<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d02f09c7e80680e0a36a9jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>After nearly two years of nearly zero tourist arrivals and revenue, Nepal looks set to welcome international tourists again after the government on Thursday introduced <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-relaxes-entry-for-tourists/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-relaxes-entry-for-tourists/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1632570637352000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHnLyYWvLXJvsJU8eaBdNrKPZ6tVw">revised immigration</a> entry protocols. Tourists fully vaccinated against Covid, with the second dose 14 days before the date of travel, will no longer have to quarantine after landing in Kathmandu and can get visas <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-should-now-allow-visa-on-arrival/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1632570637352000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHjF2QHUC13ukwzJScBCBN92EtMBQ">on arrival</a>. Earlier, they had to get visas from Nepal’s missions abroad and quarantine for seven days at a hotel in Kathmandu at their own expense.Partially vaccinated and unvaccinated visitors will have to obtain visas from Nepal’s embassies in their home countries or elsewhere, and will still have to spend 10 days in a government approved hotel in Kathmandu and get a PCR negative test before they go out and about.Tourists coming via land, except Indians who are visa-exempt, must arrive with their visas from Nepali diplomatic missions and be subject to a negative antigen test at the Chinese or Indian borders. “The government looked at the current trend of Covid infections, transmission and disease control to reach this decision,” says spokesperson of the Immigration Department Jhanka Nath Dhakal. “Entry of fully vaccinated tourists becomes easier as a lot of additional paperwork can be avoided.”   However, all visitors, including fully vaccinated ones will have to present a negative PCR or other test report done not longer than 72 hours before their flight, and bring a printout of the international arrival form at <a href="http://www.ccmc.gov.np/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ccmc.gov.np/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1632570637352000&amp;usg=AFQjCNETnSNgD6N7OXNBWaTNnPNsbVT4UQ">www.ccmc.gov.np</a> to immigration for visa on arrival.The new protocols were issued even though the Covid-19 Crisis Management Committee (CCMC) itself does not have legal standing because an ordinance establishing it has lapsed because of the continued political impasse in Parliament.Nepal’s tourism industry had been lobbying strongly with the government to ease restrictions as the case load and fatalities in Kathmandu drop, and the vaccinate rate goes up in countries from where most visitors come to Nepal.  They argued that millions of jobs were at stake, investors were defaulting on loans for hotels, airlines and restaurants and the government was losing the $800 million it used to earn a year from tourism prior to the pandemic. <img width="1920" height="1080" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d02f59c7e80680e0a36aajpeg.jpg" alt="">Members of the tourism industry had criticized <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/call-to-ease-entry-of-tourists-to-nepal/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/banner/call-to-ease-entry-of-tourists-to-nepal/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1632570637352000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqIs-F1N3YhbPuKTGkxsfontRJvw">earlier entry regulations</a> as being cumbersome and confusing, detracting potential visitors. For example, tourists needed to submit NTB or Department of Tourism-approved travel itineraries to obtain visas on-arrival while quarantining for seven days.  As a result, only tourists with well-connected agents could arrange the paperwork and arrive easily. Travel trade stakeholders complained of arbitrary visa requirements and ad hoc decision making.  While most tourists were previously discouraged by the convoluted regulations, news of the revised protocol has generated an overwhelmingly positive response.  Deepak Raj Joshi, the former CEO of the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) is glad the government finally took the decision.“The tourism industry is now buoyant, stakeholders are pleased and demand from potential tourists is massive, so we must aggressively and effectively communicate the return of Nepali tourism into source markets,” Joshi says.  A streamlined entry process is a much-needed boost for tourism, one of the sectors hit hardest by Covid. Nepal got nearly 1.2 million tourists in 2019, but this figure dropped to only 220,000 in 2020 – mot of them who had arrived before the lockdown in March that year. So far this year, there have been only 70,000 visitors – most are either mountaineers or repeat trekkers, or those familiar with Nepal and have some connections here. <figure><img width="935" height="398" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d02f89c7e80680e0a36abjpeg.jpg" alt=""><figcaption>Tourist arrivals in Nepal from January to November 2020. Data: NEPAL TOURISM BOARD</figcaption></figure>Despite the <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/survive-2020-revive-in-2021-and-thrive-in-2022/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1632570637352000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEO67ibb82phNtJ_SPK2OBPcSmA1g">socio-economic fallout </a>from the pandemic, the tourism industry has prepared well to host tourists again. Vaccine penetration in the hospitality sector is high, and the new, simplified entry requirements are the next step in restoring a “new normal” for tourism alongside Covid in the long-run.Most frontliners working the tourism industry are already vaccinated, and in popular destinations such as Langtang, workers as well as locals are jabbed. Trekking and mountaineering may soon continue as normal, with expedition groups usually no larger than 20-30 members and everyone involved inoculated.There has been a trickle of trekkers coming to Nepal even under the older stricter rules, and there are expedition already at base camps of various mountains including Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and Kangchenjunga. There have been no climbing permits issued for Mt Everest.“Lobbying is underway to implement a ‘V-to-V’, vaccinated-to-vaccinated tourism model whereby vaccinated guests are hosted by vaccinated hospitality services,” says Joshi. Such a model is particularly relevant for tourists coming overland through border cities such as Birganj, Biratnagar and Nepalganj and have high vaccination rates, and the visiting Indians themselves are increasingly getting inoculated. Tourism as an industry is based on trust and hospitality as it sells services, leaving no room for negligence and error. This makes it a relatively safer sector than others, says Joshi. “If a tourism-based business doesn’t follow health guidelines and helps spread disease, it loses trust and trade for life, making the entire industry cautious and aware,” he says. “That the government readily allowed crowded religious processions to go on while stalling on safe tourism speaks volumes on flawed planning.” <img width="1448" height="2048" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221110141156/636d02fa9c7e80680e0a36acjpeg.jpg" alt="">Elsewhere, on-arrival visas have also been resumed for those returning for funerals of relatives, those who are convalescing, or returning to care for elderly citizens – but they have to produce negative Covid tests and recommendations from local governments and hospitals. On-arrival visas are also on offer for returning non-resident Nepalis and foreigners married to Nepali nationals. Nationals of the following countries will need to have visas before they arrive in Kathmandu: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Cameroon, Somalia, Liberia, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Iraq, Palestine, Afghanistan and Syria.

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Nepal reopening for tourists

<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef404b0ad905ca02ef95jpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>As Nepal prepares to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG7NAmDWEJNHKcABO13NCT9veRsxQ">finally resume flights between Kathmandu and New Delhi</a> after 11 months and restrictions on foreigners visiting Nepal are eased further, there is still confusion about the conditions for travel.Whereas only trekkers and mountaineers had been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaQN43aLPVh6Z9sT0xGACB2BBF4Q">allowed to visit Nepal after 17 October</a>, all foreigners will now be allowed provided they get tourist entry visas from Nepal diplomatic missions abroad, or have a pre-approval or recommendation from a concerned ministry to get an on-arrival visa. Nepal’s land borders with India and China remain closed for all foreigners, according to a notice put out by the Department of Immigration this week. <img width="698" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109191116/636bef434b0ad905ca02ef96jpeg.jpg" alt="">All air travellers are required to have RT PCR negative reports obtained 72 hours prior to departure from first port of call. All Nepali and foreign passengers also need to spend one week in home or hotel isolation in Kathmandu.Limited flights are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkjn-kssrM2W0f56qMLpE-0EHKOQ">set to resume between Kathmandu and Delhi</a> on Thursday, 17 December ahead of a visit to India by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. However, there will only be two daily flights by Air India and Nepal Airlines, only Nepali and Indian nationals allowed, no onward travel permitted, and a two-week quarantine for passengers arriving in Delhi.Travel trade representatives, while welcoming the move, have said that the guidelines are too complicated and confusing, and many of them cannot be enforced. For example, the list of rules for India-Nepal travel is three pages long.Meanwhile, a visitor who applied for a tourist visa at a Nepali Embassy in Europe told Nepali Times the visa officer did not seem to have information about the new rules, and his application was forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.“There is utter confusion,” said the visitor on condition of anonymity. “If my application has to be sent to Kathmandu for approval, what is the point saying that Nepali diplomatic missions abroad have resumed issuing tourist visas?”Indeed, there is also a lack of clarity about the kind of pre-approval or recommendation letter from a concerned ministry needed for on-arrival visa. What should the content of such a recommendation be, who is eligible, what is a ‘concerned ministry’? There have been several passengers who have been prevented from checking in on flights to Kathmandu this week because of the confusion.“The instructions about letters for on-arrival visas are so vague that our check-in officers puzzled about who is allowed and who is not,” said the representative of an international airline serving Kathmandu. Since airlines are penalised if passengers do not have proper documents, most carriers err on the side of caution.All this means that the new rules that were supposed to make it more convenient for non-Nepalis to take flights to Kathmandu have had just the opposite effect. Visitors that Nepali Times spoke to who had hoped to travel to Nepal for Christmas and New Year either for tourism or to see friends said they were not going to take the risk.Only the most determined foreign travellers, or those with connections in the travel industry or government, appear to be buying tickets to Nepal. Most airlines report that only 5-10% of their passengers to Kathmandu on every flight are non-Nepalis.Nepal had a target of attracting 2 million tourists under the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, but after 220,000 arrivals between January and March, there were no visitors till restrictions were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOIqlGu8gKmW10fnpyK6w7RNQdNQ">partially lifted in October for hikers and climbers</a>. Since then, there have been about 500 non-Nepalis landing at Kathmandu airport every week, mostly from the United States, UK and China.Members of the Non-resident Nepalis Association and foreign passport holders born in Nepal have been allowed to return to Nepal to see family members, but again, airlines do not have clear instructions about what kind of documents they need.“The main reason for this needless confusion is because there are so many agencies of government involved with their own criteria and rules, and no one is coordinating,” said the travel trade representative.The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation with the Nepal Tourism Board have been pushing for opening up, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has its own process. The Ministry of Health has been issuing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0Ps2wjf2CBvDnOUSbh5b5vQEy-Q">contradictory statements</a>. The Department of Immigration has its own rules. And the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre which is supposed to streamline the process has not been able to issue clear and non-ambiguous guidelines.Although all arriving passengers are supposed to stay one week in home isolation or hotel quarantine, there is no monitoring about whether anyone actually does so. Many who are supposed to self-isolate at home have been seen in weddings, and there is no one checking to see if a person in hotel quarantine checks out after an over-night stay.Health checks at the airport are equally lackadaisical, with just a person with a thermal gun pointed at each passenger’s forehead.

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

<figure><img width="1500" height="1125" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be84a9c7e80680e08784cjpeg.jpg" alt=""/><figcaption>Photo: KUNDA DIXIT</figcaption></figure>As Nepal prepares to <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepals-baffling-ban-on-india-flights/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG7NAmDWEJNHKcABO13NCT9veRsxQ">finally resume flights between Kathmandu and New Delhi</a> after 11 months and restrictions on foreigners visiting Nepal are eased further, there is still confusion about the conditions for travel.Whereas only trekkers and mountaineers had been <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/trekkers-welcome-in-nepal-but-conditions-apply/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaQN43aLPVh6Z9sT0xGACB2BBF4Q">allowed to visit Nepal after 17 October</a>, all foreigners will now be allowed provided they get tourist entry visas from Nepal diplomatic missions abroad, or have a pre-approval or recommendation from a concerned ministry to get an on-arrival visa. Nepal’s land borders with India and China remain closed for all foreigners, according to a notice put out by the Department of Immigration this week. <img width="698" height="960" src="https://superdesk-pro-c.s3.amazonaws.com/sd-nepalitimes/20221109181148/636be84d9c7e80680e08784djpeg.jpg" alt="">All air travellers are required to have RT PCR negative reports obtained 72 hours prior to departure from first port of call. All Nepali and foreign passengers also need to spend one week in home or hotel isolation in Kathmandu.Limited flights are <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-india-flights-may-resume-soon/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEkjn-kssrM2W0f56qMLpE-0EHKOQ">set to resume between Kathmandu and Delhi</a> on Thursday, 17 December ahead of a visit to India by Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali. However, there will only be two daily flights by Air India and Nepal Airlines, only Nepali and Indian nationals allowed, no onward travel permitted, and a two-week quarantine for passengers arriving in Delhi.Travel trade representatives, while welcoming the move, have said that the guidelines are too complicated and confusing, and many of them cannot be enforced. For example, the list of rules for India-Nepal travel is three pages long.Meanwhile, a visitor who applied for a tourist visa at a Nepali Embassy in Europe told Nepali Times the visa officer did not seem to have information about the new rules, and his application was forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kathmandu.“There is utter confusion,” said the visitor on condition of anonymity. “If my application has to be sent to Kathmandu for approval, what is the point saying that Nepali diplomatic missions abroad have resumed issuing tourist visas?”Indeed, there is also a lack of clarity about the kind of pre-approval or recommendation letter from a concerned ministry needed for on-arrival visa. What should the content of such a recommendation be, who is eligible, what is a ‘concerned ministry’? There have been several passengers who have been prevented from checking in on flights to Kathmandu this week because of the confusion.“The instructions about letters for on-arrival visas are so vague that our check-in officers puzzled about who is allowed and who is not,” said the representative of an international airline serving Kathmandu. Since airlines are penalised if passengers do not have proper documents, most carriers err on the side of caution.All this means that the new rules that were supposed to make it more convenient for non-Nepalis to take flights to Kathmandu have had just the opposite effect. Visitors that Nepali Times spoke to who had hoped to travel to Nepal for Christmas and New Year either for tourism or to see friends said they were not going to take the risk.Only the most determined foreign travellers, or those with connections in the travel industry or government, appear to be buying tickets to Nepal. Most airlines report that only 5-10% of their passengers to Kathmandu on every flight are non-Nepalis.Nepal had a target of attracting 2 million tourists under the Visit Nepal 2020 campaign, but after 220,000 arrivals between January and March, there were no visitors till restrictions were <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/latest/nepal-open-for-trekking-from-17-october/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEOIqlGu8gKmW10fnpyK6w7RNQdNQ">partially lifted in October for hikers and climbers</a>. Since then, there have been about 500 non-Nepalis landing at Kathmandu airport every week, mostly from the United States, UK and China.Members of the Non-resident Nepalis Association and foreign passport holders born in Nepal have been allowed to return to Nepal to see family members, but again, airlines do not have clear instructions about what kind of documents they need.“The main reason for this needless confusion is because there are so many agencies of government involved with their own criteria and rules, and no one is coordinating,” said the travel trade representative.The Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation with the Nepal Tourism Board have been pushing for opening up, but the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN) has its own process. The Ministry of Health has been issuing <a href="https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.nepalitimes.com/here-now/nepal-mulls-longer-quarantines/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1608178027563000&amp;usg=AFQjCNG0Ps2wjf2CBvDnOUSbh5b5vQEy-Q">contradictory statements</a>. The Department of Immigration has its own rules. And the Covid-19 Crisis Management Centre which is supposed to streamline the process has not been able to issue clear and non-ambiguous guidelines.Although all arriving passengers are supposed to stay one week in home isolation or hotel quarantine, there is no monitoring about whether anyone actually does so. Many who are supposed to self-isolate at home have been seen in weddings, and there is no one checking to see if a person in hotel quarantine checks out after an over-night stay.Health checks at the airport are equally lackadaisical, with just a person with a thermal gun pointed at each passenger’s forehead.

In the black and white photograph, General Wangdu smiles broadly in front of the dusty cactus garden in Kathmandu’s Annapurna Hotel. With an ill-fitting jacket and shaggy hair he looks benign enough, but this was the last leader of the Tibetan freedom fighters who led the resistance against the Chinese from their remote mountain hideouts in <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/comings-and-goings-in-mustang">Mustang</a>. Five months later, Wangdu was dead. Snapped in March 1974, I had only recently arrived in Nepal. How did I meet this legendary fighter? Possibly with his devoted camp follower, Lynne Klapecki, and probably in the Om Restaurant near Freak Street which was the preferred <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/hippie-trail-nostalgia-in-kathmandu">hippie hang-out</a>. Om Lobsang and his brother Yeshe were <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/page/earthquake-brings-back-memories-of-camps-for-tibetan-refugees">refugees from East Tibet </a>whose cafe offered a friendly welcome and<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/momo-loco"> the best momos</a> - they became my in-laws after I married their eldest brother Tenzin, but that was a decade later.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1.jpg" data-media-id="editor_4" data-image-id="2025052403054_4573b34282b0f5395c007243d6bef12c7ba76bfd520419e994cdcea048d795a1" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1583" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Photo: LISA CHOEGYAL</figcaption> </figure>  Wangdu’s English was enthusiastically rudimentary, but even riding around town with him on the back of an aging <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/kathmandu-s-new-motorbike-museum">motorbike</a>, he was a commanding presence. Always flanked by armed outriders, impressive scars marked his forearms and a pistol hung from the cord around his neck. A charismatic guerrilla leader, Wangdu was celebrated by his followers for his tough commitment and respected for his measured pragmatism. He seemed so young to have shouldered such a responsibility of command, leading hundreds of hardened <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/50-years-after-the%20raid-into-Tibet,1012#google_vignette">Khampa combatants </a>through what had been a particularly <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/news/heavy-snowfall-over-nepal-himalaya">brutal winter in Mustang</a>, the last bastion to hold out against the Chinese invasion of their Tibetan homeland.&nbsp; The freedom fighters of Tibet, known as the Chushi-Gangdruk, had emerged to resist the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/editorial/territorialism">Chinese takeover</a> of Tibet during the 1950s. Estimated to be 80,000-strong at the time of <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/what-or-who-after-the-dalai-lama">the Dalai Lama</a>’s final escape to India in 1959, the sheer number of Chinese deployed into Tibet eventually forced the Chushi-Gangdruk to retreat to Mustang, From this high Himalayan stronghold, they continued cross-border raids on the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) throughout the 1960s.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd.jpg" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="2025052403054_8a4a935ba25ae79dc3a63bb5c14626927020e5ec098093c45ccb9a5982e009fd" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="676" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Guerrillas known as the Chushi-Gangdruk emerged to resist the Chinese annexation of Tibet during the 1950s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>  Their Kathmandu base was a small discreet lodge in a back lane near Rani Pokhari. Sipping sweet tea from a blue mug with a chipped lid, I sat bemused in a corner of the Mustang Hotel room whilst Wangdu and his cohorts received a battered brown suitcase from their CIA connection, a tousle-haired American in a leather jacket. Heaved onto the dingy bedspread that covered the thin mattress, it was clicked open to reveal piles of neatly stacked dollar bills.&nbsp; I cannot think why Wangdu allowed me to witness this handover but I was clearly no threat, a newly arrived world traveller with no understanding of the stakes nor any Nepali or <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/tibetan-music-in-nepals-sacred-valley">Tibetan language</a>. Despite armed guards in the corridor,Wangdu radiated confidence and bravado, and there was a practiced familiarity to the tense transaction. This deadly dance for many years had been funded by the Americans, tolerated by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/the-kingdom-within-a-republic">Mustang’s residents</a>, and permitted by King Mahendra and the Nepali authorities who it suited to turn a blind eye.&nbsp; But Mahendra died in 1972, and times were changing. Richard Nixon’s ping-pong diplomacy thawed the cold war and signalled a fresh entente with China. Nepal’s yet-to-be-crowned <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/if-birendra-was-alive-nepal-could-still-be-a-monarchy">King Birendra </a>was under pressure to curb the irritating incursions against the PLA launched from the Nepali territory of Mustang. Keen to appease his northern neighbour, on several occasions the King summoned Wangdu for peace talks but, despite increasingly overwhelming odds, Wangdu refused to surrender.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb.jpg" data-media-id="editor_14" data-image-id="2025052403054_a8efd5cfb92cd997bd7cb74296a936fef46e2f7428f9cd642b03f1ac4ea11ecb" data-rendition-name="original" width="1055" height="885" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>General Wangdu flanked by two Tibetan resistance fighters in Mustang in the 1970s. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31.jpg" data-media-id="editor_15" data-image-id="2025052403054_75969125a745847a2ef82b6fe8b9106c0b21a116d85b8efdf5d2ee89a347bb31" data-rendition-name="original" width="1044" height="792" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>King Birendra with General Wangdu (right in dark glasses) taken in 1974 possibly in Mustang after one of their few attempts at negotiation. Photo courtesy: RAJRNDRA KUNWAR</figcaption> </figure>  While I naively rode pillion around Kathmandu in the spring sunshine, Wangdu was in the midst of what turned out to be his final round of negotiations with the Nepal government. Refusing to cease hostilities with the Chinese, Wangdu must have suspected the cost of his decision, making his cheerful smile in the photograph all the more poignant and brave. It was only much later that I appreciated the significance of the moment. Wangdu had been sent to replace the first resistance leader in Mustang, Baba Gen Yeshe, a much derided corrupt character who stole money meant for his troops and exploited fleeing refugees by seizing their treasures. Baba Gen Yeshe never forgave Wangdu,and sought revenge in May 1974 by betraying him and his commanders to the Nepal authorities. Renewed Chinese incursions from the north, active PLA collusion with the Nepali forces under the new King, and treachery from within the Chushi-Gangdrukranks combined to seal their fate.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="2025052403054_e0987a7c90d76431b0d7d5e6115ebfe3dbda7ab939e5941e079c18d722e884c0" data-rendition-name="original" width="1400" height="769" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>British television journalists George Patterson and Adrian Cowell embedded themselves with Khampa guerrillas and accompanied them from Tsum Valley on a cross border raid on a Chinese Army convoy in 1964. Photo: ESSAYS ON NEPAL / SAM COWAN</figcaption> </figure>  Mikel Dunham, renowned author of Buddha’s Warriors, writes: ‘It is possible that Wangdu was waiting for some cue from the Dalai Lama’s government-in-exile in Dharamsala, India. It is equally possible – during that last, <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/the-human-cost-of-nepal-s-yarsa-gold-rush?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR31-Cqw8oyIwMPzf_35e4Skr0ululJvLf3_vDkzHn-AYG2h8uPw2rqqErg_aem_tGVn5coY1-jA7fze_xqhew">desolate winter </a>– that he made the decision to go out in glory rather than admit defeat. Over the last fifteen years, Wangdu had experienced Tibet’s organized resistance being squeezed and shoved around by every conceivable outside force.&nbsp; First they had been pushed out of their own country by the PLA; then they had been refused sanction while on <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/opinion/borderlines/nepal-india-trans-boundary-bonds?fbclid=IwAR0PpJ5zUEbwdug3g_U3ar6FUugngRY0S8Tl2v_7wqzrsHmXWcXsKjvL4t4">Indian soil</a>; then they were abandoned by the Americans because, apparently, Nixon wanted to make friends with Wangdu’s mortal enemies, the communists; then they had been betrayed by the vampiric Baba Gen Yeshe – a Tibetan and, even worse, a fellow Khampa; and now, finally Wangdu’s army was being evicted by the Nepalis. One thing was certain: Wangdu was a warrior. To imagine Wangdu simply giving up and settling down in the pacific squalor of a <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/elderly-left-in-bhutan-refugee-camp">refugee camp </a>was unthinkable.’  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49.jpg" data-media-id="editor_20" data-image-id="2025052403054_8fc1ffef4ae751628b90ae781b66e11e51e4fdde2787207c9042efbee345ce49" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="746" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>The much derided Baba Gen Yeshe, the first Tibetan resistance leader in Mustang, who betrayed Wangdu for personal gain. Photo courtesy: MIKEL DUNHAM</figcaption> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3.jpg" data-media-id="editor_21" data-image-id="2025052403054_b1d833cdb00d3ac4416b844d8730475cd88c238caaaf8da69889a584eea229a3" data-rendition-name="original" width="500" height="656" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> <figcaption>Aditya SJB Rana of the Royal Nepal Army whose team ambushed Wangdu and his cohorts at the top of Tinker Pass in Darchula, West Nepal. Photo courtesy: GAUTAM SJB RANA</figcaption> </figure>  By August 1974 the game was up. Wangdu and six of his exhausted party were killed on their horses by <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=7270">the Royal Nepal Army</a> on the brink of escape. The officer in charge, Aditya SJB Rana, cleverly predicted their route into India after they failed to silence a police radio in Yari. A carefully laid ambush trapped them near the summit of the Tinker Pass in Darchula,at 5,000 meters the highest military operation of its time. Wangdu’s body was helicoptered to Kathmandu, and a big show made of the royal Nepal victory.&nbsp; The Tibetan armed insurgency against China had reached its end.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4.jpg" data-media-id="editor_23" data-image-id="20250524030520_3ff9c6fc85a65bc9a2c3afe9736d9f5f9413de752e790a5d9dca0981ea94f9b4" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="The last days of the Khampa NT"> </figure>

The Last Days of the Khampa

The newly-formed Himalayan Art Council is set to launch Nepal’s National Art Protection Platform that seeks to preserve <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/the-history-of-heritage">Nepal’s unique cultural heritage </a>using<a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/artificial-censorship"> AI-powered tools</a>. The Council seeks to safeguard <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepali-art-going-places">Nepali art works</a> from neglect, theft and counterfeiting as well as preserve existing artwork and celebrate living masters by giving them a cultural space to continue the <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/sacred-survival">sacred art traditions</a>. "We are introducing a new digital platform designed to preserve, verify and elevate <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/banner/nepals-new-generation-of-alternative-artists">Nepal’s art for generations to come,</a>” says a statement from the Council, adding that the digital platform will use AI told for authentication and blockchain to keep track of works of art. Artists can now be protected by <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/ayo-ai?fbclid=IwAR1uwmTVq4gUB70ljfRezjzukD9ArWXPuMnUikopeQ8PoiZMjicToPSwhKE&amp;=1">AI tools</a> that detect forgeries, identify their work even when unsigned, and ensure they receive proper recognition and credit. The archives will be searchable with translated inscription and interactive guides. Says curator Meena Lama: “AI and blockchains are tools that give us the power to detect fakes and identify unsigned paintings and track every piece. With these tools we can restore trust, secure authorship and give artists the dignity they deserve.”  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250514170544_2ab58f6313c0458f75114a692b0016bd9efb3b59d5f8f07f0da72e1e37b82f53" data-rendition-name="original" width="1300" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum."> <figcaption>Artwork at the Traditional Art Exhibition at Patan Museum.</figcaption> </figure>  The Council is also holding an exhibition of Nepali cultural masterpieces with 50 historical <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/Nepali-Times-Buzz/Buzz-the-art,671">thangka and paubha </a>by past masters and <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/between-the-sacred-and-everyday">contemporary works by current artists</a>. This curated collection is a living tribute to <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/here-now/when-yaks-go-so-does-culture">Himalayan culture</a> with economic depictions of deities, mandala and sacred narratives. The exhibition at <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/multimedia/a-portal-into-patan-s-past-and-present">Patan Museum</a> also provides an opportunity to meet painters and custodians of art and culture. Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/golden-deities">Golden deities</a>, Sewa Bhattarai ‘The exhibition is only the first step in a long journey to ensure that Nepali art is no just seen but fully understood, <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/article/nation/Narratives-of-Faith-and-Memory-Remembering-the-Lost-Sculptures-of-Kathmandu-exhibition,987">protected and remembered</a>,’ the Council says. Artist Kailash K Shrestha of Artudio has spent decades promoting thankha and paubha traditions because of their beauty and devotional meaning. But he also says artists are underpaid, exploited and ignored. He adds, “AI and blockchain are not just buzzwords, they are powerful tools that can protect Nepal’s artists from fraud, verify authenticity and build a permanent record of provenance.” Traditional Art Exhibition Till 17 May Patan Museum

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

Starting 17 September Turkish Airlines will fly daily to Seville, one of Spain’s major tourist draws. This is Turkish’s sixth destination in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Bilbao. Seville is in the Andalusia region on Spain’s south coast with a rich Moor history. There are approximately 30,000 Nepalis living in Spain.&nbsp;

Turkish to Seville

<a href="https://www.instagram.com/prabalgurung/" target="_blank">Prabal Gurung</a> left Nepal for New York in 1999 to escape years of bullying, sexism and homophobia, and to pursue his dream of becoming a fashion designer. He <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqN0VaoAI5w" target="_blank">realised his dream</a>, but did not escape discrimination and racism in the new world. Propelled by passion for fashion, Gurung overcame everything America threw at him. He has attained <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/style/story/prabal-gurung-recalls-his-first-met-gala-when-zoe-saldana-was-at-his-side?srsltid=AfmBOooy-H0oGgxMit864FnW_Pmw8mUnV8rYrh-co-f6OyYK6m2ip5hP" target="_blank">fame and recognition</a> for his haute couture dress designs while remaining true to his Nepali roots, and is even more resolute in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSmNauyzACk" target="_blank">fighting prejudice</a> in all its forms. Prabal Gurung’s newly-released memoir <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Audible-Walk-Like-Girl-Memoir/dp/B0DG11HCDQ?fbclid=IwY2xjawKZfpxleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHuZcIJO2OXyXcRm1oq1iG6wzeoF7VJFrQ7GXOFI0YxuZZ4id_CNvSZSZZIna_aem_pG_mOKG73RTnYvN8JaC4fA">Walk Like a Girl</a> is a saga of harrowing abuse in boarding schools in Nepal and India, only finding himself facing a different kind of bullying in the US. He prevails over it all to be where he is today: an award-winning American fashion designer with his own label. Walk Like a Girl was launched last week in New York at a time when everything Gurung fought for — tolerance, inclusion and diversity — are in retreat in his adopted country because of a president who has espoused a culture of bullying. The book is a searing, raw exposé of how cruel and abusive people can be even at a young age in school. On the other hand, it also shows that there are generous, compassionate and open-minded souls out there. In his book, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4le_uWX7YE">Prabal Gurung</a> calls out those who tormented and tried to hold him back (some of their names have been altered). The moral of his story is: resist, never stop believing in yourself, do not let others define you, never lose sight of your dream, and help those who have been kept out. “Walk like a girl” was a slur used by bullies back in school in Nepal and India for Gurung’s effeminate ways. He fought back then, and he is still resisting by turning those words into something to be proud of.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e.jpg" data-media-id="editor_6" data-image-id="20250519170544_4ffc9c3f565dd2cfa754d10b224816897b82bb31ebaee91b6d79d469fc96f14e" data-rendition-name="original" width="1000" height="1253" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung NT"> <figcaption>Prabal Gurung at home in Kathmandu in the 1990s.</figcaption> </figure>  “Living through it all was one thing, but writing about it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life,” admitted Gurung during the launch. “I broke down constantly during the six-year writing process.” He continues: “I did not want this to be a victim’s book. I did not want to burden my readers with my emotions. I wanted my struggle to be an inspiration for others facing what I faced. I am grateful to those who bullied me in school, they made me a stronger person ready to face the world.” Indeed, this book is a departure from his earlier one titled simply, Prabal Gurung (Abrams, 2019), which was a lush pictorial autobiography of his career in fashion. Walk Like a Girl is not a typical fashion book, it is an intimate tale of <a href="https://archive.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=16997">Gurung’s travails and triumphs</a>, and how he willed himself to succeed. Prabal pays a lavish tribute to his mother Durga Rana. We find out she is a descendant of the first wife of the eldest son of Jang Bahadur Rana who was banished to Palpa in the late 19th century. Prabal’s father served in the Singapore Police and that is where he was born before the family returned to Nepal when he was four. Gurung relates with brutal honesty about the violence his mother endured from his father. Durga raises three children as a single mother in Nepal, and Prabal credits her for his fierce determination to resist patriarchy and injustice, which in time manifests itself in his hyper-feminine and subversive dress designs. Writing the book has been a cathartic experience for Gurung, who says he is now relieved of the burdens of his past. It no longer haunts him, and he does not have to prove anything to anyone anymore. Walk Like a Girl has life lessons not just for the <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJmOcSgxdWz/" target="_blank">fashion industry</a>, but for every other profession. How can my job serve a greater cause? Gurung tells us his work is <a href="https://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/why-designer-prabal-gurung-doesnt-want-just-stick-fashion" target="_blank">bigger than just making clothes</a>, it is about making the world a better place because it could do with a lot of improvement.  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b.png" data-media-id="editor_10" data-image-id="20250519170544_d75296ad8bfdc00d88935f40d23543c6fea3d4d6a10e61a99d6cfc6127f2ee5b" data-rendition-name="original" width="1516" height="1000" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung"> </figure>  This story of chasing the American dream may sound familiar to many immigrants: knocking on doors for jobs, rejections, trying to survive from day to day on expensive rent, and dealing with subtle racism in white America. Gurung finds racism is rife, and he is often mockingly called ‘gaysian’. He writes: ‘There was a strong hypocrisy — this idea of independence felt like a marketting ruse … and for all the talk of feminism in America, these high society women were trapped by the patriarchy just like in Nepal and India.’ After a trek to the Khumbu region in 2013, Gurung is inspired to use the colours, palette and textures of Nepal for his collection exhibited on Manhattan’s 8th Avenue. A major buyer tells him bluntly: “Stick to making pretty dresses … if I need to see a collection like this, I could buy a copy of National Geographic.” The New York Times was equally dismissive: ‘The designer tries to draw connections between blistered techo-fabric used to construct it and the topography of his homeland, Nepal. But, at the moment, he has lost his map.’ One potential investor tells Gurung he cannot design for Americana because “you do not look American”. Gurung wants to use expletives, but restrains himself. After a fundraiser in New York for the Nepal earthquake in 2015, some belittled his effort, saying: “Here comes the saviour."&nbsp; Read also: <a href="https://nepalitimes.com/review/prabal-gurung-by-prabal-gurung">Prabal Gurung by Prabal Gurung</a>, Kunda Dixit The Gurkha DNA must be dominant in Prabal Gurung’s genes because he does not take such mistreatment lying down. When asked by a fashion publicist why he was designing clothes for fat people, he snaps back: “Because of people like you.” He joins the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, launches the Shikshya Foundation charity in Nepal, and has powerful allies among celebrities who wear clothes he designed: Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sara Jessica Parker, Kamala Harris, Deepika Padukone … it is a long list.&nbsp;  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe.png" data-media-id="editor_12" data-image-id="20250519150556_48a5f4211991a23fa85b64bbd5377575ca7081d97309d7542035591dda5180fe" data-rendition-name="original" width="1114" height="1534" loading="lazy" alt="Being Prabal Gurung by design"> <figcaption>Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie wearing Atelier Prabal Gurung’s design for Met Gala 2025 in which the theme was ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’. </figcaption> </figure>  “I don’t dress women to look beautiful, they already are,” Gurung says. “I try to bring out their innate strength and grace.” <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17908766880140171/" target="_blank">Admirers</a> tell Gurung he makes it all look so easy, but he used to put up a strong facade to not show his own vulnerabilities in public. “I was closed because of my childhood experiences,” he says. “I was always on guard to defend myself because I never knew where the next punch would come from.” But in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVepzPA210" target="_blank">Walk Like a Girl,</a> Gurung comes to terms with his vulnerability, and bares his soul. It has not been easy, it took sustained will power and support from his mother, sister Kumudini and a circle of close friends. “I made unbelonging my power,” he says. “Nepal is where I still have my heart and soul. Nepal grounds you. It is where people go to find themselves. But I escaped.” Recently appointed vice-chair of the <a href="https://cfda.com/about-cfda" target="_blank">Council of American Fashion Designers</a>, Gurung says: “I can’t believe I am here, it feels like it is happening to someone else. Writing this book, the healing has finally begun.” <h2>‘Everything is better in color’</h2> The Met Gala was two weeks later, and my table was an example of everything I’d been fighting for all these years as my guests represented everything I believed in: dynamic, powerful, influential women who were unapologetically original and unabashedly graceful. I was grateful to Anna for inviting me to host and dress a table that reflected my ethos—and for her guidance in doing so. I was also aware of the privilege as one of the first-­ever Asian fashion designers—not just from Nepal, but from the entire continent— to get the opportunity to do so. That fact was not lost on me. I reached out beyond the expected Hollywood celebrities and well-­known socialites to curate a table of exceptional women who inspired me. I invited Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt for their first-­ever Met Galas, as well as Michelle Yeoh, Mindy Kaling, Camila Cabello, Ashley Park, Denée Benton, KiKi Layne, Quannah Chasinghorse, and Grace Elizabeth. Together we checked many boxes: Asian, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous, each woman undeniably chic and powerful, a dazzling array of skin tones and experiences that proved my decades‑in‑the-­making hypothesis: everything is better in color. Excerpt from Walk Like a Girl Viking © 2025 by Prabal Gurung  <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215.jpg" data-media-id="editor_16" data-image-id="20250519170520_6b91d560e9f072c37d16876901058c073a51ffa05e7ad1b9461d19e1c9c28215" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>   <figure> <img src="https://publisher-publish.s3.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/pb-nepalitimes/swp/asv65r/media/20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748.jpg" data-media-id="editor_17" data-image-id="20250519170520_345240c21be400e2ce2ec629b52bd82bb53890e5bd86fe95b48340d84b5f1748" data-rendition-name="original" width="1136" height="702" loading="lazy" alt="Prabal Gurung book details NT"> </figure>  &nbsp;

tourist-visas

Nepal reopening for tourists

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

Tourist visas now open for Nepal

The Last Days of the Khampa

Digital protection for Nepal’s art

Turkish to Seville

Being Prabal Gurung by design