Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Nepal travels

I finally visited the majestic country of Nepal this February. I am attracted to any country with big mountains, so of course Nepal was Heaven for me! Nepal was one of the most unique trips of my life, due to the recent political problems there. In a nutshell, Nepal is on the verge of civil war, since the Maoist rebels are controlling a lot of areas in the countryside. They are fighting against the king and want to make Nepal a better country. I don't know enough of the details to pick sides.
Just a couple weeks before my trip to Nepal, a strange incident occurred in the country. The king suddenly fired all his cabinet and then cut all the phone lines in Nepal for almost a week. For almost a week, Nepali people couldn't communicate with the outside world. It was a scary situation, but I went ahead with my trip anyway. My desire to go there was too high. In the capital of Kathmandu, I didn't get the sense that there was danger in the country. I felt sorry for the locals, as the political problems had scared most of the tourists away. Tourism is one of the biggest industries in Nepal, so this is a huge problem. Despite this economic situation, I found Nepalese to be amazingly gracious and animated people with a love of life. I made many new wonderful friends who I can't wait to see again. I hope things don't take a turn for the worse, and many people can travel to see this wonderful country...