Old is New In Kathmandu
A dream come true for a family whose goal is preserving Kathmandu's architectural heritage

Fowl Play
A elephant ride in search of the elusive wild jungle fowl.

Nepal Cuisine
The days of yak butter and roast buffalo are quickly disappearing.

Photo Gallery

Holiday Greetings from Everest

Resources
Nepal Tourism Board
VisitNepal.com

Nepal: Beyond the Mountain
Text & Photos © Russell Johnson

View from the Royal Trek, Near Pokhara, Nepal.  ©1999, Russell Johnson

Just a few years ago, Nepalese gourmet food was an oxymoron.

More often than not you were faced with a plate of buffalo meat, a side of lentils, a tough roll and a tub of yak butter.

Years ago, a traveling companion and I spent hundreds of rupees on a nightly bottle of marginal French plonk just to ease the pain. Once, at a reception at a five-star hotel, we received a special surprise: ice-cream for dessert. Our treat was a 100lb block of vanilla into which we had to jam spoons to break off chunks.

Nepal has changed greatly and wonderfully.

It is wired. It has three Internet Service Providers and an Internet Cafe called K@hmandu. Radio Nepal broadcasts in Real Audio. Nepal now has international-class hotels that furnish safe water and clean power that doesn't blow up your laptop. And while it is not ready to support a regional editon of Gourmet Magazine, it now has excellent cuisine.

Also, most people think of Nepal as a haven for trekkers and mountaineers. It does have Everest, the highest place on earth, to which I paid a Christmas visit.  But few realize that it has lowland jungles full of rhinos and tigers and birds (oh my), whitewater rivers that rush from Tibet to India and that it has some of the world's most important cultural heritage sites including the birthplace of the Lord Buddha.

I have visited Nepal four times in recent years. Needless to say, I have taken lots of photographs and last year produced a video for the United Nations Development Programme to illustrate that Nepal is much more than Mt. Everest.

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