Saudi Prince surfs Kathmandu on night, walks into humdrum shops
A billionaire prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who is in Nepal on his maiden visit went out for a nearly two-hour stroll on the bumpy roads of the country Sunday night, walking into humdrum shops and even pausing to buy apples from a fruit vendor peddling his ware from his bicycle.
Notwithstanding the tradition opted by members of the royal family disdaining to walk on public roads and maintaining an icy distance from commoners, Saudi prince preferred unhurried walk to the famed Buddhist stupa of Boudhanath in Kathmandu, his foray into a downmarket garments shop without showing any disdain, and even showing interest in hawkers on the street selling the humble potato.
‘We have never seen people of his stature walking on the roads,’ an amazed security escort told the Nagarik daily.
The prince bought a kilo of apples from a roadside vendor and handed over his purchase to his aides, the daily said. He also expressed surprise when he walked inside a shop and found it dark.
It was probably his first experience of power outages, a normal phenomenon in Nepal since 2007 with the winter months seeing the republic suffer up to 20 hours of darkness daily.
Currently, about 500,000 Nepali workers are employed in the Islamic kingdom, according to official estimates.
However, Saudi Arabia has no diplomatic mission in Kathmandu and the government is hoping the Saudi prince’s visit will help establish such a mission.
Described as the 19th richest man in the world by Forbes magazine, prince Talal arrived in Kathmandu in his private jet Saturday accompanied by his wife, Princess Amira, and an entourage of aides and bodyguards.
Prince Talal also visited Bhutan from here and is scheduled to return to his country Tuesday.
