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Nepal’s Rasuwa municipality rises from the Himalayan foothills up to the border with China, where peaks higher than 7,000 meters dominate the skyline. Scattered villages of mud brick or stone buildings dot the ridges and hills along with terraces planted with maize and barely.
Mountain passes or particularly dangerous spots along its winding roads are marked by Buddhist shrines and strings of prayer flags. It takes around 5-6 hours by jeep to reach the Nepali capital Kathmandu from the border with China.
The region is home to around 50,000 people. In the north, Langtang National Park is a popular destination for trekkers, and Gosaikunda, a sacred alpine lake more than 4,300 meters up, is a major pilgrimage site for Hindus. The region is also home to several hydropower projects that tap into its fast-flowing rivers.
The Bhote Koshi river flows from China into Nepal, often through deep gorges, and is popular with white-water rafters. It flows through Nepal and ultimately, into the Ganges in India.
Rasuwa was devastated by the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal in 2015, killing more than 9,000 people, including hundreds in Langtang National Park who were buried after a landslide wiped a one-popular trekking village off the map.
Timure – located on the Trishuli river and one of the settlements feared hard-hit by the flooding – is the last settlement on the road to China. A string of buildings lining the road before the huge, imposing gate that marks China. It is typically clustered with lines of lorries, waiting to cross into China to pick up cargoes of clothes, electronics and household items.
