Nepali Facts

Did you know:

• By the Nepali calendar it is currently 2071. There are signs in the local grocery store that say "Happy New Year 2071!" It isn't exactly the direction I thought I went when I arrived and felt like I had time travelled.
• Men with short hair grow tiny little pony-tail-like bits of hair on the crowns of their heads.
• Men grow out their pinky finger nails, as far as I can tell as a sign of wealth to advertise that they don't work in manual labor.
• Most all Hindu women have their noses pierced, getting them pierced as young girls is quite common. Nose piercings are always on the woman's left side.
• Tibetan women do not pierce their noses, making it easy to identify them from Hindu Nepalis. They do sometimes, usually older women, have their septums pierced however.
• When in Nepal you will hear the word "hajur?" 72 billion times a day, it means loosely "what?" or  "yes?"
• Solar panels are extremely cheap and popular in Nepal, and are often used for heating water for bathing.
• The caste system is still very much in place, despite how much some try to deny it.
• Power outages happen on a national schedule, called "load shedding."
• Nepal wakes up with the sun, and sleeps with it as well. The night life only exists for tourists, and it is impossible to sleep in here between the birds the dogs and the screaming men on bikes collecting cardboard.
• The weekend is one day. One day. Just Saturdays.