8 Totally Weird Facts about Nepal
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You might have probably heard this for over a hundred times that Nepal is the country of Mount Everest, and it is the roof of the world, it is in the lap of Himalayas... and hundreds of what nots! But those are the real and normalfacts about Nepal, but have you heard what's unique, interesting and weird about this beautiful country?
Let's get started with number 1 weird fact!
1. Everyone lives without electricity for half a day!
The demand of electricity is so much more than the production that the people of Nepal are forced to live without power for as much as 16 hours per day during the peak season. The country largely depends on hydroelectricity as the only source of power. When the water level falls during the winter season, the generation is less than fifty percent of what was being produced during summer and the monsoon. To add more insult to the injury, winter is the time when the power demand surges due to heating requirements.
Currently, the "load shedding" is 8.28 hours per day on average. The Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA), that regulates the distribution of electricity in the developing country of Nepal, revises the schedule on a semi-regular basis.
You're buying this fact, right? Because, yes - it IS a fact. No matter how rich or poor you are, you are only supplied current at designated times. Unless you have your own means of generating power (diesel generator, solar, wind), you are in darkness! It might be until late 2016[1] that this problem will be solved when Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project comes into operation.
2. Nepal has over 6000 lakes and fresh water rivers, but...
...but water supply is a joke! People will literally kill to have drinking water. Not weird enough? What if I tell you that the problem of water supply is more widespread in the most developed cities like the capital Kathmandu? The demand of water in Kathmandu valley is 350 million liters while the supply is less than 180 million liters.
On average, water is supplied through the installed pipelines for only 4 days in a week (on average) and for just 2.4 hours on those designated days.[2] It is common to find people using reserve tanks to store water for the perilous times. We have a 8,000 liters reserve underground tank which is enough for my family of five for a full month.
Attached below is a video that shows the burden Nepali women have to bear for fetching water.
3. Nepal is a top tourist destination, but Nepal Airlines doesn't have planes!
Despite being a popular tourist place, Nepal does not have enough of its own national aircrafts. The national carrier, Nepal Airlines, only has 2 long haul airplanes which are more than 30 years old. These two Boeing 757-200 aircrafts only serve Asian countries and on peak tourist routes like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Doha. However, Nepal Airlines does have over 95% punctuality on its flights.[3]
Airlines from other countries do connect Nepal, but the lack of a national carrier has led to significant expensive airfare for tourists visiting Nepal. Nepal is still not directly connected to the United States, Africa, Australia, South America and the western Europe. The farthest connection from Kathmandu on the east is Seoul (South Korea) and on the west is Istanbul (Turkey).
How far can you fly from Kathmandu?
Seoul and Istanbul
4. No hugging, no kissing, no PDA... nah uh!
Hugging each other is okay (but still strange). But publicly kissing and activities of public display of affection is not only frowned upon, but will land you in police custody. Even Valentine's Day is not an excuse!
Nepal is still a developing country, not just from the point of view of infrastructure and luxuries. People are traditional and conservative, with over 80% following the ancient religion of Hinduism. Don't get us wrong - we watch Hollywood movies with PDA (and not-so-PDA) scenes and we are okay with it. But we're quite not in the place where we're okay with seeing a couple kiss in public.
5. Nepalese have ONE traditional food
And the day gets weird if we skip it. The food is dal-bhat-tarkari, which means dal (lentils), rice (bhat) and a vegetable (tarkari). I have never met a Nepali family that doesn't consume dal-bhat-tarkari without missing a day. Some families never miss a meal too and they have it two times daily as lunch and dinner.
Nepalese generally eat vegetable curry like Gundruk, but it can be any veggie or even meat curry and gravy. Mustard greens, leafy greens like spinach, kale, gardencress and cauliflower is more common than any other vegetable, with radish pickle and tomato chutney (sauce) on the side.
6. Nepal is only slightly larger than Alabama and Arkansas.
But it is much smaller than Georgia and Florida. However, almost 13,225 people live in a tightly packed square kilometer in the metropolitan city of Kathmandu. What's interesting is that in a western district Manang, only 4 people live per square kilometer![4]
This beautiful Manang valley has no roads worth driving! 
Despite being a small country, Nepal has much more to offer than several large countries. There are the highest points on earth and also the deepest valleys. There are over 120 Hindu temples in Kathmandu alone and over 300,000 small and big temples, monasteries and stupas. It is the only place in the world where the UNESCO World Heritage Sites are just within 15 km. That's why, Kathmandu is also called the city of temples.
7. Nepal and Portugal are twins!
Portugal
Nepal
If the map of Nepal is turned 90 degrees clockwise, it is literally the same as map of Portugal. This can be a very interesting question in pop quizzes and is asked frequently in general quiz competitions in schools.
8. Nepal is not only the land of Everest, but the land of 8 highest mountains!
Credit: shrimpo1967 on Flickr. With respect to license CC BY-SA 2.0
The Mount Everest, with its sister mountains Lhotse and Nuptse. As seen from a mountain flight to the Himalayas.
Out of the top 10 highest mountains in the entire world, 8 are in Nepal. What's more? All of them are more than 8,000 meters high. The tenth highest mountain in the world is the Annapurna I, which stands 26,545 feet tall.[5]
Lake Tilicho (at 4,919 m) in the Annapurna range, is one of the highest glacial lakes in the world. It is a very popular point in the popular Annapurna Circuit trekking route and also holds the record for one of the highest altitude scuba diving sites[6].
