Nepal increases Mount Everest climbing fee to $15,000
Nepal will increase the permit fees for climbing Mount Everest by more than 35%, making the world’s tallest peak more expensive for mountaineers for the first time in nearly a decade, officials said on Wednesday. Income from permit fees and other spending by foreign climbers is a key source of revenue and employment for the cash-strapped nation, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest. A permit to climb the 8,849 meter (29,032 feet) Mount Everest will cost $15,000, said Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the Department of Tourism, announcing a 36% rise in the $11,000 fee that has been in place for nearly a decade.
I’ve eaten at the world’s best restaurants. One of the best things I've ever tasted cost $2 from a tiny takeout store
Some plates have been crafted by the world’s best chefs, taken from menus on which astronomical prices are printed in tiny text (the size of the font doesn’t lessen the pain, unfortunately.) Others reflect incredible value; extraordinarily tasty eats served up by the exhausted proprietor of a backstreet kitchen, roadside stand or a cart on wheels. Over the years — and through inches on the waistline — I’ve come to learn that a standout dish is a slow-cooked casserole of different ingredients. If you’re hungry, food invariably tastes better. If you’re in a good mood, you’re often more forgiving about the plate in front of you.
Top French chef bans Michelin Guide inspectors from his new restaurant
Five years ago he took the prestigious Michelin Guide to court and lost over an unfavorable review of a controversial soufflé. Now French chef Marc Veyrat has launched a fresh salvo against the fine-dining bible, banning its inspectors from his new restaurant. “I’ve even got a small sign on the front door,” he tells. “I’m turning 75 this year. I don’t want to be taking exams and getting ranked.”
Hotel policy change highlights struggles faced by unmarried couples looking for privacy in India
Travel can be tough for unmarried couples looking for a bit of privacy in India. Accommodations routinely decline to let this growing segment of the population share rooms — especially those looking to book a hotel in the city where they already reside. Which is why a change to a budget hospitality booking platform’s policy in a small Indian city has drawn much attention both in and outside the country. It all started in early January, when OYO Rooms issued “new check-in directives” for its partner accommodations in the northwestern city of Meerut, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Delhi, stating that hotels there could deny bookings from unmarried couples at their discretion.
Restaurant charges $120 to add pineapple on pizza
When Sam Panapoulos created what he and his brother-slash-partner-in-crime dubbed Hawaiian pizza, it was a breach of Italian culinary protocol that would echo down through the ages.Some six decades later, the question of whether pineapple belongs on pizza is a topic that divides nations, communities and even families. Now a pizzeria in Norwich, England, has nailed its colors to the mast by introducing pineapple to its online delivery menu — but at the princely sum of £100 (around $122).
Cruise ship passengers from across US sue after worker sentenced for placing hidden cameras in guest rooms
Nineteen passengers, including four minors, who cruised on board Royal Caribbean's Symphony of the Sea are suing the cruise line and a former company employee, who placed hidden cameras in their guest rooms. Arvin Joseph Mirasol, a citizen of the Philippines and former Royal Caribbean crew member named in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, was sentenced in August in Florida to 30 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to producing child pornography. The passengers, who were not named in the lawsuit and rather referred to by abbreviations, are mostly American citizens from all across the country, including New York, Georgia, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas, while several passengers are from Canada.