Shopping
Thanks to the hippies in the 60s, who came to understand and appreciate the shrines, the fine architectural style of its temples, monasteries and palaces, the tourism boom started in earnest and by and by Nepal became a destination of the citizen of the world.

Then there followed a period of nature and adventure tourism, bringing in yuppie trekkers, rafters and mountaineers, and the latter-day hang-gliders, hot-air balloonists and other dare-devils.

These two distinct groups of tourists to Nepal helped identify the country as a culture-nature-adventure triad of destination. With the evolution of Nepal as tourist destination its shopping industry also kept on increasing day by day.

A Heaven for Foreign Goods
Of course, the capital city of Kathmandu leads the way in all kinds of shopping in Nepal. Not that people are not exploring other parts of Nepal. In fact this exploratory fever has led the intrepid traveller to Pokhara and other landmarks. Of course the traveler has somehow managed to inundate the markets of Nepal with perfumes, cosmetics, toiletries, watches, cameras, luggage, blankets, garments, baby care products, chocolates and other confectionery, writing instruments, tobaccos and cigars, electronics, sunglasses, and the list goes on and on and on.

Bronze Figures
Bronze figures, sometimes alloyed with copper, appeared in the valley around 8th century AD. These sculptures usually represented religious deities or legendary figures. The most frequently used production technique is that of cire perdue, a form of wax casting. Images often contain embedded semi-precious stones, usually coral or turquoise, or are gilded with gold.

Jewelry
Jewelry of gold and silver reflects the preferences of ethnic groups. Gurung women often wear large disc earrings of bronze and copper, while Sherpa women often have turquoise and silver earrings. Other forms of jewelry include nose rings, pendants, engraved silver belts, anklets and bracelets.

Pottery
It is in Patan and Thimi, localities near Bhaktapur where pottery flourishes. Common forms of pottery are terra cotta oil lamps used to light homes during the festival of Diwali, and flower pots decorated with peacocks and elephants.

Painting
The earliest paintings in Nepal appeared in 11th century AD and consisted of illustrated manuscripts on palm leaf or rice paper. Thang-kas, a more predominant form of painting, are popular among Buddhists in Nepal as well as in Tibet and date back to the late 14th century. These paintings on cotton are rectangular in shape and usually longer and not very wide. They are framed with three stripes of Chinese brocade of blue, yellow and red which represent the rainbow which separates sacred objects from the material world. Older Thang-kas consisted of mineral-based colors, while current Thang-kas are produced with vegetable-based or chemical colors. Frequent themes of Thang-kas include images of Buddhist figures, mandala designs, the wheel of life design, or depiction of scenes or stories.

Mandalas are geometrical patterns which assist in the practice of meditation, as well as symbolize the nature of the universe. The symmetrical pattern reflects the development of the cosmos from an essential Principle and its rotation around a central axis.

The wheel of life symbolizes the endless cycle of reincarnations. A demon holds the wheel with fangs and claws to symbolize the existence of evil. Buddha is portrayed outside of the wheel standing erect since he reached enlightenment and escaped the cycle of rebirth. The center of the image is a circle which contains the three vices; the rooster symbolizes lust, the snake symbolizes hatred, and the boar symbolizes ignorance. A ring around this circle shows the six stages of reincarnation; at the bottom is hell for the doomed, followed by the world of the pretas which are greedy and slaves to their desires, then next comes the world of the animals portrayed with a pastoral scene, then our world of towns and villages, the world of the Titans which wage war against the gods, and finally the world of the gods portraying beauty and serenity. Another ring illustrates small images which basically impart a moral to the various images.