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I’ve been following the discussion on the ‘Nepal Tourism Think Tank: Into the Future’ Facebook group. I was interested to hear that the Hotel Association Nepal (HAN) was working along with the Ministry of Tourism to look at the possibility of utilizing empty hotels as self-quarantine centers for returning migrant workers, particularly those arriving by flight. With no one being particularly clear on what steps are being taken, I talked to several hotels that I have personal contact with to see if they had been approached in this regard. 

I then read an interesting article at the weekend in another news media that had talked with HAN and established that it is expected that 10,000 hotel rooms would be used for quarantine.  

Earlier I had heard that hoteliers quoted up to Rs 14,000 per room per night. Bearing in mind that 14 (nights of quarantine) x Rs 14,000 would be inconceivable for returning migrant workers, this has been revised downwards and they are now looking at Rs 3,000 for tourist-standard rooms. Meals included. The article I read also mentioned these hotels would probably be in Nagarkot, Dhulikhel, Chitwan, Pokhara, and Bhairahawa. Which somewhat negates my discussions with Kathmandu hoteliers, particularly as none have been approached by HAN in this regard.  

Interestingly, however, one Kathmandu hotel had a call some weeks ago from the army requesting information about their capacity, but with no follow-up. Then about an hour after writing this article there was coverage in yet another media, which included a picture of a well-known hotel in Thamel being made ready for returning migrant workers, one of 47 around the country, seemingly. Quite baffling!

Focusing then on the limited number of hotels I did talk to, 50 percent are temporarily closed now because of Covid-19. One having closed completely in April due to both Covid-19 and the request from the landowner for triple rent. Another is closed at this time because it has a long-term guest with underlying medical issues and two small children living in the hotel so are not willing to take chances. Regarding staff, of the hotels I talked to, 50-80 percent of staff is not working. Even those with guests are running at low capacity. Only one hotel questioned is not paying staff at this time, while the remaining ones are following HAN recommendations on payment to furloughed staff. All mentioned practicing WHO and/or Government of Nepal standards with regards to precautions against Covid-19 transmission.

“Marriott International and WHO/CDC norms are being followed in our hotel,” says Vikram Singh, GM of Aloft Kathmandu Thamel. “Plus we have a doctor checking daily on the staff and our current guests. Our staff are certified from the Marriott Global Source (MGS) and we have more than 200 plus safety guidelines to follow within our We Care Program.” Singh also explained that staff stay in-house on a two week rotation to minimize exposure to anything outside the hotel.

This is also the case in the other hotels: staffs are now staying on-site to reduce risk of transmission to guests. Social distancing and avoidance of all physical contact between staff and guests was also mentioned by all the hotels questioned.

“We are offering our guests room service under strict conditions of no contact. We have written and printed new guidelines for both guests and employees so there is no confusion over procedures,” says Pauline Driard, owner, 3 Rooms by Pauline, Babar Mahal.

While the hotels still operating are providing guests with in-house meals, two of the hotels—Aloft and Noya (in Gairidhara)—are offering take away services (as are a number of other hotels I did not contact). While Aloft is operating through some of the food delivery providers such as Foodmandu, Noya is providing deliveries within its immediate neighborhood. 

All hotels agreed that the biggest challenge is just to keep going in these unprecedented times. They all stress cooperation from landlords and the government is vital to keeping, not just them, but hospitality and tourism in general afloat. “We love Kathmandu and the people so much we felt we could live with the pollution, the traffic, and we even survived the earthquake in 2015,” says Thomas Tingstrup, co-owner of Tings Kathmandu, Lazimpat. “We might even have gotten through the current Covid-19 close-down as we are doing in our Lisbon property, but what we can’t live with are the real estate prices. As a result we were forced to close down Tings Kathmandu in April.”

“We are lucky as our property and land are family owned and they have agreed to waive the rent for time being. On the flip side, have payments due from businesses and individuals who are having a hard time making ends meet, and as a result cannot pay us now,” says Sanju Gurung, Manager, Pacific Guest House, Lainchour. “But we are working on ways to make ourselves sustainable during this time such as creating a kitchen garden.”

Finally, I asked: What does the future hold for tourism in Nepal?

“With the scenario changing moment by moment it is hard to predict how long it will take for the hospitality industry to recover,” say Saugat Adhikari and Pradeep Guragain, joint owners, Bodhi Boutique Hotel, Thamel. “Cleanliness and hygiene need to be a big focus in the future. We now see how important that is,” says Gurung of Pacific Guest House.

Santosh Shah, owner of Noya Hotel, states he feels the local community has a role to play in helping tourism thrive again: “There is strength in unity and an extraordinary opportunity here for us to help each other.” In Singh’s opinion, “tourism and hospitality cannot recover in the next two years unless a vaccine is found. We need to all come together. In Nepal we need more aggressive marketing and plans to reconfigure the product and delivery. This is the new normal.”

Having got no nearer to my objective of discovering exactly what HAN has in mind regarding quarantine facilities for returning migrants, I did get a better picture of how hoteliers are feeling at this time. And this is best summed up by Vikram Singh of Aloft. “The year 2020 is about surviving. Then 2021 and beyond is about reviving."

When my father announced that those over 70 years old in the UK were required to self-quarantine for three months, I was horrified. “Three months! That’s ridiculous!” was my reaction. Oh, if only I had known!

Now that those over 70 have reached their 12-week mark, my mother is looking forward to visiting friends and sitting in each other’s gardens for coffee. The Scottish government may have other ideas but, basically, my parents have ‘done’ their three months.

Meantime, over in Nepal we are now entering our 12^th week of lockdown. But unlike in Scotland, there is no end in sight. Neither are we updated daily (not updated at all) on what the future plans are, nor are we encouraged to ‘keep up the good work’. And good work we have done. Certainly in Kathmandu we have pretty much behaved ourselves and stayed at home as directed. We, citizens and others, who live in the country, did our part. But where are the authorities? Aren’t they supposed to do their part too?

As mentioned, unlike in Scotland, we are not updated on what is happening around the country, what the current plan of action is, or what future plans are. We were not even told the lockdown could be expected to go on for some time. Treated like children, we were give a few hours overnight to prepare for lockdown (well how could we?) and told it was for a week. Repeatedly told ‘for another week’ and then ‘for another two weeks’. Treat people like children and you are likely to get childlike behavior I would say. Thankfully those in Kathmandu did not revert to their early years, but who would blame them if they did? 

The past week or so I have been following someone based in the Karnali Region who has her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in the west of the country with regards to returning migrant workers. Interestingly although she gives much credit to local volunteers, village grassroots committees, and local level government bodies, the driving force behind galvanizing people to come together and telling us what is really happening is not a Nepali.  No, she is American.    

I don’t really have more to say. We know many gaps exist, which are hurriedly being filled by civil society. We are being put in front of smoke screens to keep our focus away from the main issues. Nepali citizens are not children! They are mature adults with a desire and ability to understand the real picture, given the chance. Now, and next time—and there is always a ‘next time’ catastrophe in Nepal—there should be honesty and accountability.

This affects your life and the lives of those you love. So, raise your voice. But do it while staying home

So how are you all doing? Now in week 10 of lockdown, are you suffering from cabin fever yet? The phrase “cabin fever” was probably coined in the past when people would be literally snowed in their cabins for weeks or months on end. Well we know how that feels: restless, irritable, lethargic, and just plain fed-up.

Whether we are isolating alone or with family some days we just feel plain yuck! But according to ‘experts’ we can do things to relieve this cabin fever. Structuring the day is pretty important as is taking time out for exercise (get those endorphins going)—and for yourself. Taking time out for yourself might seem a bit odd right now, particularly if you are at home alone. But some days we just need to relax, chill, and not try too hard at keeping sane. It’s perfectly fine to take time out even from doing nothing. A bit harder if you are in a family setting with children who demand attention.

So what am I doing these days? My days are loosely structured and oddly they pass very quickly. No need to get up early, my day starts around 8am three times a week when I have live on-line Zumba and Pilates classes with Priti Rai. Other days I tend to get up a bit later.  Regardless of the day it starts with a drink of moringa powder, which has all sorts of magical properties. Seemingly. That is followed by tea and fruit on the balcony.

The past two weeks the local crows seem to have gained enough confidence to hop on by for their daily breakfast muesli. Rarely more than one crow at a time and they seem to rotate. I’ve been locked down so long I recognize individual crows. I’ll be painting faces on and talking to volleyballs next, right Wilson? By now it’s around 11am or noon. Time to hit the kitchen.

I’ve suddenly become the Soup Queen. There are currently around 12 individual containers of different soups in my fridge. Make ‘em, freeze ‘em, eat ‘em, defrost the fridge, and repeat! I have found two great delivery services to keep me supplied. One being Kathmandu Organics and the other being Salesberry. There are plenty more, as I’m sure you know. As for actually going out—I like to keep trips to the shops down to once a week. 

I have had quite a lot of work to do over the past couple of months. At the beginning I deliberately spread it out. Now I find two hours a day is the maximum I can concentrate. So after completing any work it’s around 4pm. Twice a week I have other on-line live classes, this time Yogalates and Restorative Yoga with Helen, who lived in Kathmandu until earlier this year. Listening to her voice I could be in the yoga studio in Lazimpat! 

On days when there are no scheduled classes, I do Zumba via YouTube. After which, time to Skype mum. A daily event. Then perhaps a fix of anything interesting that’s being shown online. For example the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival is showing free movies. As is the Dharamshala International Film Festival. There might be some interesting gigs from local or international musicians, as well as other events from around the world. I watched a live talk from the North Pole earlier this week! 

**Breaking News** a chapter or two of J.K. Rowling’s new book, The Ickabog are available online each day now until 10 July, for kids, old and young!

By now the sun is going down and it’s time for what I call “Demented Dog”—or a walk round my very small roof! Then a glass of something on the veranda and check in if there is any other music online. Suddenly its 8pm—where did the day go?  A few calls or Skype’s to friends, a look at Netflix (‘Tiger King’ is worth a watch) and turn on American Idol (still running on Star World). Thankfully The Walking Dead series I watched on TV has now finished. Phew, because that marathon ran from 11.15pm till 2.15am every night. Roll into bed around midnight.  And tomorrow do it all again.

And yes, there are days when cabin fever takes over and there is nothing much happening in my house except reading (currently ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’) and coffee. So my original question: how are you and what are you doing? Comment below! 

This week we saw Dibesh Pokharel come runner-up in American Idol. So hands up who had heard of him before Monday, May 18?

I’ve been following American Idol this season but I forget the first time I saw Pokharel, or Arthur Gunn as he calls himself. I think I saw something on YouTube before the event aired here. That was a video of his first audition with the judges. They were blown away! I was also so blown away I made damn sure my TV was tuned to Star World at 9.15 pm every night. Meantime, I widely advertised Arthur Gunn on my FB page but no one responded really. I was quite surprised that none of my Nepali musician friends seemed interested or aware that there was a Nepali guy taking part in American Idol. 

I got replies like “I don’t watch reality shows” and “must be a cover singer”. Actually he is a singer songwriter but at the age of 22, how many songs could he have written? Anyway, only one friend, Abhishek S Mishra, of ASM and Spirit X fame, had anything to say. Mishra is also host of a radio show that features musicians from all genres. He had interviewed Arthur Gunn long before American Idol got hold of him. So yes, he knew him. Later I learned I had ‘missed’ gigs in past years when Pokharel returned to Nepal for a visit. I’m usually up to date with the music scene here, so obviously, no one had ‘talked’ about this amazing artist to alert me at that time either.

Meantime, Star World, in its—several times a night—promotion of American Idol was using over and over again the clip of Arthur Gunn walking into his first audition where he Namastes the judges. Was India more excited then than we were? I could not turn on the TV without seeing his face. And yet no one I knew was interested. With Covid-19 the format for the show changed and there was a lack of episodes to fill the time slots. So the same episodes were repeated maybe for three weeks. Still only one local friend, currently stranded in India, showed any interest. She is now a firm fan.

Then, according to much of what I’m reading this week, Arthur Gunn came from nowhere and reached runner up position in American Idol. Suddenly every Nepali media is writing about him. Where were they when he was beginning his journey?

I have seen this before. Take Prabal Gurung. This, now American, fashion designer, attended St Xavier’s School and other institutes here before moving to New York, via Delhi.  Today we know him as fashion designer to those such as Michelle Obama and Kate Middleton. I attended an event a couple of years ago where Gurung was a guest speaker.  He acknowledged his Nepali roots, but did Nepal ever acknowledge him before he became successful?

I’ve also seen this ‘leg pulling’ throughout society.  Let’s clarify: leg pulling in the UK means you are playing a joke on someone—such as saying they have a ink mark on their face, where there is none. In Nepal, it seems to mean pulling someone down, holding them back, or ridiculing them in their attempt to achieve something positive. I’m not entirely sure why this is so—jealousy? 

So, anyway, yes celebrate the fact that a Nepali is runner up in American Idol and will probably go on to be rich and famous. But do not pretend you wished him well earlier.