Thamel is not a portal to a more “authentic” Nepal. It’s the real deal.
Thamel, Kathmandu’s designated tourist quarter, is a funny old thing. It started off as a medieval site of Buddhist learning, but by the turn of the millennium, it had mutated into a red-light sandpit for an unholy trinity of thugs, dirty cops, and ex-rebels. Since then, it’s cleaned up its image, cleared away the rubble (of the 2015 earthquake), and braced itself to welcome not just the usual backpacker crowd, but well-heeled visitors to new deluxe hotels as well as a wave of Chinese tourists.
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