But to their many opponents, the Maoists have not kept their promises
to abandon violence and have not truly embraced democracy. It is
certainly true that stick-wielding members of the Young Communist
League on the streets of Kathmandu look scary and trade unions allied
to the Maoists are often high-handed. On the other hand, killings by
the Maoists have become rare even though at least half a dozen of their
own members have been murdered since the beginning of the year.

Nor do the ruling parties have strong democratic credentials
themselves. The prime minister and one of his deputies lost elections
in their constituencies and got into parliament only because there are
special seats which the parties fill through nomination. Rumour links
ministers from several coalition parties to criminal groups that
perpetrate most of Nepal's violence, as well as to the opium-poppy
farming which has recently spread in the increasingly lawless south.

So far the protests have remained mostly peaceful but clashes are
occurring, tempers are fraying and hardliners on all sides are itching
for a fight. The Maoists draw much support from the young and
underemployed--the country's biggest single group. Having fought for so
long, they are not about to fade away now.

See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16064258

UN cuts food rations for Bhutanese refugees in Nepal

2009-10-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iLnyNylZGKvOh8X82xv0DVTjTwbw

UN cuts food rations for refugees in Nepal

(AFP) – Oct 15, 2009

KATHMANDU — The United Nations said Thursday it had been forced to cut food rations to 90,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in Nepal due to a severe funding shortage.

The UN's World Food Programme provides rice, lentils and other food to the refugees, who fled Bhutan when ethnic tensions flared nearly two decades ago and came to eastern Nepal, where they have lived ever since in camps.

Bhutanese refugees collecting food at a camp in Nepal

The move, which comes after the UN warned on Wednesday that the global economic crisis had led to declines in foreign aid and investment in poor countries, marks the first time rations have been cut in the camps.

Nepal country representative Richard Ragan said the WFP was "extremely concerned" about the consequences of reduced rations on the refugees' health, and that further ration cuts may be necessary in the coming months.

"The Bhutanese refugees have no legal right to own land or work, leaving them almost entirely dependent upon WFP food to meet their basic needs," the organisation said in a statement.

A representative of the refugees told AFP it would be hard to live on the reduced rations.

"I don't know how I'm going to survive for 14 days on 2.8 kilos (six pounds) of rice. I will have to eat very little so I don't run out of food," camp secretary Tek Bahadur Gurung said by telephone from the Beldangi camp.

Bhutan has refused to allow the refugees to return, but more than 20,000 have now left Nepal for Western countries under a resettlement programme launched in 2007.

The UN said the programme could take up to five years to complete, and called for urgent funding to allow it to continue feeding the refugees.

MR NEPAL LUCKS OUT

2009-06-03T20:13:00.000-07:00

The Economist
May 28th 2009

See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13754069

But his country, of the same name, is struggling.

ON MAY 23rd Madhav Kumar Nepal, the communist son of a Hindu priest,
became Nepal's new prime minister. He succeeds Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the
country's former Maoist leader--the main protagonist in a decade-long
guerrilla war--who resigned on May 4th, leaving the government in
limbo. Mr Nepal has the support of 21 of the 24 political parties in
Nepal's assembly; but this is scarcely democratic progress. The
Maoists, who won 38% of the assembly's seats in the country's first
post-conflict election last year, do not support him. Nor did Mr Nepal
win either of the two seats he contested in the poll.

Among many threats to his new government, the Maoists loom large. Mr
Dahal, who resigned after he was foiled in an effort to sack an old
enemy, Nepal's army chief, General Rookmangud Katawal, has said they
remain committed to democracy. Yet the Maoists had until last week
stopped the assembly functioning since their chief's resignation. And
they still demand that the president, Ram Baran Yadav, should reverse
his decision to veto General Katawal's sacking. Backed by Mr Nepal and
his allies, who consider the army a last defence against the Maoists,
Mr Yadav will not do this. On May 24th the Maoists spurned an
invitation to join the new government.

With luck, it may survive for a while. It might even try easing the
country's severe power and fuel shortages. That would quell some of the
growing discontent at the failure of any party to deliver on its
election promises. But the early signs are not promising, with Mr
Nepal's coalition partners bitterly feuding over the division of
cabinet spoils.

More important, there seems little prospect of this government making
much progress on the assembly's two main tasks--shepherding a
complicated peace process and drafting a new constitution. Under Mr
Dahal's more solid government, including the Maoists, Mr Nepal's UML
(for Unified Marxist-Leninist) and other parties, these were daunting:
the thorniest issue of the peace process, the fate of 23,000-odd former
Maoist fighters, led indirectly to its demise. (Some of these fighters
are to be recruited into the army; but General Katawal, to the Maoists'
fury, has resisted this.) And if Mr Nepal's government cannot resolve
these issues, it had better make way for one that can.

Slippery peace process

2009-05-16T13:48:00.000-07:00

TWO ARMIES INTO ONE WON'T GO

The Economist
May 7th 2009

With peace in its grasp, Nepal is let down by its politicians and its
army

TO MUCH of the outside world, Nepal has seemed blissfully quiet in
recent months. The peace process that ended a bloody ten-year civil war
in 2006 seemed on track, and outsiders could go back to seeing the
place as a small Himalayan holiday-spot of little concern.

But Nepal is neither insignificant nor irrelevant. It has nearly 30m
people and occupies a strategic position between Asia's emerging
giants, India and China. And the notion that its divisions were healed
was an illusion that has been shattered by a bust-up between the prime
minister and the army (see article[1]). The country now faces a crisis
for which the Maoists, the other parties and the army all share
responsibility. So do Nepal's foreign partners, especially the most
important one, India.

It was a jolt to most foreign observers and the Nepali elite when
Maoist insurgents won the most seats in an election a year ago. The
shock eased as the rebels swapped combat fatigues for lounge suits, put
on weight and started to resemble normal grasping politicians. Just as
in peace processes from Northern Ireland to Sri Lanka, however, Nepal's
politicians left the hardest parts to last.

The deferred, intractable issue is the future of Nepal's security
forces. What was once the "Royal" Nepal Army, which propped up the now
deposed king, Gyanendra, in a short-lived dictatorship, has been
refusing to follow the writ of the government of the new republic, led
by the Maoist leader, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, better known by his NOM DE
GUERRE, Prachanda. Under the peace agreement, the Maoists' ragtag bunch
of guerrillas was supposed to be integrated with the proper army.

The army will have nothing of it, so former Maoist fighters are still
holed up in United Nations-supervised cantonments. Mr Dahal sacked the
army chief. The president reinstated him, so the prime minister has now
resigned.

The Maoists have, in part, themselves to blame for making the army--and
everyone else--nervous about their commitment to pluralism. Although
they have confounded fears that they would be a Nepali, elected Khmer
Rouge, they still talk (amongst themselves, at least) about a
totalitarian-sounding "people's republic". Their youth wing is guilty
of thuggery. Yet, whatever their private ambitions, Mr Dahal has
offered to join a government of national unity if the president
rescinds his reinstatement of the army chief. That seems the least bad
outcome. But it relies on the acquiescence of the other political
parties and the army, who have seemed even more hostile than do the
Maoists to the peace deal they all struck.

In last year's election the Maoists won 38% of the seats in a
Constituent Assembly. The other, losing, parties came out in support of
the sacked army commander and seemed ready, with army backing, to form
a government without the Maoists. The former rebels thus captured the
democratic high ground. And to do its job--drafting a constitution--the
assembly needs the Maoists, who have a blocking vote.

DELHI DALLYING
Nepal's foreign donors should have pushed harder for the establishment
of proper civilian control over the army. India, which did much to
engineer the peace, has quietly backed the army commander's
unconstitutional disobedience. The Delhi government sees the army as
its truest friend in Nepal, where it has long had an overweening
influence. Facing a large, scattered Maoist rebellion of its own, India
has also been alarmed by the Nepali Maoists' rapprochement with China
(which had no time for them when they were mere leftist guerrillas).

In standing down, Mr Dahal has been able to present himself as both a
champion of the poor, and defender of Nepali pride against a meddling
neighbour. The Maoists' prestige may be further bolstered in coming
months by their having quit government at a time of mounting economic
hardship and disillusionment with the peace process. All this may
strengthen them. Eventually, India and other powers will have to accept
that the Maoists are in Nepali politics for the long haul.

Happy Lo Sar!

2009-03-20T10:12:00.000-07:00

By the way Seth, let me explain you here about the LOSAR what ever I could and knew my self.

LOSAR ( in Tibetan language LO means Year SAR means New). In Tibet Tibetans have been celebrate the LOSAR since so many ago this year is Tibetan ERA 2136 EARTH OX year.
There are twelve symbolic in LOKHOR CHU NYI. There is a mandala showing all the symbolic of every year in circle with serialy. Also let me write down here all the names, symbolic of every year.

1. CHEWA LO means MOUSE YEAR.
2. LAANG LO means OX YEAR.
3. TAAGH LO means TIGER YEAR.
4. YOE LO means RABIT YEAR.
5. DUGH LO means DRAGON YEAR.
6. DUL LO means SNAKE YEAR.
7. TAAH LO means HORSE YEAR.
8. LOOK LO means SHEEP YEAR.
9. TEL LO means MONKEY YEAR.
10. JHAH LO means BIRD YEAR.
11. KHYI LO means DOG YEAR.
12. FAAG LO means PIG YEAR.

The LOSAR is the biggest festival in Tibet for Tibetans of course there some other festivals also to celebrates more or less related with religious. So during the LOSAR the main celebration goes till 3rd of the month officialy. But most people celebrates bit longer than untill 6th of the month or some even does till 15th (full moon) of the month too.

So let me tell you what we do in LOSAR in first day of LOSAR we go to monastery to get blessings from the great Lamas Rinpoche in monastery with neat and clean in new clothes which is made to worn only in LOSAR also having put on with precious ornaments. Also we should go and visit to the relatives the elder ones to get blessings from them and saying TASHI DELEK for the happy new year. Especially the childrens are very happy and excited to have new clothes put on.
In that way the elders drinks chang ( Tibetan beer home made for LOSAR) delicious meals all day long by singing and dancing.

In the second day of LOSAR we change the flag in the roof of the house and put on new flag early in the morning according to the astrology's timing schedule given to change the flag of the house. During the period of changing the flag all the family members shoud be gathered together and offering pray in hope of a successful in the year.
In the third day of LOSAR all the Tibetans go to Boudha Nath to attent in SANG SOL infront of Boudha nath with offering new flags and butter lamps there will be a big assembly of Tibetans and many others too even many western peoples can be seen in the assembly taking pictures of LOSAR activities.

Now a day the LOSAR festival is also celebrated by Tamang, Gurung in Nepal with their own traditional ways. Before they used to celebrate Dashain and Teehar only. Now they quit to celebrate Dashain and Teehar because during the Dashain festival celebration they sacrifices so many innocent animals in the name of God. Which they don't like to do any more they realized it is a big sin they have been doing in the past early years which now they hate to do so. Now the government also agreed to give one day holiday during the LOSAR and it is officialy respected to be as national holiday.

Seth, that's all I know about the LOSAR.

Letter from Tsering on the recent election

2008-11-16T06:40:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to congratulate to Mr. Barack Obama that he won the historical presidential election which was highly appreciated and most warm welcomed from many countries of the world and their peoples; they all love him and I also pray for him a successful leadership in the country and his health.

Secondly I would like to congratulates to every and each American peoples that they have elected the right person for president of their great country with a election of fair and clean transparently democratic system.

Here in Nepal we love him too and pray for Obama a successful leadership and prosperity and peace of the country. To be honest here in Nepal we love him because he is a peace lover and he really wants to work hard to keep peace and to develop higher economic standards and better life for human being in every country in this beautiful world. That's why we in Nepal are happy for Barack Obama's victory.

Article on Obama victory

2008-11-06T07:48:00.001-08:00

http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/nov/nov06/news02.php

Obama’s win is a matter of joy for underprivileged around the world: Foreign Minister Yadav

Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav has said that election of an African American person as the president of the United States has given a strong message of change across the world.

“The government of Nepal wishes to congratulate Barack Obama,” he said, adding that his election also marked much more to underprivileged people around the world.

“For all the underprivileged people and the people suffering from various discriminations across the world, this is a matter of joy,” he said.

The foreign minister, however, said that he does not expect any change in America’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Nepal with the change in administration there.

Meanwhile, president Dr. Rambaran Yadav and Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ also congratulated the election of Obama. nepalnews.com sd Nov 06 08

Related news
-

Our other new blog

2008-10-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

http://sunrise-pashmina.blogspot.com -- personal perspectives from pashminophiles.

"Flat" (i.e. apartment) for rent in Kathmandu

2008-10-27T08:38:00.000-07:00

Subject: Flat for rent
Date Sent: Wednesday, October 22, 2008 1:51 PM
From: lucia de vries
To: Sara Shneiderman

*Furnished Flat for Rent in Patan*

Spacious furnished flat for rent in Dobhighat, Patan, 250 mtr outside Ring
Road.

*Features:*

- Flat is part of 3-story house, shared with one foreigner and 1 or 2 dogs
- Lovely medium size garden with many flowers and parking space
- Sufficient (hot) water
- Overlooks Chobar and Kirtipur
- Standard kitchen and bathroom
- Large living room (with fireplace) and 1 large bedroom

Contact Lucia de Vries, luciadevries@gmail.com or (++ 977) 9841-348563

--
Lucia de Vries
Freelance Journalist
Bagdol, Patan, Nepal
Wijk 4-47, 8321 GE Urk, Holland

Welcome!

2008-10-27T07:48:00.000-07:00

This blog is run by the people who bring you Sunrise Pashmina (www.sunrise-pashmina.com). Our primary project is the promotion of independent backpacker tourism as a vehicle for benign development; our original purpose in getting involved with Tsering Choekyap back in 1999 was to small craftspeople and entrepreneurs in the Freak Street area of Kathmandu, the traditional gateway to mountain treks.

We hope this blog will become a sort of bulletin board for people to share news, projects, and personal perspectives on Nepal.

By the way, if you're thinking of going to Nepal and want advice, don't hesitate to contact me.

Seth Sicroff
sicroff@gmail.com