Country Information

National specialities:
• Dal bhaat (lentils and rice).
• Tarkan (spiced vegetables).
• Gurr (Sherpa dish of potatoes pounded with spices, then grilled like pancakes on a hot, stone ground, and mixed with milk, tea or water).
• Rotis (flat pancake-like bread made from wheat or rice flour).
• Choyla (diced and roasted water buffalo meat, heavily spiced and eaten with flat, beaten rice).

National drinks:
• Chai (tea brewed with milk, sugar and spices; in the mountains it is salted with yak butter).
• Lassi (curd mixed with sugar in a mixture of sweet and salty flavours).
• Arak (very strong potato alcohol).
• Rakshi (wheat or rice spirit).
• Chang (homebrewed beer made from fermented barley, maize, rye or millet).

Legal drinking age: 21.

Tipping: Only expected in tourist hotels and restaurants; 10% is sufficient.

Kathmandu's nightlife scene may not be considered wild, but there are plenty of late bars, live music spots and nightclubs in which to have a jolly good time. These are found around traveller hopsopt Thamel, and near the city's 5-star hotels.

Many restaurants put on traditional Newari dance shows for tourists - particularly in Pokara - and there are a couple of casinos for those who fancy trying their luck. Watch movie blockbusters on DVD in restaurants around Thamel, or sample Hindi films at cinemas.

Popular buys include locally made clothes and textiles. These include lopsided topis (caps), knitted mittens and socks, Tibetan dresses, woven shawls, Tibetan multicoloured jackets and men's diagonally fastened shirts, and pashmina (fine goat's-wool blankets).

Also find khukri (the national knife), saranghi (a small, four-stringed viola played with a horse-hair bow), Tibetan tea bowls, papier mâché dance masks, Buddhist statuettes and filigree ornaments, bamboo flutes and other folk objects. Thamel is also full of outlets selling trekking gear - not always the make it claims to be, but most of it is relatvely good quality.

Shopping hours: Daily, 1000-2000 in tourist areas.