From the archive record
Chinese jugaad type tractors race each other laden with Tibetan travellers, heading to the Nepal Kodari border, in a monsoon trans-Himalayan rainfall system. A group of Tibetan locals ride colorful Tata tractors on the roads beyond Kodari, in Tibet. The yaks on the road-side get chased off by the bikers. Chinese motorcycles are driven by Tibetans wearing woolen caps, in an unintentional vote to the Chinese economy. Kodari lies on the Nepal-China border. Besides being a place of stunning natural beauty, it has an exotic history going back to ancient times as the starting point of the trans- Himalayan caravan route, the Nepalese equivalent of silk road. Merchants bound for Lhasa would head north from Kodari and cross the Kuti pass before turning east to begin the perilous journey over the Ti