Both Isaac and Andrew were in agreement N must be Nepal. Perhaps it was the unique shape of its flag (the only non-rectangular in the world!) or Nepal contains Mount Everest and eight of the 10 tallest mountains in the world. Whatever it is, Nepal definitely stands out and an intriguing place to “visit.”

Despite its grandness in height, Nepal is only the size of Florida but with 40 percent more people (for a total of 28 million) most of who live the rural and mountainous areas of Nepal. In fact, Nepal has never been colonized (it once ceded some control to Great Britain), and was pretty much closed off to outsiders until the 1950s  The only major city in Nepal, and also its capital, is Kathmandu, which was hit by a disastrous 7.8 magnitude earthquake in April 2015. For more information on it, click here: Nepal_info

Some other interesting facts that stood out to us include:

• Nepal is the legendary birth place of Buddha (though, now 80 percent of its population is Hindu).
• In 1950 only 1 percent of its population was literate, today  only 75% of males and 60% of females can read and write.
• The Nepali calendar, called Bikram Sambhat, is approximately 67 years and 8.5 months ahead of Gregorian calendar. The Nepali New Year is celebrated in mid-April.
• Nepal has more than 900 species of birds, which accounts for 8.9% of the total species of birds all around the world.

FOOD

Nepali food (or Nepalese – both are correct but the locals say Nepali) is very similar to that of neighboring India with rice and curries and dal. However, the flavors do not seem as spicy. Nepal also has something uniquely its own – the Momo! A stuffed thin dough filled with ground chicken onions and spices. It also is famous for it yak butter tea so we did our best to recreate that!

Dinner

Momos – We actually got a recipe similar to this from my friend Megha who is Nepali! These were delicious and the kids had such a fun time making them (and singing ‘”chicky momo” – to the tune of Phineas and Ferb’s “Ducky Momo” – while doing so!) We did just use Wonton wrappers, which worked great.

Dal Bhat –  Rice and stewed lentils. Tasty and very similar to the Indian kind we make.

Tarkari – This translated to vegetable curry but its more like fried up vegetables – which are flavorful – especially of the cloves, but not very curry like.

Cilantro Chutney – I am allergic to cilantro but everyone else seemed to like it. Sameel/Dada even said it would make a great soup!

Breakfast

Salted Butter Tea – We wanted to try this as its what the native Nepali drink to sustain themselves up in the Himalayas. It was…interesting. The boys each just took one sip and stopped in disgust. To me it was intriguing, but definitely takes getting used to.

Suji ko Hawla – Apparently they don’t have much more than tea and toast/bread/pastry for breakfast in Nepal. So we opted for the breakfast-sounding dessert, which was basically like cream of wheat or oatmeal, and quite delicious!

CULTURE

Carrom is a very popular game in Nepal, especially in Katmandu. And is played by kids and adults in leagues and tournaments.  Its very much related to billiards/pool and some believe Carrom may have come first. You basically flick with your fingers one disc shape piece at some smaller discs and try get them into pockets in the corners. The website was quite helpful to learn the game of Carrom: Carrom Instructions 

And we decided to make our own Carrom board and pieces using bottle tops, cardboard and duct tape. And it really was a lot of fun, both making and playing .

DIY Carrom Set

1. Cut a piece of cardboard 29 inches square
2. Cut out circles about three inches in diameter, so that you cut of the corners of the board
3. Cut four cardboard strips for the sides 29 inches long and two inches high – or at least four corner made of cardboard.
4. Put a long piece of duct tape just slightly under one side of the board cover it from corner to corner. Put the thin cardboard strip on the exposed tape Put down another long piece of duct tape cover the top edge of the board slightly. Stand up the side.
5. Repeat step 3 for the other three sides.
6. Bring all the corners together and re- enforce with more duct tape.
7. Collect 19 bottle caps (from water, soda, beer, etc) color 9 black, 9 another color and one red (or put a sticker on it like we did!)
8. Find a slightly larger cylinder (we used a checker piece) and you might want to tape a quarter to it to weigh it down some)
9. Draw the Carrom board pattern on the board
10. Play a fun game!!!!

FLAG

So what is up with Nepals crazy pointy flag?!? Apparently because Nepal is so mountainous they wanted a flag to reflect the terrain. The two points represent the high peaks of the Himalayas and also the balance between Buddhism and Hinduism. And the sun and moon patterns symbolize the hope that the nation will last as long as the sun and the moon!

Next up is O…and well, there is only one country we could choose, so stay tuned for Oman!

So we again went with obscure for M. Going with a tiny island east of Madagascar that has always intrigued us: Mauritius! While part of the African continent, most everything about it is more Asian, specifically Indian.

This once uninhabited island  was discovered by the Dutch and then long ruled over by the French and then the British. The island is most known for the Dodo bird even though it went extinct (by a bunch of hungry Dutchmen) in 1682. Once a major hub for the sugar industry, it is now one an international banking center and one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

And its beaches and landscape look amazing! We would really like to travel there one day! For more information about this tiny island nation, go here: Mauritius

–  Mama

Interesting facts about Mauritius

• The dodo bird is the national bird of Mauritius even though it is extinct.
• It is one of the wealthiest countries in Africa
• A popular tourist attraction is the “Seven Colored Earth” where sand is seven different colors in a small space
• When slavery ended the British changed the majority of Mauritius inhabitants from the African sugarcane slaves to new workers  with Indo – Pakistan origins, this was called “The Great Experiment”
• Mauritius does not have a standing army

Food

Mauritian food has a lot of Indian influence just like another her country we did: Fiji. A difference is that Mauritian food is more fresher and tropical. It includes more fruits and vegetables than India, and the food is less spicier and more milder than India. Everything, though was delicious.

Dinner

Dholl Puri Recipe –  This is like Chapati or Roti. It was very delicious and is eaten with curies. I (Isaac) made everything except for the split peas all by myself.

Coconut and Mint Chutney recipe – This was super delicious and refreshing. This is supposed to be eaten with the Dholl Puri but you can eat it on it’s own too.

Mauritian Shrimp Curry Recipe – This isn’t as spicy as Indian Curry and this also was very delicious.

Rice

 

Breakfast

Mauritian egg roti video – this was very delicious except I do not like eggs and Andrew does not like tomatoes, so we had a bit of confusion.

Pineapple smoothie.

 

Culture

For the culture of Mauritius we did the Sega dance. The Sega originated among the African slave people of Mauritius. When you dance you keep your feet on the ground at all times and dance. Women have long skirts that they hold up when dancing. Men don’t have a crazy and fun outfit like the women have so all of us decided to wear the long skirts.

For the two videos of Mauritians Sega dancing of here: Sega dance 1 – Sega dance one shows the landscape of Mauritius and Sega dance 2. And for our video:Our Sega dancing

Flag

Doesn’t the Mauritian flag look pretty colorful with its equal stripes of red, blue, yellow, and green? Its called the Four bands or Les Quatre Bandres in French. But do you want to know what it means? The red stripe represents its struggle for freedom. The blue stripe represents the Indian ocean, in which Mauritius is surrounded by. The yellow stripe represents their independence, and the green stripe represents Mauritius’s agriculture and beauty. For more information go to Mauritius Flag Wikipedia.

We promise to do our N country sooner than later, but we are keeping it a secret this time!

– Isaac