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If you want a quick getaway but are not up for a long drive from Kathmandu, the beautiful and serene Grand Norling Hotel’s Resort might just be for you! It’s located at Dakshin Dhoka, Mulpani, Sankhu Road, with the Tribhuvan International Airport 6.5 km and Boudhha 3.5 km away. Despite being so close to the city, you feel like you are far from city noises when you enter.

You get a panoramic view of the Gauri Shankar mountain range from garden and rooftop. Some rooms here even offer a fantastic view of the Gokarna golf course. While you are enjoying dinner outside in the garden, you will most likely catch sight of reindeers, stags and some amazing birds. This resort is also surrounded by World Heritage Sites if you are interested in visiting the ones nearby. Bajrayogini temple, Boudhanath Stupa and Pashupati Temple are easily accessible.

Seventeen years into its establishment, the resort has always aimed to provide excellent hospitality at an affordable cost. Among its many features are air-conditioned rooms, a business center, and banquet facilities. If you suddenly want to hire a car to go somewhere, you can do that too. There is an on-site convenience store along with a restaurant that fulfills your cravings. A barbeque night with your loved ones is recommended.
The modern yet traditional décor of the hall, rooms and banquet gives it an opulent look. Rishi Kumar Singh, the operations manager at the resort says, “On the whole, the theme is Tibetan. But we have also given some rooms typical Nepali looks.” Pointing at the many beautiful and intricate art pieces on the walls, he says art is given due space at Norling.

He adds that although the resort was established in 2002, it has only recently become popular thanks to its energetic marketing team. “Now you do not even have to go as far as Nagarkot or Dhulikhel to find a place to be one with nature,” he says.

What about room prices? Singh says the resort wants to make them affordable. According to him, the resort focuses on providing top ser-vice, a neat place, a relaxing ambi-ence, and good food. The hotel currently has four categories of rooms: deluxe, cottage, standard and suite. A cottage room costs Rs 5,500 inclusive of breakfast and taxes. Even for comparably small-er cottage rooms, the resort pro-vides all the facilities required for a great stay. “Once you enter a cot-tage room, you feel like you have time-traveled 50-60 years back,” says Singh. This room gives off a homely vibe.

Similarly, standard and deluxe rooms cost Rs 6,500 per night. There are twin beds available in standard rooms, which are spacious. Singh says guests at Norling usually come with family and wish to share a room and have fun together. Suites are largest available rooms. Their paintings and décor give off a royal vibe. The bathroom and balcony in suite rooms are as big as standard hotel rooms. The resort even has a swimming pool, which is open to the public. For those who just want to come for a swim, the cost is Rs 650 a day. (Periodic memberships are also available.) For those who take a room, you can go for a dip for free. Be it a business meeting, a quick retreat, or a scenic getaway, Norling does not disappoint.

1. What is the most important skill for you as an actor?

 Acting

2. Do you prefer theater or film?

I like film more because I have studied movie acting and I started my career in films as well.

3. Who would be your dream crew?

I really wanted to work with two people, Saugat Malla and Daya Hang Rai, and I am fortunate to have been able to work with them. In the future, I would love to work with Namrata Shrestha.

4. What has been your best/worst date? 

If I like someone, I don’t think place or activity matters much. But the perfect date for me would be in Paris with a view of the Eiffel Tower.

5. How would someone get your special attention? 

I do not like people who stalk me or give me too much attention. If someone gives me too much space though then I would be more curious and interested in that person.

6. What role do you like to play in movies?

For now, I would love to do a negative role.

7. How does it feel when you put a mask on your actual personality?

I was born to do this. I learnt acting to do this. This is where my passion lies.

8. Your most prized possession?

My Nissan car that I bought!

9. If you could have coffee with one celebrity, who would you have it with?

With Namrata Shrestha. I have met her multiple times and she is my friend. I find her very beautiful.

First suggestion: Don’t wait for this movie to appear on Torrent or some shady website. Watch it in the theater. Second: Don’t watch it in anything other than 3D. Or you’ll miss out on the whole adventure.

Hollywood goes to Europe in this latest Marvel creation called “Spiderman: Far From Home” and despite the carnage it wreaks in some of Europe’s best-known cities, the world is saved at the end. No spoiler, this: Isn’t this how things eventually turn out in every superhero flick? And we’re safe thanks to the teamwork of Spidey (Tom Holland) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Fury, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D, can mobilize the Avengers to save the world at his will, and he does so in this installment too. Holland almost effortlessly continues in his Peter Parker role that he started in “Captain America: Civil War” (2016). Sharing the screen for the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is Jake Gyllenhaal playing Quentin Beck/Mysterio.

The film starts with an homage to Tony Stark/Iron Man and the Fallen Avengers as well as the “blip” that occurred in the past two movie editions of Avengers. (We are sure you have watched the biggest blockbuster, ever.)

In the new film, Parker, a high-school student, is out on an educational trip of Europe with his schoolmates, including his crush Michelle/MJ (Zendaya). Like most teenagers with a high-school crush, he has planned an eventful trip and the perfect sequence to declare his love to MJ.

But then, even on vacation, the poor chap is faced with a dubious choice: to woo his crush into falling in love with him, or answering Fury’s calling to save the world. We know what our hero chooses already.

So what’s new in this Spidey movie, you ask? Well, to start with, this is partly a coming of age story of ‘the friendly, neighborhood hero saves the world’ narrative. We see a meek and scared Parker who is ‘not yet 21’ take up the gigantic responsibility. Holland’s Spidey character has always been part of a bigger group of Avengers, with him being cast as a teenager with recently-acquired super-powers who is being groomed by the veteran Tony Stark. In Far From Home, the little, unsure boy has grown up into a responsible man, making important decisions on his own.

Although Spidey gets the whole film to himself on this one, we do at times miss the cocky Stark. Spiderman-Ironman relationship was unmatched to relations between any other Avengers, and it was always fun to watch them together. We also miss the Marvel creator Stan Lee’s (1922-2018) classic cameo. (May his departed soul find peace.) You expect him to appear on screen, at any time. Unfortunately, he does not.

The 3D recommendation is not flippant either. If you want to feel the water churn under your ‘gondola’ in Venice, watch it in 3D. If you want to hover above London Bridge like a bird, correction, a drone, watch it in 3D. If you want to experience the best of modern-day VFX, do so again. 

Who should watch it?:

Men, women and children of all ages. Period. It’s a ‘Marvelous’ PG movie with high-end graphics and a whole load of family-friendly humor. 

Rating: 4 stars

Actors:Tom Holland, Samuel L. Jackson, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal

Director: Jon Watts

Run time: 129 minutes

 7 pm, July 6, Saturday

Club Fahrenheit

Thamel, Kathmandu

Bollywood singer with Nepali roots, Aditya Narayan Jha will be performing in an exclusive concert this weekend at Club Farenheit.

 6 pm, July 6, Saturday

LOD: Lord of the Drinks

Thamel, Kathmandu

GATC is an Indian Hard Rock/Melodic Rock/Heavy Metal band originally from Gangtok, Sikkim, which was brought together in 2009 by vocalist Girish Pradhan.

 10 am, July 6, Saturday

Food Truck Park

Nagpokhari Marg, Kathmandu

An open event full of fun activities, games, market stalls, rain dance, live band, and a lot more! Dress Code: Swim wear or waterproof clothes.

 11 am, July 5, Friday

Attic

Gyaneshwor, Kathmandu

Black and White Portrait Session is an event where you are invited to have your classic Black and White Portrait taken. The event encourages participants from different fields to capture professional portraits of themselves.

 The Toastmasters movement in Nepal is growing, with the addi­tion of six new Clubs— Professionals Toast­masters Club, Founders Toastmasters Club, Gan­daki Toastmasters Club, Pokhara Toastmasters Club, Dharan Toastmas­ters Club, and Banesh­wor Toastmasters Club. There are now 18 Toastmasters clubs in Nepal with over 500 members.

Similarly, Nepali Toastmasters are also gaining international exposure. Dis­tinguished Toastmaster Ranjit Acharya has now been elected in Top 3 Lead­ership position of District 41, which comprises India (North India, Delhi, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh), Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. He will now be working as the Club Growth Direc­tor and oversee growth of clubs in the entire district, which has a total of 214 clubs until now. This year the District conference “ORATION-2019” was held at Kolkata where Nepali Toastmaster contestants participated in different speech contests.

Alfa M. Shakya from KUSOM Toast­masters Club won first runner up award in International Speech Contest, the highest award for a Nepali Toastmaster thus far. Asira Khanal from the Himalaya Toastmaster Club won the second run­ner up in Speech Evaluation Contest.

Now, Division ‘A’ Nepal is under the leadership of Distinguished Toastmas­ter Suman Shakya. Twelve more clubs are planned in Nepal this term ( July 2019-June 2020), taking the country total to 30.