Happy 2019 everyone!

It’s a brand new year—Happy 2019 everyone! This month’s issue is a collection of articles that we hope you will enjoy as you head into these fresh days. Our cover story is a personal and detailed take on one of the valley’s three erstwhile kingdoms: the wonderful city of Bhaktapur, a place that many of us who dwell in the valley don’t go to often enough, despite its many sights and highlights (speaking for myself here, mostly).

But I have been traveling, and am so glad to share my recent visit to Nuwakot with you, another great destination that I feel doesn’t get enough attention. It’s memorable and well worth your time to pay a visit. It’s a place I’m already planning to go back to.

We also share another piece by Alton Byers, a top scientist who’s recently been studying GLOFs, and if you aren’t familiar with them—I wasn’t—please take some time for our long-read on this important and interesting issue.

You’ll also find fascinating people, wonderful crafts, and more unusual places—Bhootkhel, anyone?—in these pages. Our writers attended an event promoting traditional Nepali music and instruments, as well as learning about how an international Nepali-based music video came to be, and wrote about it for you in these pages.

All of us here at ECS Nepal send our readers warm wishes for everything good as you head into the new year. In the months ahead, we’ll do our best to keep learning, exploring, and sharing what we find with you here.

We look forward to the journey ahead, and taking it along with you; whatever exciting things the year may bring, we are committed to learning about and promoting this wonderful country that we’re lucky enough to live in!

Enjoy.

Evangeline Neve

Associate Editor