Conference

The conference will be at Hotel Soaltee Crown Plaza (http://www.soaltee.crowneplaza.com), a premier hotel in Nepal. Located in a spacious premise in the western part of the city, it has all the required facilities to organize an international conference. The hotel has agreed to provide the following special rates of room tariff with breakfast (taxes not included) for the guests attending the conference for the days between 1 and 5th June 2005.

Room type	Single/Double	Tarrif
Deluxe Rooms	Single Occupancy	US$ 70.00
	Double occupancy	US$ 80.00
Crown Plaza Club Room	Single/Double	US$ 160.00
Executive Suite	Single/Double	US$ 280.00

Arrangements are also made for low-cost but reasonably good accommodation (approximately US$ 20 to 40 per night with breakfast). Further detailed information on names of other hotels and tariff, schedule, travel, mode of payment and other relevant information will be provided in the Second Circular. Accommodation will be arranged either at the conference hotel or in other hotels depending on the request of the participants. Early June being the tourist season participants requiring hotel booking must confirm the type of hotel accommocation to the organizers latest by April 15, 2008.

Air Travel: Kathmandu is well connected with many big cities in Europe and Asia. However air ticket bookings must be made well in advance as June is still a busy month for tourism industries in Nepal.

Kathmandu city centre is only about 6-7 km from Tribhuvan International Airport (Kathmandu). Taxi charge from the airport to most hotels around Kathmandu is about 7 US$.

Post-Conference Events: Site seeing in and around Kathmandu, and visits to Pokhara and Chitwan National Park are planned separately if registration of minimum required number of participants is avaialble. The cost of these post conference events will be provided later. There are many world famous trekking routes in the Nepal Himalaya including the Everest base Camp. Interested participants may plan in advance and inform us if they need any help in this regard.

Travel Support: Subject to the availability of fund, partial support for travel and or local hospitality will be provided to a limited number of participants with priority to needy studnets.

Kathmandu - the Venue: The ancient city of Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal and is located at an altitude of about 1400 m within a beautiful valley in the mid-hills of the Himalaya. Endowed with a rich cultural heritage and beautiful natural surroundings, the valley is very proud to be one of the world cultural heritage sites and hosts as many as seven monument zones within the valley. Nepal is a highly favored tourist destination in the world. A paradise for the mountaineers, Nepal has 8 out of 14 peaks of the world having over 8,000 m altitude including the Everest.

Weather: The days in early June in Kathmandu is much cooler and comfortable compared to the hot summer weather in the region. The day temperature in the month of June in Kathmandu is between 25 and 30 degree Celsius. Light clothing is recommended. However participants planning for trekking in the mountains need to be prepared accordingly. Due to its amiable climate and location, Kathmandu has become a favoured destination for many regional and international meetings and conferences. This ancient city of Kathmandu is a moderate sized city of about one million population.