Entertainment
and Nightlife in Nepal
Nepal is an agricultural based society which
means most of the locals go to bed early and get up with the rising
sun – working like a dog and sleeping like a log but this
does not mean that life goes to sleep too. The life is still wide
awake and young to many who need to keep themselves fully entertained
and you will find plenty of places to fulfill your desire. Most
of the restaurants in the main tourist areas like Thamel close after
10 pm but a number of bars stay open until after midnight.
Note that the city laws in Kathmandu means all music needs to be
put off by 10 pm and people on the streets should be on their way
home. In this magnitude too, you still can be merry in the fascinating
action packed Casinos or shake a leg or two in some discotheques.
People travel to Nepal for various reasons and one of the reasons
for their travel especially for the South Asian people has been
to play in the Casinos of Nepal and try their lady luck smiling
upon them.
There are four Casinos in Kathmandu located in the premises of the
city’s top hotels which offers 24 hours of non stop fun and
games like baccarat, blackjack, flush, poker, pontoon, roulette,
and other card games and slot machines. All the games are played
in chips and they can be bought with US dollars or Indian rupees.
You'll get free food and sometimes a disco if you put some money
on the tables. Nepali's are officially forbidden from entering in
Casinos.
To keep yourself amused from dawn to dusk, you can get yourself
engaged in different things from a short trek, sight seeing, mountain
flight, movies to dining in a nice and cozy restaurant that offers
cultural programs and witness the diverse and fascinating ethnic
and cultural traditions of Nepal. Enjoy your visit to Nepal all
the more by visiting in the following entertainment places in Kathmandu:
Casino
Nepal - Soaltee Compound, Tahachal, Ph. 4270244
Casino
Anna - Hotel de L'Annapurna,
Durbar Marg, Ph. 4228650
Casino
Everest - Hotel Everest,
New Baneshwor, Ph. 4488100,
Casino
Royale - Hotel Yak &
Yeti, Durbar Marg, Ph. 4225550
Culture
Shows - Almost every
restaurant and hotel that caters to the non-backpacking, up-scale
market hotels, hosts a nightly culture show complete with local
dances, music, songs and costumes. Usually starts at around 7.00
PM and costs about Rs 200 per person.
The
Himalchuli Cultural Group is a Classical and Folk
Dance group, which performs nightly, at 7.00 PM - 8.30 PM, at The
Festival Restaurant and Bar in Lazimpat, (behind the Peace Zone
English School) Ph. 4415280. The restaurant serves excellent Nepali
and Newari cuisine.
In Pokhara many
restaurants have a cultural dance show on every night. Sign boards
outside the restaurants advertise what’s happening.
Local
Bands, the Bar Scene and Dancing
- Look for local bands in the cities of Kathmandu and Pokhara
that may even get away with staying open past the 10pm curfew. Discos
are becoming popular and dancing sometimes breaks out at local bars.
Because of cultural attitudes toward men and women contact, local
people general dance with the same sex. A general rule: if you see
local women dressed in jeans, they've been cultured abroad or family
ties extend outside the country.
There are several
bars scattered around Thamel in Kathmandu, all close to each other.
Each one has its own style so have a look in each one to choose
which appeals to you.
Tom
& Jerry Pub - upstairs,
opposite to Pilgrims Book Store, has been open for along time, it's
noisy and has pool tables. Close by on the same side of the road
is the New Orleans Cafe
- a popular place to eat good food and often has live bands.
In the same area is the Jump Club
- a popular bar with DJ and a small dance floor. Further
north is the Tunnel Club
- a popular top-floor place with very loud music and open
late hours. Almost opposite is Sam's
Bar - a small place
with good music that opens after 5 PM.
A well known
bar is the Rum Doodle Restaurant &
Bar - it's a favorite meeting place for mountaineering
expeditions, and you can eat here free for life, but only if you
conquer Everest first! The Pub Maya,
which is associated with Maya Cocktail
Bar - has remained a
favorite for along time. Close to Thamel Chowok is the Underground
Bar, which always has its music up pretty high.
Further along on Tridevi Marg, Studio
54 is currently popular.
Right near Yin
Yang Restaurant is Paddy Foley's Irish
Bar - a very popular
place, especially on St. Patrick’s day!
Kathmandu has
a couple of discos, popular with the more wealthy Nepalis. The Moon
Sun Disco - at the Heritage
Plaza in Kamaladi, Club X Zone
near Durbar Marg. Both are open late every night but are probably
not ideal for visiting tourists. If you want to dance bars in Thamel
are a lot better.
Caution: with over 50 ethnic groups, drunken brawls are not uncommon
whenever people are warmed up enough to cut-a-rug.
Movies
- The only theaters in the country play popular Hindi movies
from Bollywood, mostly without English subtitles. But catching a
Hindi movie is worth it since understanding the language is not
essential to enjoy these comedy-musical spectaculars. Recently,
a few local venues have popped up serving English language movies
that are about 6 months behind their market release.
A number of restaurants
in Thamel offer pirated videos or laser discs on TV's, almost as
soon as they are released at the cinemas in the west. These places
usually require you to eat at the restaurant and the movie is included.
You'll see the movies written up on chalk boards on the pavements.
Update:
The Inter-Cultural Film Society - Starting
in March 2000, this non-profit organization promises to "bring
diverse feature films from different cultures around the globe ...
for promotion of inter-cultural understanding”. Call Prem
Basnet or Susi Groeli at: 4481659 or 5537551 for detail information.
There are films
shown at the Russian Cultural Center
in Kamal Pokhari. They are foreign language films with English subtitles.
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