IT Department
Keeping in mind the unlimited opportunities that information technology has opened up for overseas business and e-marketing, Explore Himalaya has taken steps to strengthen and improve its IT department.
In this connection, Roshan Joshi has been given the entire responsibility of the IT Department. He is an IT expert and has worked in the field of website promotion for more then four years. Other members of the IT team include: Prabin Prajapati, Aneel Bhattacharya, Choodamani Adhikari and Amit Lamichhane.

Copy Writers/ Reporters
 The two copy writers/ reporters of Explore Himalaya, Usha Rai and Bishnu Aryal, produce articles for the company's websites and other promotional materials. Usha has been with the company for about a year, while Bishnu has recently joined. They work closely with the IT team, as the content designing and text uploading (on the website) is done by the latter.

Sales & Marketing Department
This department was earlier headed by Bimal Chettri. Now the Sales department is headed by Kumari Malla. She joined Explore Himalaya as a Correspondence Officer four years ago. She had been promoted to the post of Assistant Manager, under Bimal Chettri's tenure. After his departure, the management appointed Kumari to take his responsibility. There are four correspondence officers in Sales and Marketing: Samir Shrestha, Samundra Subedi, Sabin Thapa and Kisan Pun.

Finance Department
Nabin Luintel, the former head of Finance Department, left for Dubai recently after working with the company for four years. Now the Finance Department will be looked after by Munendra Khanal. Munendra has done his Masters in Business Studies and was previously working as an executive officer under Nabin Luintel. He has been working with Explore Himalaya for the last three years and is quite efficient and adept at handling financial matters. Others in the team include Roshni Shrestha and Prakash Subedi.

The streets of Kathmandu were filled with ladies dressed in the festive Teej color of red as I made my way to Pashupatinath Temple to cover the Teej festival celebration on 3rd Sept.'08. All decked up like brides, the ladies young and old made a pretty sight in red sarees, green potey(Nepali bead necklace), colorful green and red glass bangles and gold ornaments. The color red is considered auspicious in the Hindu religion as red signifies shakti (power).  There was a carnival spirit around the temple as some of the ladies sang songs while waiting for their turn to pay homage to Lord Shiva and pray for their husband's long life (the unmarried girls pray for a good husband).

A three-day-long festival, Teej is mainly celebrated by Hindu women during August/ September to pray for their husbands' wellbeing and a happy and fulfilling marital life. According to Hindu mythology the divine couple, Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati was reunited only after the goddess took one hundred and eight rebirths. She fasted and prayed for her husband before she was finally reunited with him. So on this day, like Goddess Parvati, Hindu wives also observe fasting (some without taking water or swallowing their saliva) to honor Lord Shiva and pray for their husband's long life.
The first day of the Teej festival is called 'Dar Khane Din'. On this day, the married ladies are invited to their parental home to feast and prepare temselves for the next day's fasting. There is much merry making and singing and dancing. On the second day they observe a fast and worship Lord Shiva. Married women pray for the long and healthy life of their husbands while unmarried girls ask for a good husband. The third day is called 'Rishi Panchami'. On this day, the saptarishis (seven sages of the Hindu pantheon) are worshiped by the ladies that they be cleansed of all sins.

When I reached the Pashupati area, there was long line of devotees stretching from the main road to the temple precincts. They were waiting for their turn to worship at the temple's shrine. Some of the ladies said that they had been standing in the queue for more then 5 hours. But this is not unusual, because women from far off places come to Pashupatinath Temple(regarded as one of the holiest shrine of Lord Shiva) to offer their prayers on this day. Female devotees line up from as early as 4a.m. to offer their prayers. The temple lies on the bank of the holy Bagmati river and as I walked by the riverside, there were ladies putting down their offerings (flowers, incense sticks and coins) on a small stone shivalinga(sacred symbol of Lord Shiva) by the river.

The ladies who had already offered their prayers could be seen making a beeline for the mehandi appliers to apply mehandi(henna)  on their hands. The festival of Teej is also regarded as a time when women especially take time out from their daily routine for shringaar (to beautify and adorn themselves).So this unique festival can also be taken as a kind of celebration of womanhood.

In the early hours of 4th Sept. 2008, Explore Himalaya's team went to see-off the four member Project Himalaya Manaslu Expedition group as they were about to leave for Arughat for their expedition

The expedition leader is Philip J.Crampton (UK) and other members include Valerie Parkinson (UK), Guntis Brands (Switzerland) and Stuart Gregory Smith (USA). There are two other Korean members: Mi Sun Go and Jaesoo Kim, who will be joining the team at a later date. The team will be supported by climbing Sherpas: Pasang Gombu and Tarke Sherpa.

Valerie, who is also the base manager of Exodus Nepal Treks,UK seemed pretty excited. She said, "Though I have climbed Mera and Island Peak, this is my first real expedition, as the other two peaks are taken as trekking peaks." She added that she had been to the major trekking areas and has been coming to Nepal frequently for the last twenty-five years.

Guntis and Stuart have climbed Lhotse, Gasherbrum and Cho Oyu. Both of them had been planning to climb Shishapangma in Tibet, but because of the restrictions imposed by the Chinese authorities they had to give up their plan.