By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Nistha Thapa Shrestha from Nepal
Photos = Nistha Thapa Shrestha
Video = Nistha Thapa Shrestha


Korean Culture Week is an annual event in Nepal that brings together everyone in the country who loves Korean pop music, TV shows and movies, as well as Korean heritage and traditions. It was organized by the Korean Embassy in Nepal to celebrate and share Korean traditions, food and trends with the broader Nepalese community. The whole week of festival was held from May 25 to 29. The first day had a traditional Korean food exhibition, a Korean market, a dance contest to Korean pop music, a Korean cooking class and much more. Indeed, there was something for everyone.

Cooking class



It is said that to truly understand a society, one needs to experience its food. What is better way than to try to make it yourself? The Korean cooking class started at 1 p.m. and with a limit to the number of participants, around 30 people attended the workshop. First, we were divided into six different teams and were provided with aprons at designated tables. The teams were provided with recipes and a mentor to help them. Each team made different dishes. There was japchae noodles with sautéed vegetables, jeon savory pancakes, kkakdugi diced radish kimchi and many others.

Learning the Korean way of cooking and understanding the taste, meeting new people, and sharing the food they cooked with all the other teams was what all the participants truly enjoyed the most. The workshop ended with a quick photo session and a lot of smiles.

Dance contest to Korean pop music



The Korean pop music dance contest took place in a large hall and it only took a few minutes to get all the seats filled. The line-up for the contest was six talented Nepali dance groups, all of them great fans of K-pop. The groups had names like Strukpop, BMK, Celestials, Crimson Yeoja and K-hoppers. The ambience at the concert was extremely vibrant, with around 1,000 people in the audience. The K-pop fans were all geared up with their chants, lightsticks and -- most importantly -- with a high level of energy.

Furthermore, there was also a fun quiz and a game section for the audience, and exciting K-pop merchandise for the people who won. However, the highlight of the show was the closing performance where all the dance groups danced together to songs by Big Bang, Exo and others, wowing the crowd. It was undeniably a perfect finish.

Traditional attire, food

As you arrived at the venue, you could see the cheerful faces of the people there as they tried on some traditional Hanbok attire and posed for pictures with friends. It was one of the main attraction for everyone. There was a long line of people waiting to try on the Hanbok, and everyone in the line was really excited.



The festival also had a traditional Korean food exhibition, too, that had everything from soft tteok rice cake through to crunchy and sweet maejakgwa fried ribbon cookies. The array of all these 16 different traditional delicacies was made by Cho Sang Mi. She was happy enough to describe the preparation process of the dishes, and also their history. The generous display of tteok rice cake, its fragrance, color and unique shape was something quiet hard for everyone to avoid. Visitors looked mesmerized as they savored a few of these dishes.

I had a great time experiencing the tastes and sounds of Korea, meeting new people with similar interests, and learning about Korean heritage and traditions. I'm glad that I attended the festival and it was extremely thrilling to experience Korea in Nepal.

wisdom117@korea.kr

* This article is written by a Korea.net Honorary Reporter. Our group of Honorary Reporters are from all around the world, and they share with Korea.net their love and passion for all things Korean.