Let's not dismiss nation-state exploration with having an overly indulgent hobby.

Establishing and mapping boundaries, demonstrating military abilities, and even finding/protecting the trade routes you speak of, all required exploration on a large scale.

Not to mention things like establishing trade and a friendly presence with locals, establishing surveillance posts, and my personal favorite, surveying the geoid, as a means to better ICBM guidance.

Military always makes reason, and I suspect that might also be at play in Nepal.