Nepal, June 23 -- India has reimposed restrictions on export of Nepal's tea, but here in the tea gardens of Ilam the roads are jammed with Indian vehicles bringing tourists to the cooler mountains of eastern Nepal.

Over in Pokhara and Mustang, it is the same story. June has traditionally been the lean season. Not this year. An unexpected surge in Indian tourist arrivals has transformed what used to be Nepal's off season.

Hotels are fully booked, accommodation is increasingly hard to find, and visitors have been forced to spend nights in tents along the highway or by the lake. For many Indian visitors, it is tourism mixed with pilgrimage, plus a refuge from the heat of the plains.

According to local tourism officials, Mustang experienc...