Kathmandu Bookshop Disaster

Saturday, 18 May 2013

▲ The crowded streets of Thamel in Kathmandu

Most visitors to Kathmandu, particularly if they’re staying in popular Thamel spots like the Kathmandu Guest House, will have dropped into Pilgrims Bookshop. It was probably the best bookshop in the Himalaya and certainly the best source of books on the Himalaya. If they’re lucky they will have bumped into the irrepressible Rama Tiwari, who came up from Varanasi in India 30 years ago and started his bookshop. Sadly it’s gone … on Thursday night a fire started from an exploding gas cylinder in a bar above the bookshop and destroyed not only Pilgrims but 20 other buildings in the crowded streets of Thamel.