What's it like for a woman to travel or trek in Nepal?

By David Reed, author of The Rough Guide to Nepal

Nepal is a relatively safe, laid-back place to travel or trek in, regardless of your gender. But women always have a few extra things to think about wherever they travel, even in Nepal.

First, clothes. Traditional Nepalis are offended by the sight of a woman wearing a short dress, shorts or loose-fitting top: thighs and shoulders aren't supposed to be bared. That doesn't mean you have to wear Nepali clothes, it just means that you ought to wear more modest foreign clothes. In tourist areas you can buy cheap calf-length dresses and skirts that fill the bill.

Now, if you trek on one of the popular routes and see how many trekkers wear skimpy clothes, you might wonder whether this is obsolete advice. It isn't. It's true that Nepalis along the main routes have seen everything by now, and in any case they're too polite to say anything. So sure, you can get away with it, but you'll definitely widen the distance between you and the Nepalis you meet, and you can pretty much forget about any rewarding cross-cultural interactions.

You'll also up the chances of inviting unwelcome advances. Nepali society is sexually rather conservative, so it's easy for Nepali men to get the idea that foreign women are wanton-relatively speaking, they are. Wearing what Nepali men consider to be revealing clothes sends the wrong message.

This is not usually a big problem. On a sexual-harrassment scale, Nepal is way better than most other Asian countries (and for that matter, most Western ones). Most of the harrassment is low-key staring and cat calling, and is rarely encountered outside the tourist quarters of Kathmandu.

However, there are a handful of powerful trekking-agency owners who have allegedly raped female clients. The vast majority of trekking guides are as good as gold, but sadly, there are these few bad apples. (I'm afraid I don't know who they are, and even if I did I couldn't name names because none of them has been brought to trial.) The best way to avoid them is to hire a trekking guide on the recommendation of someone you trust-or consider hiring one of the small but growing number of female guides.

Theft is another emerging hazard of trekking in Nepal, mainly in the forested parts of the popular areas. Fortunately, the muggings rarely involve physical violence, and women are probably no more at risk than men are. The only extra hassle for a woman walking alone is that locals (of both sexes) will ask if you haven't got a husband-the question is usually asked out of genuine concern, since Nepali women rarely travel unaccompanied.

One frustrating aspect of traveling in Nepal is the difficulty of making contact with Nepali women. The tourism industry is controlled by men; women, who are expected to spend most of their time in the home and are given fewer educational opportunities, have little contact with foreigners and speak much less English.

All the more reason to go trekking, since the sexual politics are different among the Sherpas and other highland ethnic groups. Along trekking routes, many women run teahouses single-handedly while their husbands are off guiding or portering. Proud, enterprising and flamboyant, these "didis"(sisters) are some of the most delightful women you're likely to meet anywhere.