Sachin K Pokhrel

Pokhara, 23 June

The Dragon boat festival kicks off today at Fewa Lake, Pokhara. The Pokhara Tourism Council and the Overseas Chinese Association of Pokhara co-organized-festival was jointly inaugurated by Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song and Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Minister Sudan Kirati at Camping Chowk Lakeside Pokhara.

The festival then started with eight teams competing with each other, the teams were the Sichuan Dragon Boat Team (China), NARA Dragon Boat Team (Nepal), Yansan Dragon Boat Team (China), NRCA Dragon Boat Team (Nepal), Fewa Lake Dragon Boat Team (Nepal), Pokhara Metropolitan City Dragon Boat Team (Nepal), China- Nepal Friendship Boat Team (Nepal), and the SG Dragon Boat Team from Singapore. The teams competed with each other and the rankings were counted for the finals, which will commence on the 24^th of June in the same location.

The event had people enjoying the Nepali folk dances too. The commencement of the event was followed by speeches from the ministers and the guests, the CEO of Nepal Tourism Board Mr. Dhananjay Regmi, the Mayor of Pokhara, the minister of Tourism, and the Ambassador Mr. Chen Song gave their speeches where everyone shed light upon the friendship between the two countries and the history behind the Dragon Boat Race.

The Dragon Boat Festival goes around 2000 years and is celebrated in more than 50 countries across the globe, it has been played in the Asian games and was recently introduced in the Tokyo Olympics too. The festival will surely bring more exchange in culture between the two countries and it aspires to bring more tourism in Nepal in the coming years.

Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Chen Song, Tourism minister of Nepal Sudan Kirati, NTB CEO Dhananjay Regmi, Pokhara Metropolitan City Mayor Dhan Raj Acharya, and Pokhara Tourism Council Chairman Pom Narayan Shrestha put their views during the formal opening ceremony. 

The festival was surely something new for the people in Pokhara and it had the people screaming and chanting “Jai Nepal” in the audience. It marks another huge step for the friendship between the two countries.