Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Royal Mountain Travel Magazine Issue 1 | Page 51

picturesque monasteries and a nunnery in
the village. According to Lama, the Kopan
Monasteryreceivesmanyforeignresearchers
and students who come here to learn about
Mahayana Buddhism. “There are also some
long time expatriates living in Kapan now,”
he says.
Kapan has 15 different ethnicities. Guests
canlearnaboutandactuallyexperiencemany
cultures. Lama says, “Visitors can choose to
stay with Brahmin families, or Chettris, or
Newars, or Tamangs, or Sherpas, or Magars,
or with many of the ethinic group. In fact,
some of the homestays even have names
like “Poudyal Homestay”, “Tamang Family
Homestay”, “Gurung Family Homestay”,
and so on” Another interesting fact is that
Kapan happens to be the resident village of
morethan50experiencedmountainclimbers
including renowned names like Kaji Sherpa,
Ang Rita Sherpa and the late Babu Chiri
Sherpa, the fastest man to have reached the
Everest summit without an oxygen tank.

Doubtless, Kapan is an interesting destination
for tourists coming to Nepal and its well
organized homestay program can only make
their stay all the more memorable.
Lama is enthusiastic about how things are
working out and discloses,“One tour operator
whose clients are mostly American has been
sending groups every season for a one-day

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dinner program at our homestays. They say
thattheyhavereceivedexcellentfeedbackfrom
their guests. This season alone, they sent us
17 groups of about15 people each. Now, they
are planning to convert such programs into
overnight stays.” Indeed, Kapan Homestay
Village appears to be a success story, perhaps
the most successful of any of NTB’s programs
in Nepal Tourism Year 2011.

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