We awoke this morning to a very definite change in weather which I hope indicates that the unusually prolonged monsoon is now finally over. After a weekend of heavy rain in Kathmandu, this morning the southeastern Godawari hills were shrouded in a delightfully cooling mist. It shielded me from the early morning sun as I walked the dogs down the road and a slight northerly breeze provided additional refreshment. This may now herald the pleasant couple of months that one looks forward to all year.
Last week I visited two museums in Pokhara. The first was the Regional Museum which endeavours to give an insight into the local culture - mainly that of the Gurung and Thakali ethnic groups. The information that was presented was quite interesting in itself but the presentation was appalling, a combination of exhausted displays and poor illumination. The toilet at the back was an Asian one, which isn't necessarily to every tourist's taste, or indeed capacity. This museum could be really great if someone were just to get a grip of it. Straight after that we went to The International Mountaineering Museum which opened just three or four years ago. This exemplified what so often goes wrong in Nepal. It has clearly been a grandiose scheme with a massive building of warehouse proportion, set in a large area of land on the outskirts of the town - you really have to go out of your way to find it. To my eye there has been a lack of vision in the concept for the Museum; I suspect substantial funds have been obtained from somewhere and the instigators have decided, like many Nepali planners, to go for it and build big, thinking nothing of public accessibility and electing to worry further down the line about what the facility will display. That suspicion is supported by the lack of content or poor quality of exhibits. The interior of the warehouse feels like er, the interior of a warehouse and the sparse exhibits are pretty pathetic. These may have been cobbled together from former museums as the fauna exhibits (stuffed animals) look particularly old and sad. There has been no attempt at taxidermy, and one showcase presents the Munal pheasant (the national bird) and the splendid Satyr Tragopan (resembling a scarlet pheasant) lying flat, looking rather like they have been ritually executed or run over by a vehicle. This museum, as per the first, also cries out for an imaginative input. Dare I say it, this should come from a foreigner who has an insight into museums and what can interest, excite and inform tourists. An example of how this approach has worked well in the past is the Patan Museum in Kathmandu which was designed by Austrian architect, Gotz Hagmuller. The content of that museum is quite limited in scope and to enjoy it to the full one must enjoy (or be prepared to enjoy) looking at a large number of ancient statuettes of Hindu gods. But that aside, it is one of the loveliest museums I have been to anywhere and I could highly recommend it to any tourist.
Finally on tourism, I noticed a travel agent in Kathmandu yesterday calling itself "Titanic Tours and Travel Ltd.". Any takers?
