A little bit of information about Nepal for those of you who are not very geographic. Nepal is:
- One of the poorest countries on earth
- Population of about 30 million.
- Landlocked, so I won’t be sunning myself at the beach.
- Surrounded by India and Tibet/ China.
- 75% of the country is mountains.
- Animals include tigers and leopards, gaurs (wild ox), occasional elephants and buffalo, and many deer, donkeys and yaks. Also Yeti, the abominable snowman. I will be particularly looking out for a Yeti as I am sure I could get good money for a photo of one.
- One of the few countries in the world that has never been under foreign occupation.
- 7 UNESCO World Heritage Cultural Sites within a radius of 15 km (I will try and visit them all this time)
- Land of earthquakes as the Indo-Australian plate lies beneath Nepal (last big quake was 2015)
- Currency Nepalese Rupee. We get 83 for a NZ$. NR 1,000 is about $12 NZD
- Area 140,800 Sq. km (NZ 268,000 Sq. km)
- Birth place of Lord Buddha
- Has the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest (8848m) known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and Tibetan as Chomolungma—straddles the border between Nepal and Tibet at the crest of the Himalayan mountain chain.
- Has 8 of the world’s 10 tallest mountains
- Main religions are Hinduism and Buddhism.
- Most common food is Dal Bhat which is lentils and rice eaten with the right hand. (Left hand is for toilet use). I will take a spoon, and Peerag as I am sure I will get that wrong.
- Cows are sacred, meaning 12 years in jail for killing one. I don’t expect to be eating many steaks while I am there.
- 80 diverse ethnic groups and 123 different languages and dialects.
- Not a single drop of blood has ever been shed in Nepal in the name of religious and ethnic riots. There are not many countries that could boast that!!
- The flag is the only one in the world that is not a rectangle
