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Background: In 1951, the Nepalese monarch ended the century-old system of rule by hereditary premiers and instituted a cabinet system of government. Reforms in 1990 established a multiparty democracy within the framework of a constitutional monarchy. A Maoist insurgency, launched in 1996, has gained traction and is threatening to bring down the regime, especially after a negotiated cease-fire between the Maoists and government forces broke down in August 2003. In 2001, the crown prince massacred ten members of the royal family, including the king and queen, and then took his own life. In October 2002, the new king dismissed the prime minister and his cabinet for "incompetence" after they dissolved the parliament and were subsequently unable to hold elections because of the ongoing insurgency. While stopping short of reestablishing parliament, the king in June 2004 reinstated the most recently elected prime minister who formed a four-party coalition government, which the king subsequently tasked with paving the way for elections to be held in spring of 2005. Citing dissatisfaction with the government's lack of progress in addressing the Maoist insurgency, the king in February 2005 dissolved the government and assumed power.

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By WorldOutThere
October 15th 2005

Temples of Kathmandu

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

Hindu Bell in Patan
Buddhists have their prayer wheels and hindus have their bells

Temples, temples and more temples. That's Kathmandu. We stayed in Kathmandu 10 days overall including sidetrips to Nagarkot and rafting at Bhote Kosi. The first couple of days we stayed in Thamel, the tourist center of Kathmandu. Lots of shops, good restaurants, cheap hotels and tourists. And everybody is trying to get their share of tourism by trying to sell you something and everything. After a few days of this hassle a finnish friend, Tanja, who works for Unicef in Kathmandu, invited us to stay with her in her house outside Kathmandu. For couple of days we did nothing but stayed [View Full Entry]

By nicktuck
October 15th 2005

The End.......or is it??

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

What a view!
Moi, Pru, Mike, Susie, Jean

Well, that's it - it's all over. We've arrived in Kathmandu on schedule and have official now left the trip. However, after dropping Susie off in the Himalayas (she's doing an all female 3 week trek) Jean, Mike Pru (our driver from Delhi) and myself are all planning to stay in Kathmandu for at least a week. Then there's talk of bungee jumping, white water rafting, trekking, flights over Everest etc. When I'm finished with Nepal it's back to India. Mike also seems to have gotten the India bug so we are planning to head back to Rajasthan for the Pushka [View Full Entry]

By Tara and Lindsay
October 8th 2005

Namaste from Nepal

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu » Thamal

Beautiful mountains

No cars, no outside news, no laundry machines and no phones (that actually worked). If you can summarize an experience by describing what was missing, this would be a good start to attempt to describe our Annapurna circuit trek. We will be brief and let the photos describe the rest. In one word, the Nepalese countryside, the mountains and the people scattered in the villages throughout were amazing. In the course of the roughly 300km trek we watched the weather, the topography and our level of resistance to the Nepalese cuisine continually change. Despite some rough days and some slight in [View Full Entry]

By Anat
October 7th 2005

More pictures from Kathmandu and some from Patan

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

The royal square ("Durbar square") in Patan

I spent the days in Kathmandu mostly in leisure, not doing much, just enjoying the place. I did go one day to Patan, a neighboring town. There's not much to tell about, except that the pictures don't do just to it, due to the strong light. The royal square was really beautiful. You might wonder why a town like this, 5 kms from the capital has a royal square (and palace) - well it used to be a separate kingdom once upon a time. On Thursday we flew in to Pokhara, but the stories about it will wait for some time [View Full Entry]

Daphna & me at the entrance to the golden temple in Patan

Ornaments on the buildings in the square

By Anat
October 4th 2005

Celebrating "Rosh Hashana" with over 1000 Israelis

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

Many Israelis in Habad celebration of Rosh Hashana

The avid readers of my blog probably remember that I spent Passover in Sydney and went to celebrate the "lele seder" in habad. You might also remember it wasn't a big fun, except for meeting so many friends I made in New Zealand. Nevertheless, everybody was talking about celebrating Rosh Hashana (New Year's Day) with habad in Kathmandu. People came here from all over Asia. There were more than 1000 people. So we just had to... it wasn't as bad, we even had fun... We sang, even one Passover song ("Echad me yodea") only because it's a fun song. The Gefiltefish [View Full Entry]

By robena
October 3rd 2005

Shame

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu » Thamal

Looks like the Chinese Embassy (sp??!!) is closed until the 10th so I will not be going to Tibet after all. Just booked my flight back to Delhi for this Wednesday... can not wait to get back into India. Until then Be well, love Ro xox [View Full Entry]

By Anat
October 3rd 2005

Self service crematorium in Kathmandu

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

The cremation "altar-like" (called ghat)

(I warn in advance - this post is not for the faint-hearted!) In one of the mornings we woke up really early, something like 6:30, and went to Pashupatinath temple. It's an important Hindu temple and maybe it's beautiful inside - I can't tell because only Hindus are allowed in. But the Bagmati river bank right next is the city's "crematorium". It's not a building or anything like that. There are 6 square "altars" (well they look like that) on the river bed and around them stairs going down. There is no "hevra kadisha" or a company responsible for the cremation. [View Full Entry]

By Anat
October 2nd 2005

Kathmandu is AMAZING

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

Food here is GOOD....

We arrived to Kathmandu on Saturday afternoon. We checked in some hotel and went walking around a bit. Our eyes opened wide, we got so excited. It just looked like heaven! well, maybe it only looks like that after coming from India, I can't say, but that's how I felt. Lots of shops of course, nice stuff (I almost didn't buy anything in India and here I did and will do more :-), and also pubs with music, restaurants that look decent. The streets are cleaner than in India. The people are nicer, I think. In a few days in Kathmandu [View Full Entry]

By Lapin a la routarde
October 1st 2005

Chaleur et poussiere

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

A peine arrivee a Kathmandou, direction Godawari, village a une heure de Kath ou je serai benevole. Je suis accueillie a bras ouverts par ma famille nepalaise dans une grande maison pleine d'enfants, d'oncles, de tantes, de cousins, qui vont qui viennent et surtout qui se preparent pour Dasain, grande fete religieuse (hindoue) qui dure 2 semaines, pendant laquelle les gens vont aux differents temples, se retrouvent en famille, s'achetent de nouveaux vetements, sacrifient des animaux (!), etc... Je commence vite a apprendre le nepali, je mange le dal bhat (plat national de riz, lentilles et cur [View Full Entry]

By gypsygal
September 28th 2005

Some Updates

Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu

I know it's a bit late but I was busy moving around. So here, I finally updated my Laos travelogue (look for these entries: "Mystic Vibe in Luang Prabang" and "Small Blessings"). More to come (re: tales about Vang Viang and Vientianne) ** will be in KL tomorrow to spend more time writing, updating my blog, and doing yoga with my fave teacher Shilpa. Will be there until Oct 4. I'm flying to Bali for the Ubud Readers and Writers Festival ** I'll blog more about Laos, Nepal and Bhutan, PROMISE! ** Miss you all! [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Asia » Nepal » Kathmandu