Some curious facts about Nepal

Our 3 weeks journey in Nepal was mainly dedicated to our Workaway project in Kathmandu Valley, so we did not really get to know the country close enough to become aware of many facts and habits. However, there is a lot to say about this incredible country and its amazing people.

Nepal is one of our top destinations to travel for culture, food and the spirit of the people. We really enjoyed our time there. Our special highlights were the stay at the family’s house of the Sunrise Farm and the visit to Chitwan National Park.

Here we listed some curious facts about Nepal.

Fact #1 Streets

We left Tibet, where new modern streets were built, and after reached Nepal, where we had the feeling that proper streets do not exist. What we could call „streets“ were usually roads that turned into mud puddles as soon as it started to rain a bit. Due to the fact that the conditions of the roads is so bad, it can take up to 10 hours for driving just 100 km. No joke! Several times it took us more than 10 hours to reach destinations that were maximum 200 km far.

Not only the streets were responsible for these delays, but also the traffic didn’t help. Sometimes there were strikes or construction work going on, therefore it happened that for several hours streets were closed without any prior notice. So you better don’t plan any flight the same day you are traveling to the airport on these roads.

Fact #2 The Flag of Nepal

Do you know how the flag of Nepal looks like? It consists basically of two triangles placed on top of each other. Nepal is the only country in the world that has this kind of shape which symbolizes the peaks of the Himalayas. The colors are red and blue with the star and half-moon symbols on one half and a sun in the other one. The red is the national color and the blue represents peace.

Fact #3 Mountains

The small country of Nepal, covering a bit less than 150.000 km², is home to 8 of the 10 highest mountains in the world including the highest mountain, Mount Everest. The beautiful landscapes of Nepal are absolutely marked by these massive mountains. Here is a list of all of them:

• Mt. Everest – 8.848 m
• Kangchendzönga – 8.586 m
• Lhotse – 8.516 m
• Makalu – 8.485 m
• Cho Oyu – 8.188 m
• Dhaulagiri – 8.167 m
• Manaslu – 8.163 m
• Annapurna – 8.091 m

Photo by Ananya Bilimale on Unsplash

Fact #4 The scooters

Like in many Asian countries the streets of Nepal are full of scooters. Crazy scooters. What is very interesting to see and shocking at the same time is that only the person that drives the scooter is obliged to wear a helmet. But on the same scooter, you can see also children or women without a helmet, as it is usually the man who’s driving.

Fact #5 The time zone

The time zone of Nepal is UTC +5:45 and it is the only one in that zone. In total, there are only 3 areas with an offset of +45min. (Chatham Island UTC +12.45 and the unofficial Australian Central Western Time UTC +08.45).

Did you learn something new from our list of facts? Pictures of Nepal you find here.