Nepal Handbook

by Kerry Moran

Paperback Edition

378 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[David Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I read to research this post was Nepal Handbook by Kerry Moran which is an excellent book which I bought from a local secondhand bookstore. Nepal is a small principality just north of India and along similar lines to neighbouring Bhutan. It only opened its borders to westerners in 1951 and prior to that less than 200 westerners had ever visited this tiny country. Nowadays around 300,000 tourists visit here every year. A larger than life russian man built the Royal Hotel the first hotel in this country and at that time the nearest hotel was 450 miles away in Calcutta. The capital is the rather quaint city of Kathmandu and there is an airport here with air being an important way of getting around in this country. There is a road built by the Chinese from Kathmandu to Lhasa in Tibet, said at the time to be built just wide enough to take a tank in single formation. Little infrastructure links Lhasa to the rest of China which has limited development. There is a picturesque region called Pokhara which has several villages containing Tibetan refugees all starting with the word Tashi meaning good luck in Tibetan. This is one of the most beautiful area you will find anywhere and although a lot of tourists go there nowadays it still retains its shangri la qualities. Of course 8 of the 10 highest peaks are found in Nepal including Mt Everest the highest mountain in the world. It's possible to get a topographical map of the area surrounding this mountain which is of little use to trekkers but makes a great souvenir. It's said if this country was laid out flat it would cover an area the size of the United States. Also many of the great rivers that flow in India like the Ganges have their source in the mountains of Nepal. I really enjoyed reading this book which at the end of the day is about one of the great wildnesses of the world with much of it unexplored and many of the mountains have never been climbed.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Effie's current favorite all-round guidebook to Nepal

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is the one I used. i t has some very nice walking tours laid out, and a better section on Palpa district than the other guide books.