Nepal

Best time to go: October & November then March & April.

October and November are considered the best times of the year. The monsoon will have just ended, and clear skies with optimal temperature will prevail. The main festivals of Dashain and Tihar (Hindu equivalent of Christmas in terms of festivity) fall during these months. However, this is also the busiest tourist season, and the main tourist centres and trekking trails tend to be crowded.

The number of tourists slows down a little between the winter months of December and mid-February, then increases again between mid-February and mid-April. From mid-June to early October, it's the monsoon, during which time it rains almost every day and most of the Himalayas are hidden behind the clouds.

Visa Information for Travelers to Nepal: http://www.immi.gov.np/visa/provisional-visa-arrangement-fee

Health Information for Travelers to Nepal: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/nepal.htm

Capital: Kathmandu

Language: Nepali (official) plus 20 other languages divided into numerous dialects. Derived from Sanskrit, Nepali is related to the Indian language Hindi and is spoken by about 90 percent of the population in either native or second language.

Religion: Hinduisum, Buddhishm, Tantrism, Islam & Christianity.

Electricity: 220 – 240 V

Dialling Code: 977 + city codes Kathmandu 1,  Pokhara 61

Time Zone: GMT +5.45

Currency: 1 Nepalese Rupee (NR) divided into 100 paise

National Day: 21st December

National Anthem: "May Glory Crown Our Illustrious Sovereign"

National Motto: "The Motherland Is Worth More than the Kingdom of Heaven."

National Animal: Cow

National Bird: Danphe

National Flower: Rhododendron 'gras' in Nepali

National Tree: Rhododendron 'gras' in Nepali

National Sport: Not known possibly Kapardi

Nepal the most mountainous country on earth lying between India and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China, Nepal contains Mount Everest (29,035 ft; 8,850 m), the tallest mountain in the world. Along its southern border, Nepal has a strip of level land that is partly forested, partly cultivated. North of that is the slope of the main section of the Himalayan range, including Everest and many other peaks higher than 8,000 m.

The first civilizations in Nepal, which flourished around the 6th century B.C., were confined to the fertile Kathmandu Valley where the present-day capital of the same name is located. It was in this region that Prince Siddhartha Gautama was born  c. 563 B.C. Gautama achieved enlightenment as Buddha and spawned Buddhism.

Nepali rulers' early patronage of Buddhism largely gave way to Hinduism, reflecting the increased influence of India, around the 12th century. Though the successive dynasties of the Gopalas, the Kiratis, and the Licchavis expanded their rule, it was not until the reign of the Malla kings from 1200–1769 that Nepal assumed the approximate dimensions of the modern state.

The kingdom of Nepal was unified in 1768 by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who had fled India following the Moghul conquests of the subcontinent. Under Shah and his successors, Nepal's borders expanded as far west as Kashmir and as far east as Sikkim (now part of India). A commercial treaty was signed with Britain in 1792 and again in 1816 after more than a year of hostilities with the British East India Company.

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