Did you think Nepal was just mountains, Buddhist monks, and freezing cold?
Traveling to Nepal is like opening Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates: you never know what you’re going to get.
Sure, there are plenty of things about the country that almost everyone knows: the many peaks—among the highest in the world—scattered across the Himalayas, the mountain monasteries devoted to Buddha, the sherpas, the yaks, the glaciers, and so on.
But there are many more things I’m pretty sure you don’t know. Okay, I’ll give you that maybe you’ve heard one or two of these somewhere before. In fact, the first one isn’t all that unknown, especially for those who, like us, used to dream about the world as kids while looking at atlases and TV documentaries.
And the others?
Well, read on and you’ll see.
Nepal’s flag has a shape unlike any other in the world
You know the classic national flags?
Almost all rectangular, mostly divided into colored stripes and not much else. Kind of boring...
Then, sure, there are also some really cool flags, like Cambodia’s, which features Angkor Wat, or Bhutan’s, with a dragon. Yes, a dragon holding Tibetan jewels in its claws!
But even those are rectangular like all the others. How dull...
And then there’s Nepal... which decided to create a flag shaped like “I still have no idea what on earth this is”.
We could describe it as being made up of two right triangles placed one above the other. Their interior is crimson, Nepal’s national color, and their border is blue, expressing the concept of peace. Inside the triangles are a stylized moon and sun, respectively.
But how beautiful is this flag?
I really think the time has come to start a petition so we can have one like this in Italy too.
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Nepalis live in the future
In Nepal, they’ve already reached the year 2080. They drive flying cars, have colonized Mars, and are building a giant robot to defend us from Kaiju.
Okay, the last three things I told you are obvious nonsense, but the first one isn’t: Nepalis really are years ahead!
You see, the thing is that over there they use a lunar calendar (the Vikram Sambat) which, unlike ours, lasts 354 days. And about every 3 years they add a month.
So, give or take a few calculations, my abacus tells me that today in Nepal it’s the year 2080. Imagine the killer jet lag...
Hospitality is practically a way of life
You know the typical hospitality of Southern Italy and the islands?
Like when you end up in a tiny village in inland Sardinia and they offer you mountains of roast suckling pig, a whole wheel of pecorino (or that nuclear bomb known as casu marzu), a family-sized seada, 10 bottles of mirto, and then ask why you’re eating so little because “you’re wasting away, go on, have some more.”
Well, Nepalis are like that, multiplied by a thousand.
They are kind and hospitable to travelers and, if one happens to be in their home, they won’t think twice about treating them to a full spread of food and drinks, offering seconds, thirds, and then some of everything.
It’s truly a cultural trait deeply rooted in their way of life. And we love them for that too!
Of course, if you make the wise decision to travel to Nepal and are invited for lunch or dinner in a local home, expect fairly spicy food, as is normal for the local cuisine.
Cows are sacred
Okay, maybe you could have guessed this, given Nepal’s proximity to India, but if you didn’t know, now you do!
Cows are sacred; you don’t mess with them at all. In fact, on local roads it’s common to find them right in the middle of the street, maybe taking a nap or watching you curiously with their big round eyes.
Obviously, they can’t be slaughtered either, so say goodbye to beef while you’re here.
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People spit
Yep. Young people, adults, the elderly, women, men.
Everyone spits calmly in the street without giving it a second thought. Because there it’s completely normal; it’s socially accepted to do so!
Mind you, this behavior shouldn’t make you think that hygiene is not valued in Nepal. Quite the opposite—people care so much about it that they’re used to taking off their shoes indoors so they don’t bring in the dirt collected on their soles.
Still, keep this in mind when you go to Nepal: you will see people spitting.
In conclusion
And this is just a taste of the strangest and most curious things that await you in Nepal.
Then there’s a whole country to discover, with its trekking-perfect landscapes and lots of other very cool things.
We don’t want to miss any of it and, as every year, we’ll be setting off again and again to visit Nepal on a 17-day itinerary that will even take us to Everest Base Camp.
So, what do you say—do you want to take a trip that’s different from the usual this year?
Give us a shout and we’ll organize everything.
