MAYRHOHEN, Austria. More than two months after receiving an overwhelming felicitation in Kathmandu during the 50th anniversary celebration of the first ascent of Mount Everest, veteran mountaineer Reinhold Messner continues to play with the world's tallest peak - but in a different form. Despite being the first person to scale the 8,848 metre high Everest without oxygen, Messner has a distinguished record of climbing all the 8,000 metre-plus peaks in the world. There are 14 mountains higher than 8,000 metres and eight of them lie in the Nepali Himalayas. But nothing has mesmerised him more than Everest, which has prompted him from many years to go around the world and share his experience. The latest string of his audio-visual presentation on Nanga Parbat (naked mountain), the term he fondly uses for the Himalayas, brought him to this small picturesque valley in Austria.

With only 3,000 inhabitants, this resort valley about 500 kilometres west of capital Vienna, has the capacity of entertaining almost 10,000 tourists, making it one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Austria. And about 300 tourists got a rare treat Tuesday night, interacting live with Messner who is very popular in the area as he lives just across the border in Italy. Amidst a gathering of ticket-paying tourists at Europahaus at the centre of Mayhofen, 59-year-old Messner not only shed light on his achievements in the Himalayas, he also tried to explain the history of climbing in fluent Deutsche. And whenever one talks about Everest or the Himalayas, Nepal obviously comes in to the limelight. "Yes, this way I'm definitely promoting Nepal as well," Messner told The Kathmandu Post after an hour-long programme.

Buoyed by the beauty and his affiliations with Nepal, Messner has many plans, which help promote Nepal in the world, especially in Europe. Besides planning to establish Messner Mountain Museum by 2006 in Bozen of Italy, he is also planning a restaurant in his hometown, which will serve typical Nepali cuisine, which he loves a lot. Just how much he loves the cuisine was demonstrated when a Nepali family invited him for dinner. Soon after his presentation was over, Messner took time off from his scheduled get-together to visit the house of Ram Bahadur Biswakarma, who has been living here for last 13 years.

Despite being an Austrian by now, Biswakarma and his family, originally from Parbat district in west Nepal, welcomed the distinguished guests in a traditional Nepali way with typical red tika and a garland of marigolds. Messner even got the opportunity to taste Nepal's 'national dish' dal, bhat and tarkari, along with delicious momos. It was no doubt a big surprise to meet such a big Nepali family here, said Messner referring to almost a dozen people, including children, present at Biswakarma's house. And the food? "It's really good," Messner commented after spending an hour with the family. Ram is equally elated to have managed to invite Messner to his place and treat him Nepali food. "I'm definitely pleased that a respected person like him visited my house," said Ram who works as a cook in a local four-star hotel. And to everyone's surprise, Messner asked Ram if he could find anyone who could cook Nepali food for him. Like a Nepali proverb Ke khojchhas kano aankho (a blind getting an offer of eyesight), Ram quickly obliged promising him to fulfil his desire. But only time would tell whether Ram would join Messner or not.

OTHER NEWS

• Questions galore over airports safety: Following the Thai and Pakistan Airways disasters in the early 1990s, authorities markedly upgraded safety at the Tribhuvan International Airport. Thanks to Japanese government funding, the airport today boasts of a radar that keeps track of all incoming and departing flights, even warning pilots of impending hazards. But even as safety at Nepal's only international airport has increased, there is much to be desired at domestic airports across the kingdom. Pilots complain that some key navigation equipment are yet to be installed at busy regional airports. The few that have been installed do not function properly.
  
  
• Measures afoot for National Parks handover: The Ministry of Forest has started work on the government decision to hand over national parks and the management of protected areas to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) while retaining the Royal Nepal Army, according to a source. Almost 4,020 soldiers guard various protected areas in the country. "A working plan is underway to hand over national parks and management of protected areas to NGOs while retaining the army," the source said. "But it is not clear as yet as to who will foot the expenses and how." The ministry is currently busy formulating the working plan on the management of national parks and protected areas.
  
  
• Illegal snakes trade endanger species: It is learnt that, a large number of poisonous snakes are being illegally exported to foreign countries each season, from various regions of this district. Due to lack of proper measures taken by the concerned authorities in arresting the practice, various important species of rare snakes found in Nepal are on the verge of extinction. From the venom extracted from these snakes various chemicals are extracted for use in medicines for treatment of various diseases including anti-venom vaccine against snakebite. The skin of snakes are utilised in making wallets, bags, belts and various other items which can fetch good amount of money. Mainly due to these reasons, the illegal export of various species of venomous snakes has become a flourishing business for snake charmers and snake-catchers.
  
  
• Whither Nepal-China tourism MOUs?: The declaration of Nepal being approved for outbound travel for the Chinese tourists two years ago by the Government of the People's Republic of China was a landmark event in the history of Nepalese tourism and has enlivened the hopes of the sickening Nepalese travel trade. The Nepalese government too showed its unprecedented zeal to sign an MOU with their Chinese counterpart in Beijing. To ascertain the fairness in the dealings, the Nepalese government was asked to recommend to the Chinese side an appropriate number of licensed, creditable and competent travel agents as the land operators. So, to prepare a list of designated travel agencies, the government called for the application for registration with a deposit of 0.5 million rupees as Bank guarantee. A list of about 67 travel agents was published by HMG as authorised travel agents for the purpose despite NATA's resentment against this ludicrous provision of security money. These designated travel agents now, after a year, realising the almost dead enthusiasm of the government in gearing up the process, are applying for the withdrawal of their names from the list and are taking back their good money.
  
  
• Rains cause pollutants to recede in Valley: The dry days during the second week of August have caused the level of fine particles in the Valley air to rise up to 'unhealthy category' at heavy traffic places like Putalisadak and Patan last week (August 10-16). However, the level of the pollutants at the residential areas and fringe areas of the Valley gradually dropped to an improved level during the week. According to results from air quality monitoring stations at Putalisadak and Patan, the level of particulate matter having diameter less than 10 miro-meter, known as PM10, exceeded the national standard for the pollutant. The National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for the solid pollutant is 120 micro-gram per cubic meter.
  
  
• Historic temple on the brink of collapse: The 348-year old Pratappur temple flanking the eastern entrance of Swoyambhunath, declared World Heritage Site in 1976, could collapse any moment, as the devastating fire outbreak has left gaping fissures on its crumbling walls. The fire was completely doused four days after the outbreak. However, the fire combined with intermittent rain has considerably weakened the walls, and chunks of earth are falling down every now and then.
  
  
  

By Hari Shrestha, Resident Representative in Kathmandu