Roaming in Nepal

Radish pile: while roaming around Kathmandu, I saw this pile of radish with two young boys waiting for the buyers. The vegetables in Kathmandu mainly comes from the near by areas of the city. However, most of the radish comes from Kakani, a place on the way to Trishuli from Kathmandu.  

Black and white spotted butterfly: While  roaming around Churia, upper Terai region near Bhairahawa, I could take very close up snap of this butterfly with my mobile camera. Nepal is known for more than 7 hundred species of butterfly. The presence of  such species also indicate natural environment or less pollution in the region.

The mustard field: While roaming around Chitwan, I could snap a large area of yellow mustard flowered fields. Chitwan was once the fertile ground for mustard cultivation but later due to wild variety of mustard, the production decreased.

 Steep slope and rocky terrain: This steep and rocky terrain was seen while roaming near Butwal area. Geologist claim that the rock formation is ongoing process in Nepal and due to the same the hills and mountains are in fragile condition. See the traffic sign indicating sliding of stones or rocks.

 Meandering of river: There are more than six thousands of rivers in Nepal. This picture is of Rapti river in Chitwan National Park. No need to explain further for this scene.

Building Kathmandu

Kathmandu is growing not only on its population but also on infrastructure development. No matter the problems are there like electricity (load shedding), drinking water (supply once in a week for 2-3 hours), traffic jam (reach destination on food than on car for short distance like of 4-5km), pollution... the building buildings are on high speed. This picture is showing the growing building heights in Kathmandu.

A visit to Sri Lanka

A month ago, I was visiting Sri Lanka for a office work. I like the place due to its greenery and a system developed for basic things like drinking water, education and health. I had an impression that the country must be in a painful condition due to thirty years of war but I didn't feel that after my visit. I got a feeling that if it would not have faced the war, it would have really become a 'pearl' of Asia a long back. Here are some pictures taken during my visit.

 Scene from Kandy hill

 Scene of early morning

Buddha Tooth Temple (Earlier it was a Royal Palace)

 Kingfisher seen at Sri Lanka lake, Royal Botanical Garden (RBG), Kandy

 Very beautiful orchid inside RBG, Kandy

 Root network of a tree at RBG

A side view of Sigiriya hill

A view of Sigiriya hill from Sigiriya hotel

Wild berry from Nepal

This wild berry's picture is from Kavre, Nepal. I don't know the scientific name of it but in Nepali it is called 'bhui yaiselu' meaning 'ground berry'. Some people also called it 'a berry of snake' but it is edible and some people even compare it with strawberry. If we look carefully, the seeds and wart in the fleshy fruit resembles to strawberry but smaller in size compare to strawberry. It is also round in shape where as strawberry is oval in shape. If you know the exact name and scientific name of it, share with me.

Godawari: Botanical garden Nepal

On the occasion of Nepali new year 2067, I went to Botanical garden, Godawari, about 15km from Kathmandu city. I was thinking that the site will be very peace and beautiful with lots of trees and many flowers. However, there were many people than the number of trees and flowers. Though the season was flowering, there were very few flowers. Many people were having picnic (it is not allowed to cook inside but you are free to eat the bought food). I don't understand why the authority allowed to sell alcoholic drinks and food inside the park. Because of the sale, the park was dirty and having trash everywhere. You could see the the condition of the park through these pictures. The last picture still tells that the area is less polluted (lichens on the tree). Lichens are consider as indicators of air pollution and their number is high in unpolluted or less polluted areas.

Flowing water: peace of mind

Flowing water is an inspiration for poet, writer, lover and all. How does it inspires human mind? Due to coolness, softness, cleanness, or its continuousness? I have no answer but there are very few people who don't like the flow and flow sound of water. You may not hear the rhythm but see the flow in these pictures.

Some flowers from Godawari

Godawari, a place at the base of Phulchoki hill, a hill south of Kathmandu, also known for national botanical garden. The garden is of interest to research scholar and others to conduct research or to visit and enjoy the nature. I visited the site after more than ten years and could see that the site is very much crowded. It might be due to limited gardens and open space in the Kathmandu. Here are some flower pictures from the garden. I don't know the scientific names of them.

Traditional wooden pots from Nepal

In earlier days, still today in few places of Nepal, uses wooden pots to store foods. Depending upon the size and shape of these wooden pots, they are used to store milk, curd, ghee and other food items. Now a days, wooden pots are replaced by metal, ceramic or plastic items. I don't know which one is hygienic and environmental friendly but plastics are definitely not good.

Hail stones hits Kathmandu

While scientists are fightings with 'global warming', almost at the end of winter season, Kathmandu is hit by large amount of hail stones. It was windy night and all of a sudden, I hear 'pop' sounds above my roof. I came out of my room and saw white balls hitting hard to roof, ground and my flower pots. Oh! in a very short period of time, the amount of hail stone was so high that I have not seen before. It covered the streets, ground and everything within five minutes time. Enjoy the pictures of the same event occured just yesterday.

A visit to Manakamana Temple

Few weeks back, I visited Manakamana temple. The devi is belived to fulfill the will of everyone. I don't know whether everyones will is fulfilled but I enjoyed the natural beauty on the way to temple and scenes from the cable car. Hope you will also enjoy the trip with these few pictures.

Yellow insect turn black

Earlier I had a post on social insects. I was not sure whether they are ants or spiders. When I checked the site of the picture again, I was surprised to see those insects again but with different colour. They have turned black. How could be? I looked closely. I found that they have developed wings and long antenna. Because of the wings they looked black. Though they have wings now, they have not flied yet. I will keep my eyes on what change they will have next.

Be social like these insects

This is the picture of group of insects grouped in a colony. It was very interesting to see all the small insects colonizing themselves and getting close to each other forming a very smooth surface. When the move due to disturbances, individual insects can be seen but in some minutes they again come close together to form the colony. I don't know exact scientific or common name of this animal but if you know, let all know. The insect look like ants but I didn't check the number of legs to confirm whether they are ants or spider. They are lying in cemented wall.

Bamboo as home utensils

Today, I am posting a picture from a newspaper. Though it is not taken by me, I like the picture very much as it is one of the rare conditions. Besides this, the picture also reflects indigenous technology existing in the country. Bamboo is used for many things but as a water pot is really new to me.

The text in Nepali (below the picture) says that: The picture is from Sankhuwasawa Sisukhola-2 where Gorimaya Rai is filling bamboo pot with drinking water. They do not have bucket or water pot to collect water. Other people in the village also use bamboo as spoon, cooking utensils and others. As cooking utensils, they put rice and water in bamboo pot and put near fire to cook. Click the picture for larger form.

The picture is taken by Surendra Subedi/Kantipur (published on 27 August 2009)

Tuborg house

Nepal is rich in water resources. It should promote on water based industries for maximum profit as raw material (water) is available for free or in lower cost. May be because of the same, there are many beer factories, Tuborg being one of them. I saw an advertisement of the same beer painted in the wall of a nice traditional house in Nepal. The house is located in an agricultural area as corps can be seen around the house the has cattle. I don’t know how the house owner and beer advertisers take it but for me, it looks like a Tuborg house.

Natural bugs

I was walking in a natural trail and spot this event. I have usually seen lady bug but not this dark and shiny blue beetle. They were in the same leaf. Wow! What a nice moment. I don’t think they have mutual benefit on the leaf or that plant is their host but how they came together is unknown. There are many unknown natural mystery anyway.

Open tires burning, environmental pollution and health impact

Open burning of vehicle tires on street is becoming a part of life in Nepal. Even for small events, aggressive mass start putting fire on tires to show their yes or no support and put pressure on government. The question of environmental pollution and health impact of such activities has been raised several times but no one has changed this behavior.

Open tire fire emissions include carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SO2), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It also includes hazardous air pollutants such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, furans, hydrogen chloride, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The tire burning emission also releases heavy metals like arsenic, cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, chromium, and vanadium. People exposed to such emissions show symptoms of skin, eyes, and mucous membranes irritation, lungs and respiratory problems, central nervous system depression, and cancer. In a long run people may start showing mutagenic effects and higher number of cancer cases. In terms of mutagenic effects, open tire fires emissions are 16 times more dangerous than residential wood burning and 13,000 times than coal-fired emissions.

May be we will start stopping lighting the tires only we experience such effects ourselves but that will be too late to act on. (Information source: http://www.elaw.org/node/2764; Pictures by blogger)