Adios 2015

The year 2016 has officially arrived and what better way to kickstart it than a big night out with good food, friends and fantastic music. Kathmandu is the center of all things spectacular when it comes to New Year’s Eve celebrations, and I chose to ring in my new year’s eve at a top resort in town. Situated ideally within the city limits of Kathmandu, the resort is a beautiful slice of green heaven in the midst of a big lush Gokarna forest.

New Year’s Eve is literally that time of the year when one can push the imaginary reset button in their lives and start afresh. The time to leave behind the demons of the past and and ring in the new in 2016 🙂 It brings us back to the memory lane of the past year and gives us hopes and anticipation for the year ahead.

2015 was a rough year for Nepal and Nepali people. Therefore, I feel glad to bid farewell to 2015. They say hard times brings out the best in you. There is now nowhere to go except move forward. Nepali people have shown the true spirit of resilience and have shown that they can rise from the rubble to cope up with any catastrophe and bounce back better with each passing day.

The New Year’s Eve party I attended was an absolute retreat. Far away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the resort is an oasis for enjoying an evening in tranquility. The atmosphere was electric and everything was sought after. From delightful ambience to good food to phenomenal performances, everything was up to the mark. The event started with the charismatic performance by Heartbreakers Band that played outstanding music and had the huge crowd rocking and rolling to the familiar dance numbers.

Popular Nepali, Hindi and English numbers were played, absolute joy. An unbelievably amazing dance performance by Natasha from UK was a visual treat. It was the highlight of the event and this vivacious fire dancer stole the show!! Her energy was contagious. Graceful belly dance and Bollywood dances were added to the endless sparkle of the night.

The audience were amazing and were grooving to the beats. The organizers even allocated time for interaction with the audience and the audience participated actively. The host of the night, Khusboo Pradhan, involved everyone and made the audience engage in dance competitions as well as singing songs. Foreigners were engaged equally in the dance competitions and there was one Belgian family who entertained all by singing and dancing in Belgium numbers.

I even interacted with a big Belgian family who said they were ecstatic and enjoying the evening to the maximum. Few young lads from the family were even wearing Nepali hats and were excited to click pictures with us. There were other tourist families who were also letting loose of themselves, all smiles.

It was a happy and proud moment to see foreigners enjoying New Year’s Eve in Kathmandu Nepali style with Nepali people! Nepal’s tourism sector that has been in jeopardy after the earthquake is surely and slowly getting back to the previous benchmark.

I hope 2016 will turn out to be a lucky year for Nepal and Nepal’s tourism industry will revive back to the previous benchmark of 800,000 tourist Annually.

Courtesy: Gokarna Forest Resort, Kathmandu