Aside from having the highest mountain in the world how many other countries can boast of having their first automobiles carried in on the backs of sturdy village men? Volkswagen Beetles first appeared in Nepal when there was little road infrastructure in the country. After training some local mechanics in Beetle repair and maintenance a German businessman set up the first Volkswagen dealership in Kathmandu, the capital city, in 1963 with the first sales - to American Embassy staff - in 1964.

That dealership has long since disappeared but the number of Volkswagens in Nepal now number in the hundreds. Some are in almost mint condition while others languish in some by-gone era aristocratic family's backyard garden, overgrown with creepers and shrubs and home to a multitude of insects and small animals. Many of the Beetles currently on the roads of Nepal have been salvaged from exactly this kind of fate - certain death for the vehicle - by nostalgic lovers of the car or simply by thrifty owners who saw a cheap way to acquire a reliable workhorse.

Until recently new parts were unheard of and parts availability was subject to finding trashed engines in said backyards and junkyards and doing the necessary swap - working piece from trashed engine for broken piece in running engine - or fabricating from scratch. But now, thanks to some enterprising local individuals with a love of the car who have set up contacts with distributors in the west, parts are steadily becoming more available in this remote Himalayan kingdom. Due in small measure to this and in considerable measure to the sheer perseverance and tenacity of the Beetle owners who have kept their cars roadworthy through thick and thin of the parts availability scene, the Beetle is enjoying a revival of sorts here.

So what better way to pay tribute to this phenomenal car and its presence in the Himalayas than to achieve a historical first and drive twenty of them from Kathmandu to Lhasa, capital city of the roof of the world, Tibet, and back to Kathmandu via the northern base camp of Mount Everest, passing through at least three five-thousand meters mountain passes.