Yesterday a hundred and fifty or so people gathered in the newly opened Fairfield Marriott for the launch of ECS’s May Issue – a special one all about Thamel. It turned out to be a wonderfully fluid and animated event. Speakers included Fire And Ice’s Anna Maria Forgione, Karna Shakya from Kathmandu Guest House, and Akur Narsingh Rana, born in Thamel and now 89 years of age. They shared their memories and thoughts on what Thamel means to them–a little bit of living history.
This month’s issue is all about local methods of traditional healing, Ayurveda, herbal remedies and related issues.
Do you know what Ayurveda is? Well, I didn’t either – till I read this: Ayurveda: A Beginner’s Overview
Still not sure I get it completely, but 🙂
And I loved the travel piece by Jeremy Vestal about his trip to Jumla: Go West! Adventure Awaits!
The articles I personally enjoyed working on most were Nepali Medicine Man – which was just amazing, to see something that to me was right out of the past so fully alive today – and Wonders out of Waste, about two awesome sisters who run a paper recycling business.
I’m delighted that a piece I wrote has been accepted by the super-awesome Roads & Kingdoms, one of my favourite sites. It’s a food/travel/etc website, and Anthony Bourdain is one of the people behind it, which gives you an idea of what kind of place it is.
My article is in the breakfast section, and you can read it here.
On Wednesday I had the opportunity to interview Facundo Arana, an Argentinian singer and actor who summitted Everest this climbing season. It was a fascinating experience and he was a lovely person; if you’re interested you can read the interview here.
After quite a few Friday!-less months due to the fuel shortage and all the domino effects that it caused, Friday! has resumed publication, though at the moment it’s monthly, not weekly as it used to be. It’s still happy news, though; another small sign that life here in Kathmandu is getting back to normal.
If you live in Kathmandu, you can pick up a copy, or read my review of Bú Kebá Organic cafe here. I’m writing an article for May’s issue as we speak — at least I’m supposed to be – obviously I’m writing this instead 🙂 — and I can’t wait for it to come out. The restaurant featured in May is a new one that I already love!
ECS Nepal published a reprint of my article Ghosts on Everest in their first post-earthquake issue (July/August) which came out this month. It’s something I wrote years ago and while I sincerely hope my writing has improved since then it’s an article that is still really close to my heart. It originally ran in their March 2011 issue, and they asked me edit it a little to tie it in with the hope that things there will soon be normal and people can do treks like the Everest Base Camp again. And unlike the Langtang area, which has been sadly devastated, it does seem that the Everest area is up and running–both for climbing and trekking–in time for this autumn’s tourist season. Now we just have to hope the tourists come. If you’re interested, the original article is archived here.
… that’s what’s on the cover of the first issue of Friday! to come out since the earthquake on April 25th. It’s normally a weekly, but it’ll take a while to get back into a regular publishing groove, so this one is still on newsstands. It’s got some great photos of historical sites as well as memories and post-earthquake thoughts from a wide variety of sources, so if you’re in Kathmandu it’s well worth picking up a copy. In the interests of full disclosure 🙂 I should tell you there’s an article of mine in there as well, found online here, about restaurants reopening after the quake. I was asked to write it about ten days after the first one, but the second quake pushed the printing later, so it didn’t come out until after that. It touches on a subject close to my heart–the power of food to nurture, comfort and heal, even in the aftermath of terrible tragedy.
I was travelling for a bit in July (more on that soon) and when I got back I had some trouble hunting down the issue of Fr!day that my last food review was printed in. Fr!day (or Friday) is a weekly publication that I’ve been doing regular restaurant reviews for, and the publisher was all out of copies.
While flipping through the daily newspapers and magazines yesterday at Dan Ran, a homey Japanese restaurant in Patan, I had the idea to ask if they had any Fr!day back issues. The waiter disappeared into a back room and returned brandishing a copy.
“We only have one,” he said apologetically.
Happily, it was the right one, and he had no problem with me keeping it.
Which is how I discovered that it’s the second time that I’ve had an article published in a magazine with Madan Krishna Shrestha and Hari Bhansa Acharya on the cover. This comedic duo, known locally as “MaHa” are without doubt Nepal’s most famous comedians, and have been for years now, since a comedy audio cassette tape they made together back in 1981. Since then they’ve moved into TV, film, and sell out live performances, and they somehow manage to touch on relevant and meaningful social issues in their humour, too.
The articles of mine in the two publications below were not related to them in any way, but it made me smile to see them on the covers, and honoured to share the space.
                 