Who is a tourist in a Nepalese eye?
Nepal is rich in nature and culture but poor economically. Nepal is still a long way to go before being fully developed. Tourism has always been a backbone of Nepalese economy. Hence tourists have always been considered guests and guests are always considered god here.
In this blog, I tried to point out who you are in a Nepalese eyes, if you are a tourist here:
Someone coming from a developed country: Though there are few other countries in the globe who are more under developed than Nepal. For a Nepali, if you have visited Nepal as a tourist, you are from more developed country and have enough money to spend.
Someone who understand English: For most of the Nepali people, you understand English, even if you don’t. And you can also expect a Nepali to at least understand “Yes” and “No”. People in rural Nepal still think that every outsider is from a English-speaking country.
Someone who can give tips: As I already stated above, for Nepalese a tourist is always rich and if they are served good, they will offer a tip.
Someone who is interested to know our culture and tradition: Nepali people has always loved and preserved their culture and tradition. Tourism has either been related to nature or culture. Hence for a Nepali, a tourist is always interested to know about the local culture and tradition.
Someone who wants to know our stories: You might notice, every Nepali you meet here share their personal stories. Some stories are not meant to be shared with another Nepali or some stories might be inspirational that a Nepali feels it must be shared to someone from another country.
Someone who has come to Nepal for holiday: Since Nepal has always been in a bucket list of most of the tourists, for Nepalese, a tourist in Nepal is here to spend his holiday or vacation.
Someone who is an adventure lover: For Nepalese each and every tourist visiting Nepal is an adventure lover. Either they have visited Nepal for peak climbing, trekking or rafting or bungee jumping or other adventure.
Someone who is interested to get closer with the real Nepal: There is a belief among Nepalese that tourists are more interested in local things. They are more interested in knowing the ancient Nepal.
Someone fulfilling one of the item in his/her bucket list: It might be a misconception but being a citizen of a home country of Everest and birth place of Buddha, we are always proud and consider our country to be in the bucket list of every outsiders.
Someone who knows about Everest: Finally, someone visiting Nepal must at-least have a knowledge about the highest peak in the world and that Nepal contains that highest peak.
A tourist is anyone who travels from one place to the other whether it be for business, holiday, pilgrimage, medical treatment or any other purpose for a short or long period of time. The traveller maybe a native or a foreigner from other countries. True that in some aspects you have pointed out that a tourist is all those you have mentioned but not always and not necessarily.
As for stories of a personal nature being shared with tourists and tips being handed out are common practice in the tourism Industry and is the same world wide.
Nicely written though!
Thank you for taking out time and reading the blog. We really appreciate your comment and you are right with whatever you are saying but as the title says it all.. the blog just explains how a Nepali sees a tourist.