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Welcoming a million foreign tourists in a calendar year has long been consid­ered the holy grail of Nepali tourism. Now that mark has been breached. According to Nepal Tourism Board, in the first 11 months of 2018, Nepal welcomed 1,001,930 foreign tourists who came here by air, a 17 percent increase from the same period in 2017. Factor in those entering Nepal via land, and the tourist number shoots up by 23 percent. This is something to be celebrated, partic­ularly after the slump witnessed in the aftermath of the 2015 earthquake.

Even before data for this period were in, the govern­ment had already made public its plan to attract two million tourists by 2020. Many considered it impossi­ble as the country could not get even half that num­ber for so long. But better-than-expected numbers this year could make the skeptics rethink. If not exact­ly two million, it would be quite an achievement to welcome, say, 1.5 million. But are our airports, hotels and transport services prepared for so many visitors? For instance, cumulatively, Nepali hotels can handle around 500,000 guests a year, excluding stay-home options and Airbnb rooms. Can the number of rooms be so drastically ramped up in such a short time?

The same with our air transport facilities. Right now the country has a single international airport. The good news is that the pace of work at both Pokhara and Bhairahawa international airport projects is brisk and on current course both will come into operation by the end of 2020. But even if we can accommodate two million visitors, is it wise to have them all? Phewa Lake, the center of attraction of the tourist city of Pokhara, is shrinking because of building works in the area. What remains of the lake is highly polluted. Meanwhile, Mt Everest is fast turning into a garbage dump. Hoteliers also complain of the increasing influx of ‘lightweight’ backpackers who like to complain but not to spend much cash.

If the goal is to make tourism a strong pillar of the Nepali economy, perhaps the time has come to focus on high-end tourism. The Swotha neighborhood in Patan, for instance, charges upward of $100 a room for an authentic Newari experience, and the rooms there are seldom empty. Perhaps a few of the 100 new ‘tour­ist locations’ in Nepal can be developed for such high-end tourism. Sustainability and profitability need not be mutually exclusive.

The Garage Lounge and Bar on Jhamsikhel Road (opposite St Mary’s School) is a popular joint among the young crowd. Perhaps the well-lit ambience, non-conventional decorations and of course moderate food prices have something to do with it. Surely you would agree that Hawaiian Pizza for Rs 360, New York Pizza for Rs 350 and Mojitos for Rs 365 are fairly priced, considering the high average dining costs in that posh locale. Photos and posters of vintage motorcycles and cars adorn the interiors while the center-piece is a real bicycle embossed with the restaurant’s name. The warm lightening, an assortment of auto related decorative pieces and the tin roof give Garage a rus­tic, yet glamorous look. With the facilities for hosting private birthday parties and watching live sporting events also available, this retro Garage is one place you would want to park your hungry tummy.

THE MENU

Chef’s Special:

- Chicken Basket

- Nasigoreng

- Chicken Sadeko MoMo

Opening hours 12 pm - 10 pm

Location Jhamsikhel Road (opposite St Mary’s School)

Cards Accepted

Meal for 2: Rs 1,200

Reservations: 9823211215

Off-road bike riding is incredible fun. On the road, you learn to slow down for safety. Riding where there’s little traction, off-road, is a differ­ent ballgame altogether.

Nepali Rider is an annual adventure bike ride organized by Yatriyo.com. This time the event is being organized at Kalinchowk, the Rolwaling trekking region in Dolakha district, from Dec 30-Jan1. Kalinchowk tour is ideal for the explo­ration of Nepali culture as well as to immerse yourself in natural beauty. Those who go on the tour can enjoy panoramic views of Annapurna, Manaslu, Ganesh Himal, Lamjung, Jugal Himal, Shisha Panga and Gauri Shankar. Then there is the Kalinchowk Bhagawati temple, at a height of 3780m.

The event also features top DJs, popular singers, and other renowned artists.

Dubbed “Small Ilam” by the locals, this beautiful tea garden is located at Bhotechaur of Sindhupal­chowk district, an hour’s drive from Kathmandu. You can take either a private vehicle or a public transport to Sankhu and then trek up from there. Spare a day to enjoy the whole tea garden and the beautiful surroundings. You can even hike to Bhotechaur from Shivapuri or Nagarkot, through a scenic trail.

Q. How would you describe your­self in three adjectives?

A. Spontaneous, self-obsessed (wink), empathetic

Q. Apart from your phone what are the three things that you always carry in your bag?

A. Common sense, humor, and my perfume: Not so new obsession— Narciso Rodriguez for Her

Q. What is your biggest fear?

A. Fear of PMS-ing earlier than I should

Q. What would your last meal con­sist of?

A. My last meal would consist of anything that is light, followed by prayers.

Q. A late night food that you crave?

A. I don’t really crave for food during sleep hours but sometimes any­thing that I come across on my newsfeed makes me drool.

Q. What is a food that you would never try?

A. Anything that has bone marrow in it

Q. Most overrated food trend?

A. I can’t understand why people love ice cream so much.

Q. The favorite place that you have ever visited?

A. My favorite place is not really a place, instead it’s an experi­ence. On my trek to Gosaikun­da, we stopped by at a small village called Chandanbari. Colorful houses, golden hour, amazing company, breathtak­ing view, surprisingly somewhat “Italian food”, unplugged music and sunset, I seized every bit of that moment.

Q. Your guilty pleasure?

A. Oh lord! Procrastination

Few are likely to name the unassuming refrigerator as something that has trans­formed family life over the years. But innovations over the past 60 years has indeed turned this appli­ance from a lowly kitchen box to a highly functional, ergonomic and environment-friendly product it is today. Consumers too have come to hold these products to higher standards. In this connection, LG Electron­ics has time and again pushed the boundaries of innovation and chal­lenged convention. Its dedication to consistently bring convenience-en­hancing features to consumers has resulted in a number of breakout products including the Home Bar and the InstaView Door-in-Door™ with Inverter Linear Compressor to boost overall energy efficiency and performance.

This refrigerator also supports Smart ThinQ, so that users can control the refrigerator remotely through mobile applications

Research shows that on average LG customers open their refrigerators 79 times a day. Despite this, four out of 10 customers had trouble remem­bering what was inside, resulting in a lot of spoiled food. This prompted LG to create the innovative Door-in-Door™ refrigerator in 2010. The first-of-its-kind, LG’s Door-in-Door™ innovation made it easier to orga­nize frequently accessed items in the refrigerator so that they can be easily removed without opening the big door and letting precious cold air escape. By reducing the number of times the main door was opened, food stayed fresh longer. Taking this to another level, LG introduced the world’s first Dual Door-in-Door™ in 2014 to double the convenience and allow greater flexibility in organizing foodstuff.

With efficiency now at the top of LG’s priority list, researchers discov­ered that anywhere from 50-120kwh of electricity was wasted every year from cold air escaping whenever the refrigerator door was opened. So in 2016, LG developed the InstaView Door-in-Door™ to allow family mem­bers to see what was in the refrig­erator without having to open it at all. Knock twice on the transparent door and everything would be illu­minated, allowing for a clear view of what was inside. The response from the public took LG executives by surprise—whenever consumers saw the refrigerator in a store or in a showroom, they couldn’t resist the temptation to knock on its door. The refrigerator had become a conver­sation piece because LG InstaView Door-in-Door™ transformed the way consumers used refrigerators.

The LG InstaView Door-in-Door™ refrigerator also supports Smart ThinQ™, so that users can control the refrigerator remotely through mobile applications. It is easy to operate key features such as Con­trol Temperature, Express Freeze, Smart Diagnosis and Hygiene Fresh+™ Air Purifying with simple touch of smart phones, allowing users to enjoy the convenience of a smart home.

Maintaining unity among the Madhesi parties that had come together to form the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal (RJPN) ahead of the three-tier elections in 2017, it was then speculated, would be tough. The speculation has been vindicated. In a year and a half since its formation, the six top leaders in the presidium, each of whom represented a separate political party at the time of the merger, have con­tinuously sparred. Things came to a head when on Nov 20, Mahanta Thakur, the reigning presidium coordinator, was removed from the post and replaced by Rajendra Mahato, in what has been described by Thakur’s supporters as a ‘coup.’ Many reasons contributed to Thakur’s downfall. One was the disagreement over whether the RJPN should join the fed­eral government of KP Sharma Oli. After assuming the post of the coordinator, Mahato has been keen to emphasize he is in no rush to join the government, and that the party will join only after key demands of the RJPN, including constitution amendment, are first met. Nonetheless, that Mahato has for some time been negotiating with Prime Minister KP Oli over min­isterial berths is an open secret.

Thakur and his followers were against joining the government unless their demands were first met

While the Mahato fac­tion was in favor of joining the federal government, and pressing for their case from inside the govern­ment, Thakur and his followers were strongly against doing so unless their demands were first met. That was not the whole story though. Other members of the presidium were also unhappy with Thakur’s ‘unilateral’ ways. Thakur, in their reckoning, instituted a culture of nepotism by picking only those close to him to stand in the three-tier elections in 2017, a trend that has supposedly continued while filling key party positions.

If the RJPN breaks apart now, the key Madhesi agenda of constitution amendment will be virtually abandoned. The Federalist Socialist Forum Nepal, the other big Madhesi party is already a part of the federal government, even as PM Oli has shown no inclination to amend the constitution. There is a risk that if the mainstream parties in Madhes are seen to be deviating from their electoral mandate, Madhesi politics could go into the hands of extremist forces. Right now those who have always been against amending the ‘perfect constitution’ might be rejoicing. But soon they might be in for a rude shock.

Senior communist leader Madhav Kumar Nepal was perhaps the only top leader in his party who was a stickler for time. Now he has com­pany. On Dec 1, the ruling NCP secretariat, the party’s top decision-making body comprising of nine leaders, including Nepal, was to convene at the Prime Minister’s residence at 3 pm. But when Prime Minister KP Oli, who is also the party co-chairman, did not show up till 3:15, the four secretariat members who had been waiting—Nepal, Narayan Kaji Shrestha, Jhala Nath Kha­nal and Bamdev Gautam—decided to leave.

Apparently, this was not the first time PM Oli had kept them waiting. They say they ditched the Dec 1 sec­retariat meeting to teach the prime minister a lesson in punctuality. There are various other interpretations of their decision. But if the reason given by the four lead­ers is taken at face value, it underscores the larger ten­dency of senior government officials to disregard time. Even vital state-level functions are routinely delayed as the designated VVIPs fail to show up on time.

The four secretariat members are bang on when they suggest that as the leader of their party and as the executive head of the country, it is imperative that Oli sets the right precedent. If party chairmen and our prime minister and president show up on time, those in lower ranks are bound to be punctual. But what we see right now is just the opposite. The prime minister makes his ministers wait, who in turn make senior bureaucrats do the same, and this self-defeating ten­dency is passed down the line.

But it is not just politicians and government officials who routinely disregard the time of other people. Nepali patients have long grown used to waiting for doctors for hours on end. Our aircraft and buses, both private and public, are also infamously late. Restaurants take forever to deliver food and our trash is seldom col­lected on time. If, like the rebellious NCP quartet, more officials in leadership position insist on doing things on the dot, those working under them might learn to value time as well. Those outside the government are also sure to take notice. As Shrestha has pointed out, better time management is vital for both personal and national prosperity.