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Tags: Gay Travel / Nepal / Tourism Boards / Nepal Travel / → All Tags

Nepal Rebranding Itself As Go-To Gay Travel Destination

Nepal, a country that's been wracked by years of political instability, is desperately in need of tourism money. GLBT travelers and couples, all things being equal, tend to have relatively high amounts of disposable income, or so Nepal thinks. Therefore, the Nepal tourism board is launching a massive campaign to highlight the country as a gay travel destination. In addition to a very public campaign, they're planning to host an international conference next winter specifically on the subject:

Nepal government has held a series of meetings with well-known international tour operators and non-profit organisations to promote Nepal as a potential destination for LGBTs... Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) officials hope that LGBT arrivals will give a boost to the number of visitors to the country as the government mulls new way to bring in a million foreign tourists in the Nepal Tourism Year 2011. "Some international companies want to work in tandem with the government and attract LGBTs.'

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Tags: Attractions / Royal Palaces / Royal Travel / Tourist Sites / → All Tags

Nepal Kicks Royals Out; Invites Tourists In

One of the world's last old-school monarchies, the royal family of Nepal, is being eased out of their luxuries as the country gets keen on democracy. And as the royal family is on the way out, Parliament has asked them to kindly vacate their royal residence.

But their loss is inquisitive travelers' gain: the government is transforming Narayanhity Royal Palace in Kathmandu into a tourist attraction, throwing its gates open to the public today.

Much of the immense palace, some of which is as old as 200 years, has only been seen by a few non-Royal eyes before. The first phase of the palace's new existence as a museum opens 19 imposing royal bedrooms, salons and banquet halls, and also includes a memorial at the notorious site where 10 royal family members will killed in a shocking shooting eight years ago.

· Nepal ready with guided tour of royal palace [Thaindian News]
· Nepal travel coverage [Jaunted] [

Photo: wikimedia]

Tags: World's Most Dangerous Airports / Asia Travel / Dangerous Travel / LUA / → All Tags

World's Most Dangerous Airports: Runway of Death Strikes Again

Don't say we didn't warn you: We did. On October 8, a plane crashed for the second time since 2005 at the tiny airport near Mt. Everest, killing 18.

The 19-seat Yeti Airlines plane had nearly completed its flight from Katmandu when it snagged its wheels on a security fence at Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal about 40 miles from Mount Everest Base Camp. Two Australians, two Nepalese and 12 tourists from Germany on a Hauser Exkursionen tour died. Only the pilot survived.

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Tags: Holy Travel / → All Tags

Goddess Travel: Child Deified in Nepal

Our three-year-old niece considers herself a goddess. For one, she eats grilled cheese only when it's toasted to the perfect shade of brown. Further, she bluntly asks arriving visitors whether or not they brought her a present.

Still, she's super cute. (We figure it's a survival technique so we don't throttle the little narcissist.) So why is it so unfortunate that a three-year-old girl in Kathmandu, Nepal was declared a child goddess?

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Tags: Mythic Travel / Yeti / Adventure Travel / → All Tags

Mythic Travel: Search For Giant Hairy Beast Continues

Feeling less threatened lately? That's probably because the Bigfoot body which was "discovered" last week in California turned out to be yet another hoax. But Japanese scientists, undeterred, are leading a trek into the Himalayas to collect definitive evidence of the existence of the yeti, Bigfoot's Eastern cousin.

Yeti Project Japan left Kathmandu Thursday seeking traces of the half-man half-ape which they believe lives on the Dhaulagiri IV peak. If they find nothing, maybe they can have a big party up there since the expedition is co-sponsored by the brand "Lost in Translation" made famous, Suntory liquor.

Related Stories:
· Bigfoot Hoaxers Resurface, Blame California Promoter [FOX News]
· Japanese Team on Yeti Quest in Nepal [AP]
· WTF Hotel News:: "Bigfoot" DNA Analysis at The Cabana Hotel [HC]
· Nepal Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo of the Abominable Snowman from "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer": Buttercup Punch]

Tags: Nepal Travel / Environment / LUA / Yeti Airlines / Green Travel / → All Tags

Yeti Air Cleans Up Lukla

Nepal-based Yeti Airlines has volunteered to clear away a mess of bottles and cans littering a town known as the Gateway to Mount Everest. The town of Lukla is home to Tenzing-Hillary Airport--perhaps the sketchiest in the world--and has apparently accumulated a lot of waste due to careless hikers and hotel owners.

A senior official at Yeti said the company hopes to clear away as much as 37,000 pounds of empty beer bottles alone! We suppose it probably takes a few drinks to talk yourself into climbing the world's highest peak.

Recovered bottles will be given to breweries to be reused or recycled. Airline officials are hoping their effort will raise awareness among both tourists and locals about the importance of preserving the local habitat. We're glad Yeti's doing this, but it's a tad depressing that the awe of the Himalayas hasn't been enough to drive that point home.

Related Stories:
· Yeti Airlines [Official Site]
· Nepal Airline to Clean up Trail to Everest [Reuters]
· Nepal Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Sam Judson]

Tags: World's Most Dangerous Airports / LUA / Tenzing Norgay / Sir Edmund Hillary / → All Tags

Adventures of Link: Everest's "Newest" Airport

One of the world's most dangerous airports--at least according to us--will be renamed to honor the two climbers who tamed Everest in 1953. Lukla Airport, a small strip served by Yeti Airlines, will soon be known as Tenzing-Hillary Airport, and a route between it and the Everest base camp will also be named for them.

Officials are also planning to put up some statues of the famous climbers at the mountaineering museum in Pokhara, east of Lukla. Oh, and before you go booking a flight to the airport, watch some of the white-knuckle rides that people have uploaded to YouTube to make sure you're up for the trip.

Related Stories:
· Nepal Honors Two Everest Heroes [BBC]
· Nepal Airport, Route Named After Heroes [Reuters]
· Introducing Tenzing-Hillary Airport [WorldHum]
· World's Most Dangerous Airports: Lukla [Jaunted]
· World's Most Dangerous Airports coverage [Jaunted]

Tags: Nepal Airlines / Airport Hell / → All Tags

Nepal Airlines Sacrifices Two Goats For The Sky Gods

Officials at Nepal Airlines, the country's state run airline, have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757s, the airline announced today. Seriously.

The goats were sacrificed in front of the balky aircraft on Sunday at Nepal's Kathmandu airport--following Hindu traditions. So to quickly recap, if you land at Nepal's LUA airport you have to deal with a freaky take off and landing, and if you land in Kathmandu you may witness a goat sacrifice in action.

A senior airport official said:

The snag in the plane has now been fixed and the aircraft has resumed its flights.

Hmmm. Somehow we doubt PETA members will be flying this airline anytime soon. We don't know what is more disturbing, the actual sacrificing or the fact that the aircraft was declared "fixed" post sacrifice. You decide.

Related Stories:
· Nepal Airlines [Official Site]
· World's Most Dangerous Airports [Jaunted]
· Kathmandu Hotels [HotelChatter]

[Photo: normanack]

Tags: Adventure Travel / Himalayas / → All Tags

Unadventurous Adventures in Nepal

Gone are the days when an expedition to Mount Everest was only for hard-core adventure travelers: We already know you can make cell phone calls there. Now you can book the Classic Everest trek which the British tour company World Expeditions say is "for those who are short on time and do not wish to camp." It's a 12-day climb out of Lukla and seems like a really soft way to see a bit of the Himalayas.

To their credit, they haven't changed their entire program to suit busy businessmen who want a Mount Everest-conquering picture on their office desks. Kayaking along the coastline and interior riverways of Belize sounds a bit more hard-core, and the 31-day trek in Nepal to the Mera and Island Peak mountains is properly billed as being "for the ambitious adventurer". But half their trip blurbs include the phrase "if you're short on time". If they're not careful, adventure travel will become "short on adventure".

Related Stories:
· Where Cell Phones Now Dare to Tread [Jaunted]
· Adventure Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· World Expeditions [Official Site]

[Photo: Dey]

Tags: Mountain Climbing / Himalayas / → All Tags

The Great Mt Everest Who-Dunnit

There is still a big mystery surrounding the first climbers to reach the summit of Mt Everest. Of course, we routinely credit Sir Edmund Hillary as the king of the Himalayas, but many suspect that British climber George Mallory got to the top 29 years earlier.

The reason we can't ask ol' George if he made it or not is that he died in the process. This week US climber Conrad Anker and British pal Leo Houlding climbed Everest Mallory-style, proving that it was technically possible with their 1920s equipment. But it ain't the same as having proof that they got there. If only China Telecom had installed their cell phone mast nearly a century earlier.

Related Stories:
· Hotels in Nepal [HotelChatter]
· Where Cell Phones Now Dare To Tread [Jaunted]
· Everest Mystery Remains [Reuters]

[View of Mt Everest from toilet: apurdam]

Tags: World's Most Dangerous Airports / Himalayas / Altiports / Nepal Travel / → All Tags

World's Most Dangerous Airports: Lukla Airport, Nepal, LUA

For the next couple of days we are doing a quick fly-over of the world's most dangerous airports. Know a stomach dropping, palm sweat inducing airport we should check out? Send it along.

Since Lukla Nepal is the place most people start their Mount Everest trek, this Himalayan strip gets quite a bit of traffic--mostly to and from Kathmandu.

Sirens inform folks for miles when an airplane is landing here, and as you would suspect, only helicopters and Twin Otter type planes can handle the 2,000 foot, uphill runway that is fenced off at the end, to protect you from the edge of a mountain cliff.

As for take off?

When you take off, you go downhill and then the runway just disappears into the valley down below. If you don't get enough speed, you drop until you get lift and then hopefully get back up again.

Wind and weather cause plenty of delays here, however, there is usually plenty to drink around the airport, just in case you need to pass the time or get up the gumption to get on your flight.

Yeti Airlines is one of the few commercial airlines you can book through to get to LUA.

Click Here to check out a small craft landing at Lukla.

[Photo: Dave & Marks trip]

Related Stories:
· World's Most Dangerous Airports [Jaunted]
· Luka Airport [Google Maps]

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Tags: Airlines / Advertising / Peru / → All Tags

Machu Himalaya?

Truth in advertising's a controversial subject: if you Photoshop the sky to make a travel poster for a mostly-sunny destination more appealing, is that such a bad thing? How about if you use a national tourism symbol from a country on the other side of the world to advertise your national airline?

We draw the line at that point. But that's exactly what Royal Nepal Airlines did--presumably accidentally. Yes, the national Nepalese carrier advertised their services with a beautiful picture of...Machu Picchu. Yes, Machu Picchu in Peru, on a completely different continent.

The airline offered apologies to Peru for using the picture of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary on a poster to promote their country and assured that the lamentable error has been corrected ... As a consequence, the Nepalese airline fired an employee in the rank of a manager

Experts do say that the landscape in the Himalayas can look similar to the Andes, but this is surely the kind of error that just shouldn't happen. Or maybe someone should just start advertising the Great Barrier Reef with a picture of somebody's swimming pool.

[Photo: agsaran]

Related Stories:
· Have They Seen Nepal? [The Australian]