have u read the book 'from heaven lake' writen by indian writer vikram seth, the same author of 'a suitable boy'..fantastic little book pulished in the late 80s, it tells the travel from nangjing, to xingjiang then to india via nepal and tibet...you will love the book i am sure..
i am kinda interested in south asian stuff, can speak hindi and urdu..would love to go to nepal in near future..thanks for your article. by the way, i have a feeling that you are in the down under, am i right? i live in melb.