Nepal Highlights

Unified CPN (Maoist) cadres are raising donations for 'the third people's movement' from foreign tourists going for trekking in Manaslu area, in northern Gorkha, reports say. According to Nagarik daily, Maoist cadres affiliated to Tamuwan Rajya Samiti have installed check posts in Thumi and Gumda, the entry points of Manaslu Conservation Area, displaying boards marked Samyukta Jana Krantikari Parishad' (the name of the parallel government declared by the Maoists during conflict), Tamuwan Rajya Samiti. They are raising anything between Rs 3000 to 5000 per person from tourists visiting the area. They ask the tourists to contribute for the 'third people's movement.'  Manaslu area is a protected area and foreign tourists who wish to trek in the area need to obtain a special permit from the Manaslu Conservation Area Project (MCAP) with additional tarrif. With the Maoists collecting money at the entry point of the area, trekkers are subjected to double taxati...

Gorkha is a historic town in western and central Nepal. It has various historic, religious and touristic values related to it. Within Nepal, the first thing that comes to people's minds while when talking about Gorkha is the unification of Nepal. It was from Gorkha that the unification of Nepal started back in 1800s. Before that Nepal did not exist as a nation. There were several principalities and smaller states, some of them conglomorated to form a kind of union, while others existed independently. The borders of the states kept changing with one king attacking here and another king losing there. King Prithvi Narayan Shah from Gorkha started conquering neighboring states first and then the Kathmandu valley later. That is how the unification of Nepal began and that is what people understand Gorkha as. In the international arena, however, people know little about the unification thing, but the name Gorkha is still famous. Due to the differnce in dialect, it is rather kno...