Prabin Panday, Executive Director of Hotel Shangri-La, shares with us his wonderful trip to Germany, followed by a highly contrast of a trip within a span of days to the Himalayas in Nepal.

Berlin

We started at the Brandenburg Gate, one of the most historic landmarks in one of the most attractive cities in the world, Berlin. This is where the Checkpoint Charlie lies, the crossing point between East Berlin and West Berlin. There are still some remnants of the wall that divided the two sides in the past. It is a very unique place, which holds a lot of historic significance. This is one of the places every tourist visits once they’re here.

Berlin is a vast city. The river cruises, boat trips, and double-decker buses that go around the city, which are some of the ways for sight-seeing to get a glimpse of the entire place. Like many other major cities across Europe, Berlin has all the modern facilities, amenities, and influences of art and culture that paint the entire city. But I was more interested with the cultural and historical aspects of the city.

Berlin is home to many cathedrals and traditional roman styled buildings. Some of the major tourist attractions are also its big historic museums around the city, where I would have loved to spend a lot of time if I had time. However, since it was a business trip, I didn’t get to go around much. Instead my experience was mostly limited to seeing the exteriors architectures of these beautiful places, which was quite fascinating enough.  Normally, every year we, from Shangri-La Hotel & Resort, go to the Internationale Tourismus-Börse Berlin, the world’s largest tourism trade fair. The exhibition brings together hotels, tourist associations, tour operators, airlines and other tourism institutions from all over the world, and we had bought our own little space for the week-long exhibition.  

The shopping malls in Berlin are a great place to spend your time and, of course, your money. The Mall of Berlin, Potsdamer Platz Arkaden and Alexa Shopping Center are some of the most popular shopping establishments. One thing interesting about Germany is that most of the branded goods are much cheaper there than compared to other places. Brands such as Hugo Boss are much cheaper there than in Asia. You can always be sure to find the latest arrivals in these stores than anywhere else in Asia.

For a more authentic Berlin shopping experience, you can always visit the Kurfürstendamm (KaDeWe). It is one of the most famous avenues in Berlin and their main shopping area, where you get authentic and local food, groceries, and to just about anything you want. Currywurst is one of their most popular fast food dishes. Traditionally, it consists of pork sausages with ketchup or tomato paste topped with curry powder and often served with french-fries. You may find them in a many variations. These are available in any street you stroll around the city, cost about 10 Euros and are hygienic as well. You can even go to different pubs and beer gardens, and sip some of Germany’s world famous beers.

One of the best parts about travelling is that you always meet new and interesting people. Interacting with them, getting to know their way of life, and their culture has always been fascinating to me. Most people are always worried about language when they travel to Europe. But during my visit, I didn’t have much of a language problem. Everybody there I communicated with could easily speak English.

My stay was mostly in the business hotels near the place of the exhibition. These hotels are equipped with all the basic facilities, not very extravagant or lavish, and are moderately priced at around 100 to 150 Euros a night. The main attraction of these hotels are their breakfasts and other meals. They are really good. There are also various other higher accommodation options.  You can also find many Nepali, Indian and other cuisines in restaurants around the city.

Frankfurt

I then took a train to Ichhiban in Frankfurt. It is a four and a half-hour long commute from Berlin. A very comfortable ride, with nice terminals where you find a lot of things you might need. You can even do a bit of shopping and even address your hunger needs here.

Frankfurt is the business and financial center of Germany. It is the city with futuristic skylines and one of the world’s busiest airports. It is a city where you find monumental skyscrapers alongside old well preserved buildings. The square around Eschenheimer tower, and the very famous Zeil street are one of the major tourist attractions in Frankfurt. Zeil Street is one of the most frequented shopping streets in Germany. You can do a variety of shopping here. Romerberg is the old center of Frankfurt and Romer itself is the town hall of the city. The square has several old buildings with traditional architecture. Most of it were destroyed in the world war and replaced by modern ones. The place is very touristy, with lots of restaurants and attractive shops.

Recommended

My stay in Germany was only a week long. Add to that I had to go the exhibition itself. So I didn’t get to experience the cities to the core. But I can tell you that it’s a wonderful place to visit with your family and loved ones. All the sight-seeing and food are be great if you want to share them with your family. Summer is the best time to visit these cities as they have a lot of food events, music events and concerts, kid’s activities and games everywhere in the city.

To get around, you don’t have to worry much about navigating yourself within the city as taxis are easily available. Travelling by bus might be a bit difficult, but Google maps are always a big help. And there are Tourist Information Centers in many places around tourist areas, airports and train centers that can help you with anything you need. 

The underground trains are quite convenient too. Travel between cities is much more affordable and easy through trains. You can get your Eurail Passes, which helps you travel across Europe much easily, even before you reach Germany. In fact, if you can, you should plan your travel in much detail and in much advance because one thing I’ve observed is that when you book something as absolute, and do not make any changes, the fares and costs are much cheaper. You can even get in touch with Nepalese living and working there.  They can help you get much better accommodations options at affordable prices. The easiest way to do that is to contact a Nepali Restaurant, or if possible other NRNs living there.

Base Camp

Not long after I returned to Kathmandu I got a chance to make another quick trip, this time within Nepal. My family and myself had been planning to go to the Annapurna Base Camp for some time. I’ve always wanted to visit the Base Camp, but at the same time wanted to skip the week-long trekking required to get there. I was looking for a more convenient way.

Simrik Airlines had just recently brought this flight package that flies people directly to the Base Camp on helicopters. First we reached Pokhara on our own. The flight from Kathmandu is bit difficult and costly as compared to flying from Pokhara. The helicopter picked us up and flew us over the concrete city onto the gorgeous Himalayas. It took about sixteen minutes to reach the base camp. It flew us quite high above the Fishtail mountain, through the gorges and from the back of the Fishtail mountain. We could see people walking in the heavy snow coated trails with their large rucksacks on their backs. We could see the Annapurna Mountain Range covered in bright snow, which seemed beautiful beyond words.

We then safely landed at the Annapurna Base Camp. We had about half an hour before we had to fly back to Pokhara. We enjoy some time amidst the magnificent mountains that surrounded us. We then went inside one of the four-star hotels in the Base Camp, the Annapurna Sanctuary Resort. Two of the best, and quite an unexpected things about this place are their cheese pizzas and coffee. It was the cherry on top of the trip. To be able to experience the mountains, this mini journey, and a wonderful meal with my family in this extraordinary place is beyond words. It cannot ever be summed up in words.