Kathmandu, Oct. 18 -- Here in Dho Valley, in the arid mountains of northwestern Nepal, the only sounds used to be tinkling yak bells and the flapping of wind on prayer flags. Now, there is another one: the throb of internal combustion engines.
Chinese motorcycles roar down the dusty trails of once quiet Dho, and the growl of an excavator can be heard from across the valley. It will not be long before the Sumo pickups arrive from the district headquarter in Dunai, which itself was recently connected to Nepal's road network.
During his state visit to Nepal last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Nepal would go from being landlocked to'land-linked', and promised to help build better road access across the Himalaya from Nepal to China....