Kathmandu-Lhasa bus service raises hopes for tourism 
 
MITERI Sanghu, Sindhupalchok, June 7 (RSS): Sajha Yatayat, a Cooperative Transport Office which was once closed down because of mismanagement in the past has created history recently by operating a bus service in the Kathmandu- Lhasa route, after it came back to life.

The glorious history for the organisation as well as for the country was created on May 1, 2005 after the Minister for Labour and Transport Management of Nepal and the Chinese Ambassador jointly and officially inaugurated the bus service at a function held at the central office of the Sajha Yatayat at Pulchowk.

The operation of the bus service was an outcome of the renewal of the Nepal-China treaty last year giving continuity to the 1994 Nepal-China trade treaty as well as the initiative taken by the Sajha Yatayat.

Two Mercedez buses of Tibet Gorkha Trading Company under the Sajha Yatayat Logo are operating in the route from Kathmandu, whereas the buses of the Himalayan Transport Company of Tibet are in operation from the Tibetan side.

As rays of hope could be seen in people’s level after the initiation of the bus service, various organisations had welcomed the bus and the passengers at various places from Kathmandu to the friendship bridge at Tatopani at the Nepal-China border.

The bus that left Kathmandu at 08:55 A.M. for Lhasa for the first time crossed the Nepal-China border and Miteri Sanghu at 3:00 P.M. of the same day and Chinese officials had welcomed the passengers of the bus, whereas Nepalese tourism and transport officials also lauded the operation that could boost Nepal’s tourism and trade as well as enhance Nepal-China cultural relations.

The people at Kodari, a small border town in Nepal, are all elated by the start of the bus service. A local businessman Uddhav Siwakoti says ‘We are happy to see a decades old dream come true’. But he is worried about the condition of road on Nepal side. He says ‘If the government takes initiative to improve the road condition, the business community here can even ready to shift from the place’. He complains of lack of godown and parking facilities in Nepalese side at Tatopani.

The last thirty kilometres of the road up to Tatopani seems vulnerable to floods and landslides time and again.

Some hitches were seen soon after the start of the bus service in which Nepalese visitors to Lhasa were said to be denied visa by the Chinese Embassy. This had caused doubts among many whether the bus service will not be continued.

Asked as to what was the problem, Sajha Yatayat Executive Chief Mukundaraj Satyal says ‘this was not a big problem, the problem arose as the staffs of the Chinese Embassy were on holidays for a week as they traditionally observe it after May 1. Now there is no problem at all. He informed that one can get a visa normally in ten days after photocopy of the passport is submitted at the Sajha Yatayat.

On the latest problem regarding visa, he was optimistic that the problems can be solved within a week by simplifying visa process on the basis of long-standing friendship between China and Nepal.

On the bus service, Satyal says ‘It is a glory for the Sajha Yatayat to get the opportunity to run the bus service in an international route for the first time.’

Asked what is the benefit for Sajha and the country as a whole, he said although Sajha has not invested in the bus service, it receives ten per cent from the tickets sold as revenue. Sajha will think about purchasing and operating its own buses if the service is continued smoothly.

Spokesman of the Ministry of Labour and Transport Management Dhruba Kumar Sharma also says buses can be added in the route in view of the evaluation of the one year trial period of the service.

Asked as to how far the bus service can be instrumental in developing Nepal as a transit point as mentioned by His Majesty the King recently, Satyal said we can also transport cargo under the agreement of 1994 and if Nepal is developed as a transit point, we can transport containers without opening from the Birgunj Dry-Port to Lhasa and vice versa.

Our service is only the beginning, it has opened up avenues for greater achievements in tourism and trade, he says.

There is a possibility that we can greatly benefit if we could attract 200,000 tourists out of the three million visiting Tibet every year, and that Nepal can reduce trade deficit from the trade.

Executive chief Satyal also indicated to the possibility of easy access provided by the bus service from the Tibet side for the Hindu pilgrims seeking to visit Mansarovar and Kailash, the important pilgrimage sites in Tibet.

It has been realised that an environment has been created for the foreign visitors including Americans and Europeans who seek to glorify themselves by visiting the roof of the world from Nepal side.

The Tibetan Buddhist Culture, and the experience of the Shangri-La as well as the bus travel above 15,000 feet of altitude in the Himalayas giving a resemblance of nature’s canvass can be expected to be very much enjoyable.

Satyal says Nepal can undoubtedly take benefit from the trade and tourism as well as from the development of Tibet that resembles that of Europe, as it has achieved a 1,000 dollar per capita income.

As Lhasa will be linked by a railway in 2006, and as the Sigatse-Lhasa portion of road is being developed into a highway, it will help increase trade and decrease the time for travel.

When asked if the Kathmandu-Lhasa bus fare was not very expensive for the Nepalese travelers which is at Rs 5,000 at present, the Sajha Yatayat executive chief says the earlier proposed fare of 90 dollars was brought down to 70 dollars and it can decrease if the bus service is run smoothly and if a situation of competition arises.

In the context that the Lhasa-Kathmandu air service is running smoothly with airfare of Rs. 28, 000, the bus fare is quite low and more and more Chinese tourists can be attracted to visit Nepal, Satyal said.

One of the passengers of the first bus service to Lhasa, Managing Director of the National Cooperatives Bank, K.B. Upreti says the road on the Chinese side is good and it is pleasant to travel in the Himalayan region and that there had been no notable difficulties during the travel.

In Lhasa, the Potala Palace, the Palace of Bhrikuti and museums are some of the important sites to visit. The 950-kilometre travel is completed in three days. The travel needs a visa fee of Rs. 2,200 and for urgent visa it is Rs. 4,200.

The bus operators said that there is no difficulty in getting Nepalese food on the way.

In conclusion, this new international bus service opened up by the Sajha Yatayat can be instrumental in learning from china in our overall development efforts including trade and tourism as well as to be benefited from it.

May 24, 2005 

 

Kathmandu, May 23: “Nepal is a very unique country where foreigners can find good hospitality and people are friendly. Besides these, Nepal is also one of the few countries of the world where foreigners feel the safest”, says Veikka Gustafsson a mountaineer who comes from the world’s one of the flat countries level Finland.

“On every Friday night even in the Finnish capital—Helsinki’s Railway Station is not a safe but I feel here safer all the time”, he added.

Veikka, who was in capital on way back home after climbing Mt. Dhaulagiri on May 12 was talking with The Rising Nepal here the other day.

With this, he had set up a record of so climbing 11 out of 14 world’s highest peaks of above 8000 metres.

“Now three mountains — Kanchenjunga, Gashebrum I and II are left to be climbed”, says Veikka.

Veikka came to Nepal in 1993 dreaming of to climb the world’s highest 8, 848 meter high snow-peak Mt. Everest. H was the first Finnish to climb Mt. Everest at the age of 25 that time.

Since then every year he has been coming to Nepal and has climbed the other over eight thousander mountains.

“When I came to Nepal for the first time, the people were kind and happy. Even in these days people are smiling and friendly. But they seem more advanced looking at them on the streets. This is a new experience for me”, shared Veikka of his experience.

“After my success of Mt. Everest there were many articles published in Finnish newspapers. This helped more and more Finnish people to know about Nepal and Nepalese,” says Veikka.

When we come to Nepal for expedition, “there will be only mountain in our mind but when we leave Nepal there are people in our mind”, says Viekka.

“Climbers are the ambassadors of Nepal. After going back to their respective places, they (the climbers) will speak to thousands of people about Nepal and its art, culture, history, social, economy and many more”, he said.

In order to make the mountaineering easier for the advancement of mountaineering activities, Nepal government should change the rules and regulations of the existing mountaineering policies”, he suggests.

“Mountains are very much similar to the University of Culture, because in mountains we could meet people from various cultural background and could exchange the respective cultures. For me the cool and tough mountains give not only motivational changes but also encourage for team building aspect. Thus, Nepal’s Himalayas have given me lots in my life”, says ace-climber Veikka.

A publisher of Finnish outdoor magazines by profession Veikka also does modelling for various Finnish products and also teaches Finnish students on different issues and thinking of need to give courageous lessons for the students. That is at least to do something-special work in their life.

“After climbing the three more eight thousanders, I will involve fully in promoting Nepal’s tourism sectors”, says Veikka.

So far, there are three Finnish national who had climbed Mt Everest. But two of them have already gave up climbing after their first successful ventures. However, Veikka Gustafsson, the first Finnish to climb the Mt. Everest, is still vying for the prestigious title of the First Finnish to climb all the 14 highest peaks of the world

May 16, 2005

    Two members of International Annapurna Expedition 2005 have successfully scaled the 8,091mtr.  high Mt. Annapurna I at 2:35 p.m. on 12^th May, 2005, according to the press release received from The Ministy of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation on Monday. Those two member who succeeded in climbing the peak are, Mr. Edmund Karl Viesturs, 47 yrs, the group leader from USA and Mr. Eero Veikka Juhani Gustafsson, 37yrs, member, from Finland.

The 12 members "International Annapurna Expedition 2005" was permitted to climb  8091 m. high Mt. Annapurna I from North Face Via French Route for the period of 75 days from 30^th April, 2005 under the leadership of Mr. Edmund Karl Viesturs  from USA.

The group was handled by agency of the Expedition Team, Peak Promotion (P) Ltd.  Kathmandu, Nepal.

Nepal is like a second home for me  - Dr. Helmut
Monday October 18 2004

In a process to celebrate Golden Jubilee Anniversary of accent on Cho Oyu, a press conference was organized today in Kathmandu in the presence of world renowned mountaineers Reinhold Messner, Peter Habeler and Dr. Heuberge Helmut. Addressing the press conference Mr. Messner who climbed all 14 peaks above 8000 meters and first one to climb Everest without oxygen said that mountaineers should not forget the social responsibility toward mountain community and should do something for the benefit of the community. Outlining the story behind the first expedition, he said the first Cho Oyu expedition was important because unlike other expeditions, it was light expedition and this approach is still best for climbing. Mr. Messner climbed Cho Oyu in 1983. Another mountaineer Peter Habeler who climbed Everest in 1978 without oxygen joyfully announced that he was happy to promote Nepal in the international arena. "It is the culture, people and friendliness that attract people to Nepal. I will tell the world that Nepal has power to attract people and friendliness is unique," said Mr. Habeler.

Another prominent person to address press conference was Dr. Heuberge Helmut who was with the first Austrian Expedition which successfully climbed Cho Oyu in 1954. Recalling his expedition experience in 1954, he said it was very difficult to climb mountain those days. Scientist by profession, Dr. Helmut reached upto 7500 meters with his team but hurried back to basecamp after reaching 4the camp to make other expedition members possible to climb. He also showed the flag that they took upto Cho Oyu in 1954. "Nepal is like a second home for me," he said with a smile.

Mr. Bhoj Raj Ghimire, Secretary of Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation outlined the policy of His Majesty's Government in promoting mountain tourism in Nepal. Mr. Ang Tshering Sherpa, President, Nepal Mountaineering Association said so far 47 foreign participants have confirmed their participation in the Cho Oyu Golden Jubilee Celebration which begins from October 17.

S. Joechler, H. Tichy of Austria and P. Dawa Lama of Nepal were the first persons to ascend Mount Cho Oyu on October 19, 1954. The Indian Expedition became the second team to climb Cho Oyu in 1958. So far 1750 climbers have climbed Mt. Cho Oyu from Nepal and Tibet.

Cho Oyu sits astride the border of Nepal and Tibet, about 20 miles west of Mount Everest. It is the sixth highest mountain in the world. Cho Oyu is translated in Tibetan as "the goddess of the turquoise." A famous trade route crossed Nangpa La pass, just west of Cho Oyu, and very close to the Advanced Base Camp. From Tibet, salt used to be brought over this pass to Namche Bazaar (Khumbu's commerce center) in exchange for grain from the south.

Source: E-newsletter/NTB-15th October 2004