Almost time to travel to the kingdom!
I have been reading up on the history of Nepal and have found some interesting facts, especially those that connect to the Gurkhas.
To the west of Kathmandu and midway between that city and Pokhara lies a little hill town named Gorkha. Here in the 18th century the king of this little kingdom,(for the whole region then was divided into many little states), one Prithvi Narayan Shah was the ruler. He decided he would conquer the whole of what we now call Nepal, and indeed succeeded in this by capturing Kathmandu in 1768. He then went on to capture all of the little states and for the first time unified the country.After his death the Gorkhas, as his soldiers were called, continued to expand and in due course they came up against the British in the shape of the British East India Company. In 1814 war was officially declared between the British Empire and Nepal!
The British fought a battle at a place called Kalunga in the east of Nepal against the Gorkhas. The British were so impressed with the courage and bravery of their Gorkha opponents that at the end of this action, in which the British general named Gillespie was killed, they erected two obelisks, one to the memory of their general and the other to their doughty courageous opponents, the Gorkhas.
It is from this time that the British army decided to recruit the fighting men from Nepal whom they called Gurkhas. They have served our country proudly, as mercenaries, ever since.
I have been privileged to serve for two years with the men from Nepal. Most of my battalion came from the east of Nepal and were from two tribes, the Rais and the Limbus.
Now at last, I have the chance to visit and get to know a little more of the men I worked with in Malaya from 1958-1960 and their country. I feel sure I shall be thrilled to be there, and I only hope I can give something back to the men I served with all those years ago by careing for the kids in the orphanage in Kathmandu and in a very small way say thank you for the years I had with their soldiers.
My case is packed.I am ready for the off! I cannot believe that the next blog will be from Kathmandu.
As James said, Ayo Gorkhali!