Austria’s Ex-Chancellor’s in Nepal as a Tourist

Normally, it is barely credible that a person who was once a Chancellor of a nation travels as a virtual tourist. Yes, ex-chancellor of Austria, Wolfgang Schüssel visited Nepal to explore Mansarovar and Mt. Kailash (6700 m) as other ordinary tourists generally do. Schüssel spent more than two weeks at Mansarovar and Mt. Kailash.

Schüssel come to Nepal along with his eight friends in the first week of October. After a night’s stay at Kathmandu, he left for Mansarovar via vehicle.

Because Schüssel prefers voluntary simplicity, he visited the mountain just as a typical tourist. He booked a simple guest house in Kathmandu, Nirwan Guest House. Generally, since we see such high profile figures book deluxe and starred hotels during visits anywhere, Mr. Wolfgang is really admirable for simple living and high thinking attitude.

A first visit and again the age is 64, isn’t it really gallant enough of Mr. Schüssel to visit Mansarovar and go around (parikrama) Mt. Kailash because most people even young do not dare this trip. He went around Mt. Kailash being at the height of 5500 m. One of his crew members returned to Kathmandu via Helicopter after suffering from altitude sickness and problem of blocked of urine.

Schüssel was back from Tatopani via vehicle after visiting Mansarovar and Mt. Kailash on Monday, October 26th. On Wednesday, he left for Everest Base Camp and Namche in a helicopter. There, he spent a day to enjoy breathtaking view of Mt. Everest and local surroundings. On return to Kathmandu via Helicopter, he again stayed at Nirwan guest house.

Although it was an individual trip of Mr. Schüssel, he expressed desire to meet PM of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal and was scheduled to have a meeting with the PM also. Schüssel returned back to Austria at 2 pm on Thursday, 29th October.
Schüssel is a Christian Democratic Austrian politician. He is considered popular leader in Austria. He became Minister for Economic Affairs from 1989 to 1995. He was Vice-Chancellor and Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2000. He was sworn to Chancellor of Austria from February 2000 to January 2007. Since 2006, he has been chairman of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) faction in parliament. Traveling and trekking are the prime adventurous activities he prefers.