www.cybernepal.com
A jumbled outlook on the entertainment scene of Nepal. Crammed and colourful, great fodder for the young Nepali population. The holy grail for scantily clad Nepali models (mostly female) while still maintaining a thin veneer of respectability. Everything you wanted to know about your favourite pop star, all in a one-window site if that's what you're going for. Coughyeahrightcough.
We give it a generous * because we're not really into that sort of thing.
www.partynepal.com
A trove of information for party animals. If you fancy looking at pictures of people you've never met partying at places you're never been to, this is the perfect site for you. It also works for those who went to those parties and want everybody to see they were there or to say "Eww, I look awful!" Gives new meaning to the motto: See and be seen. We give it *** because we like looking at pictures of people.
www.nepalnews.com
Nepalnews.com garners the most hits of all Nepal based sites. A comprehensive news portal with all the latest happenings 'as it happens'. Caters to the Nepali diaspora. Contains excerpts from all Nepali dailies and periodicals from Kantipur (in Nepali) to our very own Nepali Times. It lacks an e-newsletter service, which we thought would have made it a better site overall and it could also do much better in the design department.
We give it ****
www.nepal.com
If a site manages to capture the best webportal name for information on Nepal, you'd expect it to live up to it. Sadly, that is not the case. It lumps every link it can find, even ones selling a pharmaceutical product named 'Neoral'. (Someone made a typo somewhere.) Nothing here you wouldn't get if you simply googled Nepal. However, it's the perfect site for someone who just types nepal.com and would be happy to click away at random. We give it **
www.chiyapasal.com
We're not that good at reading Roman Nepali but this site gets top marks for originality. Took a long, halting, every-word-spoken-aloud time but we hear most young Nepali people are quite adept at that sort of thing. It's full of witty Nepali slang and nepanglish that had us laughing our heads off. The colour scheme and layout are gentle on the eyes. Check out the radio. Jhakasss!
We give it **** for good entertainment value.
www.spinybabbler.org
This is a site on the arts of Nepal, contemporary and traditional. Organised and actually created with a purpose in mind, unlike many of the confused Nepali sites that we encountered. Good for those with artistic tendencies. We especially liked the art show section where Spiny Babbler has snapshots of artwork by contemporary artists. We give it ***** for doing what it's supposed to and so elegantly.
www.sajha.com
This site seems to be suffering a major identity crisis, taking up topics ranging from Nepali music to humour, in buttons (wrong colour, wrong size) crammed on the left of the main page and trying to be everything for everyone. Recent posts from the forum are on the front page but the site would be better off scrapping most links and just having one called 'FORUM', which is why most people seem to come here anyway. On a brighter note, the forum is quite lively and updated frequently.
We give it * because there is vast room for improvement.
www.ngs.org.np
As one travels through a bewildering number of sites, it's natural to pick up a few odd bits here and there. Like the site map of the Nepal Geological Society which has taken the term in a very literal way that they probably got from looking at very literal things like rocks all the time.
We give it * for providing an unexpected laugh and the only thing we can say about this site is "it rocks".
www.food-nepal.com
In this mouth-watering site, recipes of Nepali food are organised into categories like appetisers, vegetarian, non-vegetarian etc. The navigation system suggests links to other relevant recipes, so it's quite fun to just browse through the site. Still, the site doesn't stimulate the eyes as much as it stimulates saliva, since it employs a number of clashing colour schemes and most of the pictures are too small and fuzzy to look edible. We give it **** for a great idea.
www.rna.mil.np
The Royal Nepali Army website opens with music and martial scenes and a typo in the icon. Everything you wanted to know about our army and its martial tradition up-to-date with its latest press releases. Interestingly, there is a separate section on human rights and a long list of soldiers who have died in action in the past four years as well as recent television programs on Real Player. Umm.**
www.cpnm.org
If you were wondering how to get to the blocked Maoist homepage, wonder no more. Simply go to the Proxify site (www.proxify.com) and you can browse all the banned websites in the world. The underground comrades have a blood red homepage with Stalin, Mao and Lenin prominent on page one and Mao's favourite quote 'Political power comes out of the barral (sic) of a gun'. Links to Krishna Sen Online, Janadesh and affiliated organisations like RIM and CCOMPOSA and recent statements. What the heck: ****
www.welcomenepal.com
This site represents the valiant attempt being made by the Nepal Tourism Board to entice tourists to visit Nepal despite all odds. There are maps and guidebooks in several languages but the hotel information link did not work when we were testing, so we guess the site prepares visitors for Nepal and alerts them to expect the unexpected. We give it **
www.thamel.com
This site has become much more than the online business directory it started out as and is now a gift delivery service for Nepali people here and abroad. The concept of being able to send gifts to family members in Nepal while one is somewhere else is unique and rather touching, especially as the certification is a digital picture of the receiving party with the gift. Wish there were Nepali translations, though. ****
www.nepalmatrimonial.com
This is an online matchmaker for Nepalis looking to marry by very specific standards. The profile you enter is pretty thorough, asking you to submit religion, height and even complexion (options are: 'fai&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#'&#̵'216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;216;', 'very fair' and 'dark'). You can be your own matchmaker or somebody else's, thus neatly allowing for arranged marriages as well. **
www.nepalhmg.gov.np
A much needed site for the student who needs to research the convoluted structure of the Nepali government. The site is well organised and very detailed, some of the links even lead off into separate sites. But particular information has to be opened in .txt files, though, while most sites would just use .pdf files, which are less of a hassle. We give it **
