At first sight, Thamel might look like a tourist hotspot or a red light district ... Dark Star of Kathmandu, helps readers rediscover this place as something much more than its public image, ...

A local resident, who also declined to give his name, said that Thamel was becoming notorious as Kathmandu's red-light and hard-drinking district. "It's very difficult for the women in my family ...

An estimated 1.5 million people have left Kathmandu for their home districts, leaving the streets in the city deserted. A woman poses for a photograph in Basantapur. A man in a mask in Thamel.